Australians are more confident about their retirement, particularly those drawing down on their superannuation, but many feel the need to save more than originally planned, according to a survey across four nations with defined contribution retirement income systems.
The “2024 MFS Global Retirement Survey” found overall confidence in being able to retire had increased in Australia, with the number of people expecting they would not retire falling from 40 per cent in 2023 to 28 per cent this year.
Despite this, only 23 per cent said they were certain they could afford to retire at the age they wanted, down from 26 per cent in 2023.
The survey found high levels of confidence for those in retirement accessing their superannuation, with 38 per cent of interviewees very confident their saved assets would provide satisfactory cash flow during the retirement years, however, 59 per cent were concerned about the predictability of payments, which continued to rank as the most important retirement portfolio priority.
The data also showed three-quarters of superannuation fund members thought they needed to save more money, with one in two respondents stating it was a major concern and led to a quarter of interviewees changing their retirement investments over the past 12 months.
Fifty-five per cent of super contributors said they relied on information supplied by their funds to make their decisions, followed by financial media (31 per cent), a family member (30 per cent) and a financial adviser (29 per cent).
MFS Investment Management managing director Josh Barton said it was concerning to see how few Australians relied on financial advice to manage their financial affairs.
“Whilst it is encouraging to see the government trying to address this blind spot and enable more advice to be provided within superannuation, there is clearly much work to do and clarification needed,” Barton said.
“While more retirement plans appeared to be within reach, advice remained key to achieving it, even more so today given investment markets have become increasingly complex and difficult to navigate.”
The worldwide study interviewed 700 people in superannuation funds and 300 retirees in Australia and the same number of people in similar cohorts in Canada, the United States and United Kingdom to gauge pre and post-retirement sentiment.