Browsing through the financial press today I came across a couple of references to AXA's Retirement Scope research.  AXA explains on their website that the purpose of the research is to better understand retirement issues worldwide.  It explores workers expectations and retirees experiences across 26 countries.

Some interesting findings from the report were that:

• 51% of Australians were prepared for life after work
• 39% of retirees admitting to never reviewing their plans
• 33% of working Australians know the amount of their future retirement income.
• the retirement income of the average Australian was $1,917 a month which was enough to cover household expenses.

Our brief analysis of these points is that there is a need for many more Australians to be more focused on retirement needs and not just in the last few years leading up to retirement but also in earlier stages of life.  One trap is that it is very easy to forget about assets held in superannuation accounts as access to this money is restricted.  However, it is our experience that earlier attention to contribution towards and the investment of these superannuation assets can make a significant difference to people in retirement.

For a brief analysis of what people should be thinking about in various life stages take a look at our Financial Planning for Life Stages page on our site.

Please drop us a line if you are concerned / interested in knowing more about whether you are making the most of strategies to build the size of all of your financial assets in preparation for retirement and in particular whether your superannuation assets are being wisely managed.

Kind regards,

Scott Keefer