Almost two-thirds of surveyed Australians have not mapped out their financial future at all or have loose plans, according to the Financial Planning Association (FPA).
As part of Financial Planning Week, the FPA released a new report, “Dare to Dream”, that found 25 per cent of Australian never sought advice from others when making financial decisions.
Another quarter had also never done anything financially risky, but 51 per cent were dreaming more about the future than they did five years ago.
FPA chief executive, Dante De Gori, said while the nation was dreaming more about their future they were not living to their full potential.
“This might be because of fear, apathy, or a lack of planning. For financial planners, these are valuable insights into their client base,” he said.
The report found the most common goal across all demographics was a financial one at 34 per cent.
Generation X were the most pessimistic about their retirement with 51 per cent believing they did not have enough to retire, compared to 31 per cent of Generation Y and 40 per cent of Baby Boomers.
Both Gen X and Baby Boomers had setting themselves up financially for retirement and to become financially independent as their top two financial dreams.
Gen Y, however, had buying their first home (37 per cent) and setting themselves up financially for retirement (29 per cent) as their top financial dreams.
“The good news is that 82 per cent of those surveyed are optimistic about their future, and we believe that with the right advice this optimism can translate to achieving their dreams,” De Gori said.
“I encourage all financial planners to use Financial Planning Week as an opportunity to spread the word to Australians that, with the right advice, they can make the journey from dreaming to achieving their financial goals.”
