There’s a revolt underway in consumer land as Australians from all walks of life vote with their feet and shun superannuation in favour of personal savings and other investments.
Some push-back is to be expected given account balances struggled to fight the pull of gravity over the last two years, falling lower and lower for what seemed like an eternity to most members.
But what’s really interesting is what’s driving the distrust and scepticism of super. It’s not so much the performance of funds during the financial crisis but instead a fear that the Government will change the rules.
This message came through loud and clear in a recent Focus Group held by CoreData with pre and post-retirees aged 50 to 70.
Brad, a 55-year-old male, says he’s never trusted super because he doesn’t trust the government. He says successive governments keep “changing the laws arbitrarily” and we’re in for another wave of that this year with the election looming.
Brad is not alone in his line of thinking. Indeed there was wide consensus around the table that super is not the safe haven that the industry would have you believe, and while there are tax incentives to saving through super, this is irrelevant if the goal posts keep shifting.
Bruce, a 52-year-old male, thinks relying on super could cause him big problems in retirement. He’s developing his assets outside of super as well because he’s convinced that the Government has dug itself “such a deep debt hole” that they’ll use the superannuation system to recoup that.
The building scepticism is reflected in a recent study by CoreData which found superannuation is the number one financial concern for the average Australian.
Super, including fund rollover, Government super policy, planning for retirement, retirement income options and pensions, ranked ahead of tax, family financial matters, paying off loans, investing and saving.
Industry bodies such as the AIST, ASFA and IFSA have recently repeated calls for a hike of Superannuation Guarantee (SG) to 12% to avoid a $695 billion retirement savings gap.
If the dissent among consumers continues to grow, a legislated increase might just be the only way to boost contributions to the system.
From Burning Pants
