A happy, healthy and financially secure retirement should be our birthright for all hard working Australians! We are led to believe that our superannuation and increased property values will look after us in retirement.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Superannuation giant AMP released a report recently that found that 70% of people now aged 50-69 earn or will earn less than $320 per week in retirement! The superannuation guarantee levy (9%) will only provide about a quarter of what people need in retirement! The problem is that we don't realise just how much money we will need to survive and live with a reasonable degree of comfort.
A further report also indicates that up to 40% of current superannuation savings are being used to payout debt at the time of retirement and that the average superannuation fund will only last approximately 2-3 years!
THERE WILL NOT BE A PENSION!
It is an absolute economic impossibility to maintain the retirement pension scheme as we know it in Australia today. When this was released in 1909 it represented over 60% of the average wage - this meant that there was not going to be much of a reduction in lifestyle when a person retired and went on the pension. (By the way the life expectancy of an Australian male in 1909 was 58!)
Nowadays the pension represents only 20% of the average Australian wage! Current generations simply find it too hard to adjust to this massive change in lifestyle- in fact we could not even survive. Worse still, the pension will soon be abolished. Already we can see information and media releases that are trying to soften us up for this event. Not so long ago it was even suggested by the Treasurer Mr Costello and Prime Minister Mr Howard that Australians should keep working until the age of 70!
Recently, a report released by BIS Schrapnel showed that the required income for a retired couple with no debt would need to be approximately $43,000 per year in today's dollar value. The problem is that in 10, 20, 30 years time this $43,000 equates to well over $100,000 at the time of retirement. The superannuation nest egg that we are building now simply will not last for the length of retirement.