Research: 85% of women aged 60+ die with a zero superannuation balance

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Research from the Australian Superannuation Fund Association (ASFA) reveals that most Australians use all their superannuation savings in retirement with nothing left when they die, particularly women.

Key findings include:

  • With increasing age, the proportion of the population with superannuation drops sharply

  • Shockingly, eighty-five per cent of women aged 60 and above had zero superannuation when they died

  • Men are more likely to have superannuation balances at death than women, with 15 per cent of women aged 60+ at death had any superannuation at all compared to 25 per cent of men

  • Eighty per cent of those aged 60 and over who died between 2014 and 2018 had zero superannuation savings in the period of up to four years prior to death

  • For those aged 80 and over, more than 90 per cent had no superannuation savings in the four years prior to death

  • In those aged 80+, just five per cent had over $110,000 in their super account in the four years prior to death

  • Less than half of those aged 60-69 had any super at all

  • Retirees are not underspending so as to provide a bequeathment

  • Australia has one of the highest life expectancies in the world - 80.9 years for men and 85 years for women

Download Super Balances Before Death (PDF)

Australian Tax Office and Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) data were combined with Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey results were used for the research.