Australian Politics Forum - Average super at retirement

Grappler Truth Teller Feller

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Average super at retirement
Sep 5^th, 2024 at 3:00pm

https://www.msn.com/en-au/lifestyle/misc/what-s-the-average-superannuation-balan...

"For those born on or after 1 January 1957, the retirement age in Australia is 67 years.

The retirement age is generally defined as the time of life when you become eligible for the age pension.
According to the latest available figures from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the average superannuation balance for an Australian aged between 65 and 69 years is $428,738.

The median is $207,540.

If we break the numbers down by gender…

The average balance for men is $453,075 and the average for women is $403,038.

The median for men is $213,986 and the median for women is $201,233."

Simple rule of thumb (Grappler style) - and let's just look at the medians:-

5% of $214 = $10,700

5% of 201(ish) = $10,000

Round figures for ease ... so NOBODY except the well off or the fat super cats has anywhere near enough in super to retire without at least a part pension.

Some are doing very well.... others are doing very badly.... so much for Keating's fantasy of $300,000 in a super fund at 1992 standard, when you could buy a house in Sydney for $185k and most people were on $12 an hour or so. So on that basis of home ownership you'd need at LEAST $3m in a super fund.... or on the wage basis you'd need at least $750k in the super fund ....... which only shows how far real wages have fallen behind costs of living with homing being the highest cost.

As for the 'gender gap' here - pumping women into the fattest super jobs in masses will turn that around very shortly - and by the time the full lifespan of super - say 52 years age 15- age 67 - has expired, women will be way in front after mostly spending a lifetime in the soft jobs, while blokes increasingly, requiring to gain contracts and such and taking menial work at lower rates (as shown by the REAL gender wage gap figures) will be way behind - and that's after a lifetime of paying for family that they often do not even have a say in.

Well - once the social scientists with their utopian fantasies get their hands on the till - we are all doomed - but hey - rest assured those fantasists will not retire with $10k a year of super.... more like a few hundred grand.

HELLO, AUSTRALIA! You Awake yet... Truly Woke? Cool

I can't be here forever to hold your hands as you throw that bleach in your own eyes.

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Sprintcyclist

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Re: Average super at retirement
Reply #1 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 3:29pm

Anyone can retire whenever they want. Your retirement age is up to you.
The age many are eligible for a pension is 67.
The 2 things are entirely different.

I retired at 62, my wife at 64. We have no debts and 2 old cars.
It depends what you want in life.

A friend of mine bought a $70K EV. It depreciates at about $300 a week. He could have put $50K into his Super, bought a Camry/Mazda and retired a few years earlier.

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Modern Classic Right Wing

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Grappler Truth Teller Feller Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 84853 Proud pre-1850's NO Voter Gender:	Re: Average super at retirement Reply #2 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 3:39pm And your super balance is? How much he pay you one fortnight?
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Sprintcyclist

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Re: Average super at retirement
Reply #3 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 4:12pm

My super balance is pretty good, thanks.
I worked for 40 odd years and looked after my super when it counted.
Salary sacrificed into it as much as I could for 6+ years, same as my wife.

We live an unpretentious life. We buy what we want, we just don't 'want' a lot of stuff.
One of our friends always has a new phone, new watch, new laptop, new car, many tv services, personalised number plates .
I have a S9 phone, 7 year old laptop, no watch, no pay tv services, 16 year old camry.

We make lots of meals at home because they are nicer.

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freediver

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Re: Average super at retirement
Reply #4 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 6:07pm

Grappler Truth Teller Feller wrote on Sep 5^th, 2024 at 3:00pm:

https://www.msn.com/en-au/lifestyle/misc/what-s-the-average-superannuation-balan...

"For those born on or after 1 January 1957, the retirement age in Australia is 67 years.

The retirement age is generally defined as the time of life when you become eligible for the age pension.
According to the latest available figures from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the average superannuation balance for an Australian aged between 65 and 69 years is $428,738.

The median is $207,540.

If we break the numbers down by gender…

The average balance for men is $453,075 and the average for women is $403,038.

