Australia. The ‘average’ retiree is now self-funded
Australia has reached a major milestone, with most new retirees having enough savings to be self-funded rather than reliant on the age pension, new research shows.
More than half of 66-year-olds were not accessing the age pension at December 2018 because their assets and income were too high, while 20 per cent were on a part pension.
Only 25 per cent were drawing a full age pension. According to Jeremy Cooper, chairman of retirement income at Challenger who conducted a review of the super system for the then Labor government in 2009, the figures are proof the superannuation system is working.
“Contrary to many opinions, super is reducing reliance on the age pension for the large majority of people entering retirement,” he says in a report published today.
“The evidence for this is that the average newly retired Australian is not accessing the age pension at all.”
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