Majority of Australians worried about retirement funds: poll

Xinhua
04 May 2021, 07:25 GMT+10

CANBERRA, May 4 (Xinhua) -- A majority of working-age Australians said they will not have enough savings to last their retirement, according to a recent survey.

The survey of approximately 3,500 people, published by Australian National University (ANU) on Tuesday, showed that 55.7 percent of Australians were worried they will not have enough money to retire comfortably.

"In early 2021, as Australia was continuing to emerge from the COVID-recession, the majority of Australians who weren't currently retired thought that they will not have enough money when they do," Nicholas Biddle, co-author of the study from ANU's Center for Social Research and Methods, said in a press release.

"Of those Australians who say they are worried about not having enough money in retirement in 2021, females, people who hadn't finished year 12 and those living outside capital cities were most concerned.

"Our study shows a large increase since the last time we asked this question in 2015, when only 39.6 percent of Australians thought they would not have enough money to live comfortably."

The number of respondents who said they were confident in their retirement fund was 38 percent - almost the same as 39 percent in 2015 - but the rate of those who said they would "definitely" be able to retire comfortably fell from 21.3 percent to 6.1 percent.

Biddle said the sharp fall was down to a number of factors.

"I do think there's a link between, not just house prices, but people's ability to build up wealth at a younger age," he said.

"Relatively young Australians haven't been able to accumulate the same levels of wealth previous cohorts have."

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