Apparently Australians are on track to live OK in retirement

Funds have been peddling the Great Super Lie

Finally some good news in the media. Apparently we will all be OK in retirement and the Superannuation companies have been deliberately scaring us into giving them more and more of our dollars to take their little cuts out of. No kidding Ross. We didn't need a Royal Commission to work this one out.


Life can go back to normal.

 

Great article Angel

I like this quote as it is so true:
Because every extra dollar we save through super, whether voluntarily or compulsorily, is a dollar they get to take a small bite out of – every year until we eventually take it and spend it.

 

Could be worse, we could could just spend it rather than saving for retirement.

 

Ross Gittins has been saying this for some years. He writes a lot of sensible stuff.

 

I don’t like a retirement strategy which relies on getting a full/part Aged Pension to fund my retirement lifestyle.

As more and more of us baby boomers hit retirement and, if we all expect a full/part Aged Pension to fund their retirement lifestyle, more and more of our kids/grandchildren’s taxes will go to fund this burden.

One day the Government might just have to reduce the pension. I hope not but ...

I am not an economist but I would rather aim to be self-funded and not be relying on the Government teat.

Having said that, it is annoying how much we have to pay it fees. I feel the same way about my accountant, my lawyer, my doctor, my tradies, my PMs, ...

Maybe they all would like to be self-funded as well .

 

I recall a teacher in my high school recommending his articles in the SMH - must have been in the 80s so he would have been writing stuff for 30+ years.

 

Typical Grattan Institute. Stuff the concept of saving and delayed gratification according to them. Just live for today, don’t bother even trying to save for a home or retirement. She’ll be right mate, the Gov’t will look after you.

 

Longer. 40+ years at the SMH. Started work as an accountant, I think, and then went into journalism.

 

Awesome article!

But not at all true for me....according to my calculations I'll have 500k in super when I retire.....

Got to get cracking...

 

I think I'll be ok, as long as I don't retire until I'm 103.

 

You better .

IMHO, that’s about 25% of what a couple will need, as a minimum, for a gooood lifestyle .

 

My teacher did too

 

Without a house you need $1.1 million to retire, super chief warns

Superannuation industry head Martin Fahy has called for urgent action to address the retirement crisis that faces people who can't afford to buy a house.
Superannuation association head Martin Fahy: Warns of a retirement crisis for people who don't own their own homes.
Women will be left 'living in their cars' unless the crisis is addressed.

 

While I appreciate the nexus to my mind it isn't a superannuation issue as such but more of a combination of social policy and structural issues.

I don't see superannuation as being responsible fo personal decisions, health issues, relationships matters, progress, or lack of it, through the workforce or the heap of detritus of life.

However there does seem to be a trend to view superannuation as a panacea for all the woes.

 

For some, sure
I am sure Gina, James and many others have substantial amounts stashed into super and this helps to skew the "average" (just like how the median wage is $......)

Did this also take into account all the people here who invest outside super for supplementary income (if we even qualify for the pension)

I laughed so hard at some of the baby boomer posts regarding property, mum and dad property investors must account for 8% of property investment when you add in the Billions the super fund managers have tied up in property and infrastructure

 

Well, found myself retired last week before reaching my “magic number”. So I will be navigating some uncharted waters.

But beats working.

 

How did this happen if you dont mind sharing?

 

Combination of career and personal reasons, and the opportunity of a package.

 

A mate of mine reads those books by Scott Pape - Barefoot Investor etc. He talks about the Super myth propagated by funds. He said that if people own their own home and are prepared to work one day per week in retirement doing something, anything, then a super balance of $250K on retirement will afford them a decent lifestyle. They won't be travelling overseas every year and eating in fancy restaurants, but lots of people aren't interested in that anyway.

 

I read somewhere the last words spoken to James by his Father were..
If your going to worry about what people think of you in life you are never going to get anywhere..
Followed by--How long is this going to xxxxin take..