HAVE you ever dreamt of diving into a 27m deep money pit, screaming: “Mine, all mine!”? Well, this may be as close as you’ll ever get.

In a PR stunt that aims to change the way we think about our retirement, young Australians are invited to handle up to $1 million in cold, hard cash at a secret location in Melbourne this morning.

The fun begins at 9am (AEDT), starting with a quick superannuation balance check, and a prediction of how much will be available down the track.

(Let’s hope it’s enough to pay for all those designer threads, fine dining meals and holidays in Ibiza — by the time we’re old, cruises will be so passé.)

Then it’s into the vault you go, where you’ll get to fondle stacks upon stacks of $50 bills. Take a picture, because you’re unlikely to handle this much cash again.

Psychologist Simon Kinsella said human beings were hardwired to avoid planning for the future, but that handling real cash could help close the “psychological gap”.

“This is an issue that affects everyone in varying degrees, but young people in particular,” Dr Kinsella said.

“Some can’t connect to the idea of the future because it’s simply too far away, while others don’t like to think about it because it makes them feel stressed and unprepared.”

A survey by VicSuper found that 46.5 per cent of gen Y Australians felt stressed about their financial destinies, yet the vast majority were not planning ahead.

Less than one per cent of those surveyed said they had financial plans in place for the next two years, let alone a long-term strategy.

Dr Kinsella said a poor capacity to delay gratification was partly to blame.

“We know that there’s a big psychological gap between people’s perception of themselves now and in the future,” Dr Kinsella said.

“Anything that can close the psychological gap has been shown to increase our ability to make long term plans.”

He said and that the best way to get motivated was to activate the “immediate, hot response” system by tapping into our emotions.

One method, he said, was to use facial imaging to show what we will look like in several decades’ time.

Diving into a pool of cash was another, more appealing option.

“It is important that people think about their long term finances and where they want to be,” Dr Kinsella said.

The key was making the future real, including taking a close look at how much cash you’ll need, and how you might plus the savings gap, he said.

“We’re not talking Greek austerity measures, just very small changes that don’t make people feel deprived.”

For some, it could be the decision between buying a BMW M series, or choosing the next model down and ploughing the extra cash into super.

VicSuper chief executive Michael Dundon said giving up one coffee a day could “make a huge difference to your retirement lifestyle”.

“By the end of your career, that can turn into a couple of hundred thousand dollars,” Mr Dundon said.

“There’s a compound effect that makes it grow really strongly.”

He said having a comfortable retirement was “achievable”, but that “you need to have a pretty solid savings plan.”

“Don’t just hope and wish that it’ll happen; actually do something about it,” Mr Dundon said.

“People take out super accounts at a really young age and then forget about it. It’s their money, they need to manage it and review it from time to time.”

To get your hands on the cash, look out for the purpose-built vault, guarded by security at Southern Cross Station from 9am on October 21.

Calculate how much super you’re on track to retiring on at getsuperactive.com.au

dana.mccauley@news.com.au

@Dana_Adele