During March 2010, the National Information Centre on Retirement and Investments (NICRI) ran a fact-finding campaign (‘Super March’) to discover what Australians thought about superannuation. SuperGuide supported the campaign and we encouraged our readers to contact NICRI with any concerns about the super system (see Do you have a beef about super? We’re listening).
SuperGuide has been given access to the preliminary findings from the Super March campaign, and here are the results.
Note: Around three-quarters of all survey respondents were over the age of 50
How much money is enough?
A stand-out concern for Australian consumers is the uncertainty around how much money is needed in retirement to meet lifestyle needs. Around a quarter of respondents considered this an issue, and based on the information provided by those surveyed, over half did not have enough funds accumulated for a basic level of comfort in retirement, and nor did they have a plan in place to address the shortfall.
Note: We were not provided with information about what NICRI consider to be a ‘basic’ level of comfort.
Confusion around Superannuation Guarantee (SG) entitlements
NICRI shared a story about confusion over SG entitlements – compulsory employer
NICRI believes this example illustrates that you can’t rely on employer contributions alone to fund your retirement. I only partly agree. I believe this example illustrates that we have a real problem with our superannuation system if an individual actively thinks about his superannuation needs and believes he is working towards a healthy retirement balance, but instead he has misunderstood the complex rules.
Consumer engagement/lack of information
A fascinating finding, particularly for the SuperGuide team, was that more than half of all consumers surveyed believed there was insufficient information available on superannuation.
Some of the information the respondents believed was missing included:
- not knowing what their super might be worth at the time of retirement (forecasts)
- how the super fund invests their money
- what the fund was trying to achieve for its members in the future
- how superannuation works as an
Worry about today, not tomorrow
According to NICRI, some respondents considered it was ‘too hard’ or ‘too confusing’ and so the topic was brushed aside. For the younger respondents, many believed they didn’t need to worry about it because:
- it was money they weren’t going to see until retirement, and
- super was something that their employer ‘sorted out’.
NICRI states that these observations suggest that Australians have a tendency to focus on financial issues that affect them ‘today’ rather than considering long-term goals. NICRI concludes that there may still be a gap between what individuals are saving, and what expectations are in place for a future retirement lifestyle.
NICRI recommends: Australians should be encouraged to set goals and consider strategies on how to meet personal retirement objectives rather than simply putting money away because they are told they should. For more information, you can visit NICRI at www.nicri.org.au or contact NICRI on 1800 020 110 or email nicri@org.au.
The survey results confirm that SuperGuide is performing an important role in delivering free, accurate and understandable information to consumers. You can find articles on all the issues mentioned in the survey results, by using SuperGuide’s search function at the top right of each page.
