Retiring Outdated Thinking: Turning the Silver Surge into a Golden Opportunity

At SXSW Sydney 2025, Creatik brought together voices from finance, neuroscience and design to explore one of the most underestimated innovation challenges of our time: ageing.

Moderated by Adelle Chang, Business and Design Director at Creatik, the panel Retiring Outdated Thinking: Turning the Silver Surge into a Golden Opportunity brought together three experts who are shaping how we think about longevity and quality of life. Joining Adelle were Carly O’Keefe from Challenger, Andrew McVeigh from Remara, and Professor Muireann Irish from the University of Sydney.

Adelle opened with a simple but provocative observation. In the 1970s, retirement was a five-year pause between finishing work and reaching life expectancy. Today, it can span 30 years or more. “What used to be a short pause has become a slightly longer and slightly more fear-filled foray into a beige recliner,” she said. The challenge she set for the panel was this: how do we add life to years, not just years to life?

Carly O’Keefe began with the data. By 2056, almost one quarter of Australians will be of retirement age. In the next decade alone, the number of people aged over 85 will grow by 50 percent. Yet only half of Australians actively plan their retirement, and many underestimate the true cost of aged care, housing and long-term wellbeing. “Behind the term silver tsunami is a wave of real lives,” she said. “We talk about longevity as a statistic, but it’s really about how those extra decades are lived.”

“Behind the term silver tsunami is a wave of real lives…. We talk about longevity as a statistic, but it’s really about how those extra decades are lived.”

Carly highlighted that many Australians do not choose when they retire. While some plan their exit strategically, almost half are forced into it earlier than expected due to health issues, redundancy or caring responsibilities. That unpredictability makes preparation even more important. “People often don’t save early enough, not because they don’t want to, but because life is busy. You’re raising kids, paying a mortgage, dealing with work. Retirement feels far away until suddenly it isn’t.”

Andrew McVeigh added a financial and social design perspective, challenging how the property market defines retirement living. Through Remara, he is pioneering models that make it possible for people to release equity from their homes while staying in their communities. “We need to rethink the family home as an asset that evolves with you,” he said. “You don’t work forty years to sit and stare at a wall drinking soup. Retirement isn’t about paying the bills. It’s about quality of life.”

Andrew explained how Remara is designing living environments where people can age in place while maintaining independence and social connection. His approach offers fairer financial structures that allow people to unlock the value of their home without the punitive exit fees that often come with traditional retirement villages. “It’s about certainty, dignity and community,” he said. “People don’t want to be surrounded only by other retirees. They want energy, they want to see families, kids, real life around them. That’s what keeps people young.”

Professor Muireann Irish brought the neuroscience of ageing into focus. Her research explores how imagination, purpose and social engagement shape brain health across a lifetime. “The human brain is a predictive organ. It likes continuity. So when retirement comes and the structure disappears, that’s cognitively threatening,” she said. “We need to redesign retirement so that it keeps people mentally and emotionally engaged.”

“The human brain is a predictive organ. It likes continuity. So when retirement comes and the structure disappears, that’s cognitively threatening… We need to redesign retirement so that it keeps people mentally and emotionally engaged.”

Muireann shared that the brain doesn’t inevitably decline with age. “A 65-year-old brain isn’t deteriorating, it’s evolving. It’s the brain of someone who has lived, learned and built resilience. Experience is one of our most under-valued forms of intelligence.”

Carly’s research through Challenger’s Happiness Index reinforced that insight. The strongest drivers of happiness in retirement are purpose, activities, social connection and mental health. In partnership with Macquarie University, Challenger identified four key forms of purpose in later life: enjoyment, keeping well, growth and giving back. “Enjoyment and keeping well were the most common drivers,” she said. “Retirement, at its best, is freedom. The happiest retirees are the ones who design their lives around joy, health and connection.”

As the discussion unfolded, it became clear that ageing is not a problem to be solved but an opportunity to be designed. Muireann encouraged the audience to see ageing as an adaptive process rather than a decline. “We are a social species. We need empathy, connection and adult conversations about how we want to live,” she said. “Longevity is not the problem. Outdated thinking is.”

The panel moved between data, science and design, but what tied it together was a shared belief that ageing can be reimagined through creativity, empathy and foresight. Andrew spoke about how his developments are integrating multi-generational design so that communities can thrive together. Muireann emphasised the role of lifelong learning and curiosity in preserving cognitive health. Carly pointed to the need for clear, simple language around finance and retirement. “Good design is simplicity,” she said. “No jargon, no fear. Just clarity.”

During the audience Q&A, questions ranged from financial education to intergenerational housing and policy reform. One attendee asked why there were no shared housing models that bring older and younger people together. Andrew described new developments on the South Coast of New South Wales that do exactly that, mixing family homes, townhouses and aged care within one connected community. “People want to age in place, not in isolation,” he said.

Another question touched on financial literacy. A 65-year-old audience member spoke passionately about the need for early planning and accessible advice. Carly agreed. “Retirement planning is incredibly complex and often inaccessible. What we need is free or low-cost advice that helps people make informed choices,” she said.

“We need to rethink the family home as an asset that evolves with you… You don’t work forty years to sit and stare at a wall drinking soup.”

The conversation returned repeatedly to the importance of empathy and connection, especially across generations. Muireann voiced concern about the growing digital divide and the impact of screen-based culture on empathy and emotional resilience. “Younger generations are the future caretakers of us,” she said. “If we lose our ability for deep connection, we all lose.”

As the session closed, Adelle reflected on what connected every part of the discussion. “Retirement is about retiring something, but not life itself.”

The room left buzzing with optimism. The collective message was clear. We cannot stop ageing, but we can design it better. With data, imagination and human-centred design, the so-called silver surge can become a golden opportunity to rethink how we live, work and connect across a lifetime.