The median for men is $213,986 and the median for women is $201,233."

Simple rule of thumb (Grappler style) - and let's just look at the medians:-

5% of $214 = $10,700

5% of 201(ish) = $10,000

Round figures for ease ... so NOBODY except the well off or the fat super cats has anywhere near enough in super to retire without at least a part pension.

Some are doing very well.... others are doing very badly.... so much for Keating's fantasy of $300,000 in a super fund at 1992 standard, when you could buy a house in Sydney for $185k and most people were on $12 an hour or so. So on that basis of home ownership you'd need at LEAST $3m in a super fund.... or on the wage basis you'd need at least $750k in the super fund ....... which only shows how far real wages have fallen behind costs of living with homing being the highest cost.

As for the 'gender gap' here - pumping women into the fattest super jobs in masses will turn that around very shortly - and by the time the full lifespan of super - say 52 years age 15- age 67 - has expired, women will be way in front after mostly spending a lifetime in the soft jobs, while blokes increasingly, requiring to gain contracts and such and taking menial work at lower rates (as shown by the REAL gender wage gap figures) will be way behind - and that's after a lifetime of paying for family that they often do not even have a say in.

Well - once the social scientists with their utopian fantasies get their hands on the till - we are all doomed - but hey - rest assured those fantasists will not retire with $10k a year of super.... more like a few hundred grand.

HELLO, AUSTRALIA! You Awake yet... Truly Woke? Cool

I can't be here forever to hold your hands as you throw that bleach in your own eyes.

When was the last time you met someone who intended to retire on their super alone? This is the mindset that lead to super being imposed on us against our will in the first place. People should be expected to save their own money. Not only save money if the government steps in and forces their hand.

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Grappler Truth Teller Feller

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Re: Average super at retirement
Reply #5 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 6:49pm

freediver wrote on Sep 5^th, 2024 at 6:07pm:

When was the last time you met someone who intended to retire on their super alone? This is the mindset that lead to super being imposed on us against our will in the first place. People should be expected to save their own money. Not only save money if the government steps in and forces their hand.

Near right - that was the basis on which it was SOLD as the surefire way to reduce the 'cost' of pensions - it's not a mindset - it's the reality for far too many and shows the pure paucity of political prognostication on peripheral points such as retirement funding for the majority. (phew - that was a lungful!) If governments could rightly expect people to save their own money, they would not put so many barriers in the way of people earning money.... ergo - the game plan is NOT to permit the peasants sufficient discretionary income to save adequately towards a future retirement - but to use economic forces to create an environment of master/serf, as they all secretly dream will one day be the reality.

Most people I know would prefer to put that 12% into investment, rather than having it removed sideways so the vultures can pluck at its guts... politicians, in the main, are grifters and neo-Fascists (whether they be Nazi or Stalinist)...

NOTE:- NO 'part-time casual' will EVER have a super balance worth mentioning.... so without major changes in the approach to national economy and service to the people, many will still retire with only pension.

Sinn Fein, my son - we, as a nation, must stand together alone.... and tell the international and global parasites to stick it.

This kind of internationalist investment is not the answer - it's a handout and most likely to be wasted.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/hope-they-pull-it-off-655-million-unlocked-...

Australia's gas 'crisis' is another example of 'investment' and 'policy' going totally off the rails, and not in the national interest.

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« Last Edit: Sep 5^th, 2024 at 6:56pm by Grappler Truth Teller Feller »

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
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freediver Gold Member Offline www.ozpolitic.com Posts: 49133 At my desk.	Re: Average super at retirement Reply #6 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 6:55pm People are living beyond their means. That's all it boils down to. You get the same problem in the richest countries on earth and the poorest.
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Grappler Truth Teller Feller

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Re: Average super at retirement
Reply #7 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 6:58pm

freediver wrote on Sep 5^th, 2024 at 6:55pm:

People are living beyond their means. That's all it boils down to. You get the same problem in the richest countries on earth and the poorest.

Yes - but they are also forced, unless they are very fortunate or are excellent grifters, to live beyond their means due to never-ending rises in costs of living... if they merely work for a living, they are doomed to be in the latter category.

