Pension dependence
Relying on the age pension
A large proportion of retired Australians currently get most of their retirement funding from the age pension, according to a global survey on retirement conducted by AXA and GfK.
The 2010 AXA Retirement Scope survey reveals that almost half of those surveyed (48 per cent) rely on the age pension in their retirement.
Twenty-nine per cent funded most of their retirement from their own investments and savings, 21 per cent relied on their superannuation, and just two per cent used real estate.
In the US and Canada, self-reliance is preferred to state run initiatives and the trend is for this to continue. In the US 40 per cent of retirees surveyed relied on the state pension in their retirement, while just 13 per cent used their own savings and investments.
Across most of the European countries surveyed there was a heavy bias toward state pensions, with anything from 80 to 90 per cent of respondents citing it as their main source of retirement income and very low levels of personal investments and savings.
This high level of state dependency is expected to decrease as a greater emphasis on self-reliance gains ground. In most Western European countries occupation pensions are also expected to increase – although to a lesser extent than personal savings.
In contrast, many Australians would prefer the government to step in and increase mandatory superannuation contributions to meet their retirement income needs.
Australians are also less likely than other English speaking countries (UK and the US) to think they should have saved more personally.
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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.
