Aussies unsure of retirement savings

NEARLY one in five Australians do not think they can retire without government support, new data shows.

According to Mortgage Choice’s Australian Financial Savviness Whitepaper, 19.4 per cent of Australians believe they won’t be able to retire at 65 years of age without relying on government assistance.

“I am not surprised to hear that almost 20% of Australians won’t be able to exclusively fund their retirement themselves,” Mortgage Choice chief executive officer John Flavell said.

“The fact is, the cost of living continues to rise, which is stopping many Australians from effectively saving enough money to fund a comfortable retirement.

“Every day expenses including gas, electricity, childcare, telecommunications and transportation continue to climb higher year after year. And, to make matters worse, wage growth is stagnating. As such, Australians are being forced do even more with the same amount of money.”

According to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian wages grew just 2% between the September 2016 quarter and the September 2017 quarter.

“Interestingly, despite the fact that wage growth is stagnate and the cost of living continues to rise, those most optimistic about their retirement savings strategy were those under the age of 30,” Mr Flavell said.

According to the Whitepaper, 44.8% of those under the age of 30 said they were confident that they would live either a ‘lavish’ or ‘comfortable’ lifestyle in retirement.