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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
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MeisterEckhart

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Re: Average super at retirement
Reply #8 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 7:02pm

freediver wrote on Sep 5^th, 2024 at 6:55pm:

People are living beyond their means. That's all it boils down to. You get the same problem in the richest countries on earth and the poorest.

Wouldn't that be a good argument for state-mandated savings... Because so many people don't do what they should?

The alternative would be having the state pick up the tab in their retirement years.

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freediver

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Re: Average super at retirement
Reply #9 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 7:25pm

Quote:

Wouldn't that be a good argument for state-mandated savings... Because so many people don't do what they should?

It's a good argument not to tell them that in exchange for paying taxes, the government will fund their retirement. It will take a generation or two for that mindset to change.

Compulsory super costs each Australian wage earner about $1000 per year in administration fees alone. Probably more. Then add in the fact that they make poorer investment decisions. Someone just starting out should put their super into their home loan instead, or save for a deposit. Until they have a lot of spare money, they are not going to put the mental effort into investing wisely, so they get taken advantage of. That $1000 goes into the pockets of the people who keep loudly advising the public and the politicians that 10% super simply is not enough, with a scare campaign that we all need millions of dollars sitting in an investment account or we will starve when we retire. Plus we have the unions who seem to think that increasing superannuation is a free pay rise that would never end up coming out of salaries.

Australia also exacerbates the problem by making it difficult for our poorest to live within their means. It is illegal for example to sell or rent a cheap house to a poor person if it does not meet a 'standard' decided on by a politician, who is being advised and funded by all the people who profit from the approvals process. Australia keeps trying to replace freedom of choice with welfare.

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« Last Edit: Sep 5^th, 2024 at 7:31pm by freediver »

People who can't distinguish between etymology and entomology bug me in ways I cannot put into words.

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MeisterEckhart

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Re: Average super at retirement
Reply #10 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 8:07pm

freediver wrote on Sep 5^th, 2024 at 7:25pm:

Australia also exacerbates the problem by making it difficult for our poorest to live within their means. It is illegal for example to sell or rent a cheap house to a poor person if it does not meet a 'standard' decided on by a politician, who is being advised and funded by all the people who profit from the approvals process. Australia keeps trying to replace freedom of choice with welfare.

Are you making an argument for slum lordship?

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lee Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 17812 Gender:	Re: Average super at retirement Reply #11 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 8:15pm The thread is a confused mismatch. The topic "average super at retirement", it gives that and then morphs into the "median".
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Laugh till you cry Gold Member Offline Posts: 16619 In your happy place Gender:	Re: Average super at retirement Reply #12 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 8:17pm lee wrote on Sep 5^th, 2024 at 8:15pm: The thread is a confused mismatch. The topic "average super at retirement", it gives that and then morphs into the "median". Median superannuation is more representative of the general population than average superannuation which is slanted towards the wealthy.
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Grappler Truth Teller Feller

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Re: Average super at retirement
Reply #13 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 8:54pm

My dispute with it is that it is severely unbalanced in favour of some and not many others, and particularly against the PTCs who never generate enough super in fund to make the charges and fees worthwhile. You need to look at that on a proportional basis... one man's $10 bill is another man's fortune.....

Then there is the question of outlandishly unbalanced super schemes.. but we all know that already.

I bring you - again - the Grappler One-Roof One Set Of Rules Fund, with hoarded cash available to state and federal and maybe local governments for approved solid infrastructure projects at a fair return in interest. That way we should see the country actually go ahead in one small way.

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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
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Grappler Truth Teller Feller

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Re: Average super at retirement
Reply #14 - Sep 5^th, 2024 at 8:58pm

Laugh till you cry wrote on Sep 5^th, 2024 at 8:17pm:

lee wrote on Sep 5^th, 2024 at 8:15pm:

The thread is a confused mismatch. The topic "average super at retirement", it gives that and then morphs into the "median".

Median superannuation is more representative of the general population than average superannuation which is slanted towards the wealthy.

You're good when you're not slapping yourself around the head ...

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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
― John Adams

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