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Australians still lack confidence in adequacy of super savings
Despite 90 per cent of Australians understanding they will have to accept increasing responsibility for their own retirement savings, four out of 10 are not confident that their superannuation will cover their retirement, according to a study conducted by CPA Australia.
Providing a snapshot of public views on a range of financial issues, the survey also covered confidence in Australian corporations, performance of business leaders, financial planners and accountants, superannuation fund reporting, superannuation funds’ influence on broader community interests and socially responsible investing.
Perspectives of financial planners, analysts and brokers as well as directors, chief executives and chief financial officers were also collected.
Among the key outcomes was a 29 per cent increase in respondents’ confidence in superannuation compared with a year ago, and a 31 per cent increase in investment confidence generally.
These levels were well above confidence level increases in major Australian corporations and domestic and overseas share markets.
The report said: “Forty one per cent of Australians are not confident they will have adequate savings to fund their retirement,” with this rising to 60 per cent for women aged 40 to 55, and falling to 30 per cent for shareholders.
It also showed that 34 per cent of Australians expect to rely on compulsory superannuation and 21 per cent expect to rely on voluntary superannuation in retirement.
Financial advisers expected these to be the primary sources of retirement funds for 74 per cent of their clients.
Superannuation fund annual reports also came under question in the survey, with over half of the respondents indicating they are “too complex to be useful”. Thirty four per cent found these to be more about fund marketing than information.
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