Property key to retirement for couple
WaikatoTimes
In the final part of a
series on retirement Kashka Tunstall talks to a couple about how they will cope financially when they stop working. Thinking about retirement is a luxury Steve and Sharon Jamieson can’t afford. Not right now anyway. The Hamilton couple live in a modest house on the fringes of the city, out on the way to Pirongia.
They bought it a little over 10 years ago, sold off the back section and have been doing up the property ever since. Mr Jamieson’s the handyman type. He works for himself as a decorator and painter.
Mrs Jamieson went back to school a few years ago to study nursing.
Now she works nights at Waikato Hospital.
With two wages on the table, they’ve managed to pay the house off. It’s a good feeling being freehold. It’s the beginnings of their retirement nest egg, they say. But it’s still not enough. Retirement has never been a priority before, Mr Jamieson says. Just getting by, living week to week, was. Now, with Mr Jamieson aged 52 and Mrs Jamieson approaching 48, they can feel the need to prepare breathing heavily down their necks. They’re just not sure how to. ‘‘This retirement thing has been on my mind of late, but I can’t get there,’’ Mr Jamieson says.
‘‘It’s something we really need to get onto . . but as far as this country goes it’s not easy because you’re too busy living and paying your bills.’’
Mrs Jamieson says she doesn’t believe in the retirement schemes.
People have tried to talk her into superannuation and KiwiSaver before, but after seeing the way super turned
‘‘Where’s our retirement? We can’t even save for it because our kids can’t afford a thing in this country.’’
Steve Jamieson out for her Dad, she’s not interested.
He spent 20-odd years paying into the fund, she says. But a few policy changes down the line, her Dad ended up with ‘‘bugger all’’ and died at 64.
Property has to be the key, the couple reckon.
‘‘For me, property is something that’s stable, that stays the same,’’ Mrs Jamieson says.
‘‘You buy it, you’ve got it. You don’t lose it.
‘‘We don’t tend to work and dabble in things like the stock exchange, I think it’s too easy to lose it all when it’s been damn hard to earn it. For us, property is our best option.’’
They’re looking into buying a second house, hoping to put renters in to pay it off in the next 20 to 25 years. That way maybe they’ll have some money to get hold of when they chuck in work. Maybe.
The couple are part of the growing group of baby boomers heading towards retirement – and they’re seeing very little for them there.
New Zealand’s workforce is getting older, average life spans are elongating and, as a result, retirement planning is becoming more and more important.
Steve and Sharon Jamieson are banking on property to see them through their retirement.
The median age of the workforce was 36 in 1991. In 2001, it was 39. Now, more than half of the workforce is 42 and older.
By 2031, New Zealand will be home to more than a million people aged 65-plus. For many, retirement is imminent. But are the many prepared? A survey of 864 New Zealand job seekers and employees by recruitment firm OCG this year found most over-50s wouldn’t be able to fund their retirement if they had to stop work now.
Only 6 per cent could retire comfortably.
And while people in their 40s expected to retire at 66 or 67, those in their 50s raised their expectations to 67 and 68. Those already in their 60s thought 70 was the more likely age for retirement, the survey found.
Older workers were asked why they kept working. Most said financial necessity. Only two in 10 did not need the money and worked for other benefits.
Mr Jamieson confirms the finances are his biggest worry. He’s sick of hearing government rhetoric about how important preparing for retirement is. He knows. But it’s hard.
The Jamiesons have four adult children and seven grandchildren.
The family’s big, and it’s close. They support one another as best they can.
‘‘There’s an undercurrent that’s happening with the financial situation in New Zealand,’’ Mr Jamieson says. ‘‘The people that are getting by are being propped up by their parents. They’re living with their parents, or their parents are subsidising their rent, so the parents aren’t actually saving.
‘‘Where’s our retirement? We can’t even save for it because our kids can’t afford a thing in this country.’’
Mr and Mrs Jamieson have lived in Australia, the United States and Canada.
The thought of retirement has the couple contemplating another shift. It’s better elsewhere, they say.
Mrs Jamieson thinks of her Dad, all the scrimping and saving he did. She doesn’t think it was worth it. ‘‘There’s got to be a balance . . . I want to have a life now too, while I’m healthy and fit,’’ she says.
‘‘In some respects it’s like what’s the point about worrying about this thing off in the distance, because you may never make it there.’’
But Margaret Devlin says it’s never too early to start planning.
The 51-year-old Hamilton businesswoman is involved with eight organisations, but has made sure she’s got flexibility in her working life so she can scale it down when retirement hits.
Ms Devlin says she started thinking about retirement in her early 20s.
‘‘The standard response is, of course, the minute you started earning money, some of that should be put aside for retirement,’’ she says.
‘‘However, I can honestly say that even though it was some time ago, saving for my retirement was not a priority for the first pay packet.’’
She says planning for retirement is the key to a happy one.
‘‘And not just for the retirement party and holiday, but for afterwards in terms of what you want to do and how you plan to continue your contribution to the community or business world.’’
‘‘On the one hand it is . . . a big change and with change comes a fear of change. Which is why it is important to plan for this change and actually take control rather than waiting for something to be done to you.’’