ASFA provides lifestyle savings goals for retirees

Retireecouples need anannual income of $43,350to achieve a‘comfortable’retirement lifestyle, whilesingles need $32,800,according to new researchreleased by theAssociationof Superannuation Funds ofAustralia (ASFA).

The research, commissioned by Westpac BankingCorporation, also claimsthat for retirees to achieveonly a‘modest’retirementlifestyle a couple will need$23,550 annually, while singles will require $16,930.

Called the Westpac-ASFARetirement Living Standard, the research benchmarks the annual budgetneeded by Australians topay for both‘comfortable’and‘modest’retirements.

A‘comfortable’retirement may include a broadrange of leisure activitiesand a good standard of living, while a‘modest’retirement will be better than thepension but only providefor basic activities.

ASFA chief executivePhilippa Smith says theresearch provides a tool forindividuals to make a realistic assessment of howmuch they will need to save.

Westpac group generalmanager of sales Paul Lilleysays the pension is an indication of what retirees cansurvive on, but that mostpeople want to do morethan just survive.

“We know babyboomers and subsequentgenerations generally wantto maintain very active andsocial lifestyles when they’reretired and this standardprovides a way for Australians to gauge their ownneeds in retirement.”

The budgets were drawnup by examining what Australians spend their moneyon, costing these items andtesting the budgets on focusgroups of retired people.