Great expectations
Retirement expectation out of kilter
Working Australians are strongly opposed to the government increasing the legal retirement age.
The 2010 AXA Retirement Scope survey found there was significant resistance to the idea of working longer or having the legal age for retirement increased by the state as a solution to ensure sufficient retirement income across all 26 countries surveyed. (R2. p.39)
Yet more and more governments are turning against popular opinion and increasing the qualifying age for the pension as a way to meet the demands of aging populations and struggling economies.
Australia was one of the first countries to announce a change this year when the Federal Government announced a plan to lift the qualifying age for the Age Pension from 65 to 67 by 2023.
However the idea of working longer to ensure sufficient income in retirement received little traction from Australian workers, with just five per cent considering it an option. (R2. p.39)
In contrast, more than double the amount of French workers support the state increasing the retirement age, with a respectable 11 per cent considering it a solution.
In September France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for a full pension from 65 to 67 was met with such hostility it prompted mass strikes across the nation, lasting more than seven weeks.
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As at 30th March 2011, AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited and all of its Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries ceased to be members of the Global AXA Group and became members of the AMP Group.
