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Lara Bourguignon
More than 60 per cent of Aussies identify not having enough money to invest in retirement as the biggest barrier to retirement savings
- Only 30 per cent of Aussies feel that they have enough funds to invest in retirement
- Almost half of Aussie women consider taking a career break to raise kids as a barrier to sufficient retirement funds
Aussies are increasingly concerned they won’t have enough money to invest in retirement after their everyday spending, according to the latest MLC Wealth Sentiment Survey.
The survey of over 2,000 Australians found that almost two in three Australians identified not having enough money to invest in retirement as the biggest barrier to retirement savings – and more so for women than men.
NAB General Manager, Corporate Super, Lara Bourguignon, believes it’s crucial that Aussies are managing a stable cash-flow particularly throughout the Christmas and New Year period – in order to meet longer term saving goals.
“The festive season is a notoriously expensive time and one that requires consideration and careful planning. While many Aussies budget for larger items such as overseas holidays or their next car purchase, the day to day spending such as groceries and additional gifts is where they’ll often come undone with savings.
“Budgeting on your entire cash-flow is critically important to a family’s financial wellbeing. We want all Australians to enter their retirement phase of life feeling confident and prepared, and believe the first place to start is by managing day-to-day living costs,” said Ms Bourguignon.
The quarterly survey found that households with kids rated all barriers to retirement higher than those with no kids – with only 30 per cent of Aussies with kids feeling that they have enough funds to invest in retirement.
“Clearly the cost of raising a family is an important factor. The summer season is a particularly expensive time – with additional budget pressures such as Christmas presents for the kids and extended family, as well as budgeting for school holiday activities and holiday getaways.
“The survey results highlight that more needs to be done across the board to ensure a comfortable retirement – particularly for families with kids. It’s important for families to not only consider their immediate budget, but also their future cash-flow.
“Once you’re able to determine how much you spend a year and what you’ll be spending in future years – you can plan around your annual holiday spending each and every year, as well as having your money working hard for you in other areas,” said Ms Bourguignon.
Other barriers to retirement identified include longer life expectancy (56 per cent), major health issues (56 per cent) and being unemployed (55 per cent).
Additional findings include:
- More than 1 in 2 of Australians do not think they will have enough savings to fund their retirement
- Nearly 1 in 5 Australians do not expect to retire until 70 or older
- On average, Australians expect to retire with about $471,000, but women ($390,000) believe they will have far less than men ($538,000)
- Almost half of Australian women consider taking a career break to raise kids as a barrier to sufficient retirement funds – with around two thirds of women taking more than 2 years out of the workforce to have children
- Around two-thirds of women take more than 2 years off to have children, compared to only 16 per cent of men. In contrast, more than 1 in 2 men took no time to have children, compared to just 17 per cent of women.
- The quarterly survey has found paying off debt is still the priority for around 30 per cent of Australians
- Only 10 per cent of Aussies are giving a ‘high’ consideration to the possibility of a major future financial setback – such as health issues, risks in financial markets and job security