Almost half of Australians have not consulted any information to plan for their retirement and of those who do, less than 50 per cent have sought professional advice, according to new research from the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).
ASFA’s “Survey on Superannuation and Retirement” found 51 per cent of Australians aged 18 and over have accessed retirement-related information, with those aged 65 and older the most likely to do so (58 per cent).
Among those who sought advice, 21 per cent turned to financial advisers, while an equal number relied on friends and family. Other common sources of information included online calculators and resources (15 per cent), super fund advisers (12 per cent), media articles (8 per cent) and social media (6 per cent).
“It’s concerning to see such a lack of engagement with information about retirement. It means many Australians may end up worse off than they should be in their post-working lives, simply because they haven’t been empowered with the relevant guidance,” ASFA chief executive Mary Delahunty noted.
“This research highlights the need for urgent reform to make high-quality, low-cost advice easily accessible to every Australian worker through their super funds.
“The advice in super legislation will reduce red tape and improve the efficiency of accessing advice. It will be a revolutionary step for Australians’ access to trusted advice that will improve their financial well-being in retirement.”
The survey found professional advisers were the most trusted source of retirement information across all ages, closely followed by super fund advisers and family and friends.
Older Australians were more likely to trust and consult professional advisers, while younger respondents, aged 18 to 34, often sought advice from family and friends and were 15 times more likely to turn to social media for advice than those over 65.
Despite the high level of trust in financial advisers and super fund advisers, there remains a gap between trust and actual use of these resources.
“Although people trust financial advisers as a source of information, the problem is that their services remain too expensive for the average working Australian to access. Sadly, these are the people most in need of quality financial advice to improve their retirement outcomes,” Delahunty said.
The survey was based on the responses of 1500 adults, representative of the broader population in terms of age, gender, education and whether respondents reside in urban or regional areas.
