Women to rely on aged pensions
Most Australian women will have to rely on aged pensions when they retire because their superannuation fund balances are inadequate, according to a university study.
Most Australian women will have to rely on aged pensions when they retire because their superannuation fund balances are inadequate, according to a university study.
Professor Linda Rosenman, of the University of Queensland's School of Social Work and Social Policy, says a survey of 735 women shows that only a handful of women are topping up their superannuation funds beyond compulsory employer contribution.
"The compulsory nature of superannuation scheme membership may be giving women a 'false sense of security' about their futures," Prof Rosenman says.
The study found that 97 per cent of full-time workers and 87 per cent of part-time workers were in a super scheme, compared with 55 per cent and 19 per cent respec-tively 10 years ago.
"Our study found that while most working Australian women were now covered by a superannuation scheme compared with 10 years ago, this was no cause for compla-cency," Prof Rosenman says.
"Given women's low earnings and discontinuous participation in the labour force, the potential for the majority of women to be self-supporting through their own superan-nuation and investments in retirement seems low."
Women who only had employer super would have accrued relatively little for retire-ment, despite having been members of super schemes, she said.
The survey, which was a follow-up study to a similar one conducted in 1998, analysed women's attitudes towards superannuation and financial planning. It was funded by AMP and government agencies, including the Australian Taxation Office.
Recommended for you
The director of Ascent Investment and Coaching, Michael Dunjey, has been charged with 33 criminal offences.
Adviser Ratings’ latest financial landscape report finds there is a demographic of advice practices achieving an average revenue of $5 million, with only 3 per cent of practices overall seeing a revenue decline.
The FAAA is calling for regulators to take a partnership approach with financial advisers regarding incoming legislation, rather than treating the industry as “guinea pigs”.
There have been strong numbers of returning advisers this year so far, according to Wealth Data, already surpassing the same period for 2024.