A report out of Australia shows some interesting thoughts about retirement planning down under. I suspect that the results would be similar in North America or Europe.
Superannuation or “super” is saving money for when you retire, where this money is put into a super fund by either your employer or yourself if self employed. Saving money for your retirement is smart future planning to be able to live as comfortable as you do in pre-retirement.
Everybody needs savings for their retirement. It would be ideal to have financial support to be able to retire on predetermined savings that will allow you to maintain your pre-retirement lifestyle.
We often have this “she'll be right attitude” when it comes to ensuring we are financially secure in retirement. Will the Government look after me? The retirement age is about 67 years and Australia’s average life expectancy at about 80, there is 15 to 20 years [or longer] where you will need to have some money saved up to live on.
Have you stopped to take a look at what the age pension entitlements are, and that is if you are eligible.
Did you know?
Your retirement life may be longer than your working life. If you thought it was expensive to live while you were working - do you think it will be any cheaper when you are retired?
Retirement expectations
Generation Y was found to be the most optimistic towards retirement, with 22% claiming they aimed to retire before age 55.
The 2014 Federal Budget resetting the retirement age to 70 will impact the expectations of more than two-thirds of Australians, who planned to retire before then.
“Only 7% of Australians planned to retire at the age of 70 to 75,” the report said.
Despite generational differences, across the board women planned to retire at a younger age than men.
On average, retirement dreams fitted into the following order of priority:
- Good health,
- financial security,
- family time,
- travel,
- relaxation,
- romance,
- dream home, and
- time with friends.
66% of Australians said they were actively planning for retirement, with older generations more focused on this than younger people.
55% of men and 53% of women felt confident they could fund their retirement dreams.
Generations X and Y were living in the moment, claiming to not think about retirement. But the main reason Baby Boomers were not planning their retirement was a lack of understanding about superannuation.
Suncorp’s conclusion to the report was that Australians need to engage with their superannuation.
“It is concerning that super and financial advice features so low in priority for Australians given the financial upside these factors could have on lifestyle dreams.
“Australians need to start saving from a younger age, planning well ahead and thinking about their finances earlier, it is never too late to start improving your financial situation,” Suncorp said in the report.
“These results reflect a need for further education about retirement and the benefits of planning and saving for retirement from a young age,” Suncorp said in the report.
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