Women retire with over $30,000 lower balance in super than men
Australians need to prepare for retirement and take control over when and with how much they want to retire, according to chief analyst at Wealth Within, Dale Gillham.
He stressed it was also concerning that women retired on average with a balance of $122,848 in super compared to men who, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds Australia (ASFA) figures, retired with an average of $154,453.
“When you look at the figures on how much Australians are retiring on, it shines a light on two important areas,” Gillham said.
These were the lack of investments outside of super and the lack of financial literacy.
He warned that that unless Australians had investments outside of superannuation, there would continue to be a large gap between the lifestyle desired by Australians in retirement and the reality they will experience.
Secondly, it showed a major failure in the system around educating Australians in financial literacy which meant Australians needed to take responsibility for their retirement rather than relying on the Government to pay a pension.
“For those who are prepared to be a little more active, understanding how superannuation and investing works and the benefits that can be gained from putting in some effort is more than likely to pay off in retirement,” he added.
“The upside is that you get to enjoy a better lifestyle than what would otherwise be possible based on the information reported by ASFA above.”
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