Marriage or 40 trigger retirement planning

Australians are delaying retirement planning until later in life to their own detriment, according to a study commissioned by AXA.

Conducted by Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) on Axa’s behalf, a key finding of the research was that marriage or turning 40 — whichever came first — were the key triggers for retirement planning.

AXA head of marketing Cam Cimino warned that this could contribute to an epidemic of poverty among those aged 60 and over.

“Relying on compulsory employer superannuation contributions until you get married or turn 40 is a dangerous path,” Cimino said.

“The sooner [individuals] seek financial advice, the better off they will be in the long term.”

The qualitative study of 55 people consisted of eight focus groups, comprising a variety of single and married individuals aged between 25 and 55.

Factors that caused study participants to delay retirement planning included anxiety about superannuation preservation rules restricting access to money, a reluctance to compromise current lifestyle for distant retirement goals and concern that financial institutions could go out of business before paying retirement benefits.

MGSM researcher Catherine Rickwood said she was surprised by another finding that some young women delay consideration of their retirement finances because of an expectation that their future husband would manage these affairs.

“These young women believe their financial future will be sorted out by the arrival of a husband,” Rickwood said, but the study also found that some young men wait until marriage to plan for retirement because they believe their wife will manage this along with other household finances.