Who worries and why: retirement income stress
/A new research report published by National Seniors Australias, Retirement Income Worry: Who worries and why? shows that superannuation savings and financial advice are key drivers in reducing stress regarding retirement income adequacy.
People who are currently retired and receiving some form of income via superannuation savings had less concern and were less worried regarding retirement funding than retirees without any income from superannuation.
The report was created from a sample pool of over 3,500 people aged 50 and over.
Key findings
Retirees with superannuation income were unconcerned about retirement savings
Twenty-seven per cent who were retired, but not receiving any income from superannuation, were unconcerned
The latter group were the most likely to return to retirement income adequacy, with 23 per cent of the sample group saying they worry about it often
About 31 per cent of respondents who were receiving the age pension said they frequently worry about outliving their savings
The least stressed group were those with a defined benefit pension or lifetime annuity
Many respondents had sought financial advice of some kind, with 60 per cent receiving advice in the past year, and 74 per cent saying they had received advice at some stage of their lives
Respondents were concerned about running out of money, but those who received advice were less likely to worry as often and reported a positive impact when advice was sought outside of the past year, without concerns about outliving their savings
Eighty-six per cent of those receiving advice had done what they were told to do, with 15 per cent reporting that they used to worry, but no longer do
Those who did not seek advice were more likely to worry frequently (25 per cent) and be generally worried (64 per cent)
