A quarter of Australia's baby boomers have said they will have to work into their 80s because they do not have enough money for retirement, new research from Suncorp Superannuation showed.
Suncorp's "Rise of the Grudge Years" report revealed a gap between Australians' ideal and real retirement ages, meaning they will have to work a decade longer than they would like.
Australians might have to work 11 years more than they want to, and this represents the "grudge years" for those aged 65 and over, according to the report.
It found that 70 per cent of Australians would not be emotionally or physically prepared to work till the grave, but 2.6 million people might be forced to do so out of financial necessity.
"People often have retirement dreams of what they would like to do and when they would like to retire but they just cannot do that," Suncorp executive manager of superannuation Cathy Duncan said.
As lifespans increase due to advances in healthcare and medicine, older workers are facing a "double edged sword", she added.
Duncan said around 25 per cent of the population did not know how much superannuation they had.
Even though the superannuation guarantee (SG) superannuation system had been active in Australia since 1992, people were still disengaged with the concept and did not contemplate retirement in advance.
As a consequence, Duncan said workforce participation rates would burgeon in Australia with a boom in the "grey collar workforce" in the next decade.
The over-65 workforce currently makes up just 3 per cent of the total workforce but research showed this would grow to 23 per cent over the next 10 years.
Financial need would mean 1.2 million Australians over the age of 65 would remain in the workforce over the next decade.
The research showed only 3 per cent of Australians had in mind an ideal retirement age of 75 years or older, while 48 per cent want to retire between 60 and 69 years.
Yet 42 per cent realise that in reality they will be working into their 70s, with 23 per cent of these believing they will have to work into their 80s.
Australians need to accumulate significantly more super before they retire, with 36 per cent needing more than $400,000 in their super before they do so, according to the research.
Only 18 per cent of baby boomers currently have enough money for their retirement.
Research also showed 61 per cent of survey participants would be "not at all likely" or "unlikely" to be physically or mentally able to work beyond their 60th birthday.
Duncan said employees need to think about superannuation in bite-sized chunks.
"They should ask themselves: ‘where am I now? How much money do I need? How many years do I need to work? What kind of lifestyle do I want?'
"They then need to put more money in there and salary sacrifice when they can afford it. Look at super as an asset and not as something your employer or government does," Duncan said.
