The Association of Super Funds of Australia has revealed exactly how much you need to retire comfortably and now my retirement plan is to simply die.
According to Australia’s peak superannuation body, singles need $595,000 in their super to retire, while couples need $690,000.
These figures are based on couples and singles aged 65 to 84 who own their own home, who would need a minimum of $73,337 and $52,085 per year respectively to live a comfortable life.
A “comfortable” retirement is defined as being able to afford regular everyday expenses while also being able to splash out on an occasional restaurant meal, and an overseas trip every seven years. So if you’re keen to jet-set more than once a decade, you’re gonna want some extra cash in your super.
However, these figures are expected to rise significantly by the time we all retire due to the cozzie livs crisis. Not to mention, you’ll need a heap more cash if you don’t own your own home by the time you retire — so make sure to stress yourself out about that!
Concerningly, only 30 percent of Australians could comfortably retire right now and I, for one, am not one of them.
The new report also outlined the impact of COVID-19 on our superannuation balances and, warning, it’s not good.
Thanks to the COVID Early Release payments, approximately 160,000 superannuation accounts closed, while an additional one million accounts dropped to a balance of less than $1,000.
ASFA CEO Mary Delahunty stressed that the questionable policy will have detrimental long-term impacts for those who accessed it.
“We saw a really unfortunate policy lever pulled in COVID that we hope never to be touched again, and that was the attack on preservation,” she said in the report.
“It has had an enormously detrimental effect on retirement balances, which means that people have had to take from their own future selves to bail themselves out of COVID and they will feel that in the long run, it’s terribly unfair on them.”
However it’s not all doom and gloom because the ATO has also revealed that it is holding onto a whopping $17.8 billion in unclaimed superannuation, so it’s well worth checking to see if some of that hard-earned cash has your name on it.
“Many Australians have forgotten to update their contact details, so their super fund can’t find them,” ATO Deputy Commissioner Emma Rosenzweig said.
“If you’ve changed job, moved house or simply forgotten to update your details, you may have lost or unclaimed super [which means] more money in retirement may be on the table.”
If you’ve changed name, job or address recently, it may be worth completing a Super Health Check to see if you’re missing any super.
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