POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Super makes Australians happy
Australians are among the most satisfied people in the world with almost 90 per cent satisfied with their lives — and the peace of mind granted by our superannuation guarantee could be a key factor, according to the latest AMP.NATSEM Income and Wealth Report: The Pursuit of Happiness.
Australia ranked behind only Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Canada among OECD countries, and NATSEM author senior research fellow Rebecca Cassells said that superannuation was one of the assets studies that was highly correlated with happiness.
“Anything that’s going to increase security and living standards, which is what the superannuation guarantee sets out to do, is going to affect people’s satisfaction levels,” she said.
AMP Financial Services managing director Craig Meller said that overall satisfaction was affected both by the things that people enjoy but also by things that people worry about.
“The thing about super is having long-term savings and knowing you’re going to have safety in retirement … is taking away one of those worry issues, but in many other countries they’re still there,” he said.
“In many countries they’re now worrying about whether the country is going to be able to afford to pay any aged pension at all let alone anything on top of that. That link to long-term savings is an important one and the fact that most Australians know to a certain extent because of the super guarantee they’ve got it sorted is a positive contributor,” he said.
The report also found that among working Australians, those who worked less hours were more satisfied overall than those who worked long hours but job seekers were least satisfied, and lower levels of debt (under $100,000) were more likely to lead to dissatisfaction than higher levels of debt, possibly because those with higher levels of debt were more financially stable or paying off a secure asset such as a house.
Overall Australian workers are happy with their security, flexibility and the nature of their jobs but less satisfied with their working hours and pay, the report states.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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