A baby boomer fears he will have to work until he dies because he has not saved enough money in his pension fund.
City planner Angus, 64, is still paying his mortgage and has less than $3,000 left to fund his retirement.
He said the stereotype of the rich baby boomer doesn’t apply to him.
“I am not rich. I depend on my own business for my income because there is no one else who will give me a job,” Angus told SBS Insight.
‘Right now, the best prognosis is that I will have to work until I am 75 to pay off the mortgage and other debts.’
Angus said two expensive divorces were a huge setback to his retirement plans.
“When I first got married, we had an investment property and a stock portfolio,” he says.
‘I lost the investment property, the house and the stock portfolio and came out with a negative net worth.’
Angus, a 64-year-old city planner, is still paying his mortgage and has virtually no pension.
A single pensioner needs $51,278 a year to maintain their lifestyle, provided they have paid off their home, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia has revealed. For couples, that figure rises to $72,148.
To achieve this goal, someone with a median pre-tax income of $65,000 would need to have $220,000 in retirement savings at age 45.
For someone making $90,000 a year, which is slightly lower than the average full-time salary of $95,581, the required retirement savings amount at age 45 is $176,000.
According to Mary Delahunty, CEO of ASFA, high inflation is putting pressure on retirees’ finances.
“Pensioners’ budgets have been under significant pressure over the past two years due to the high costs of essential goods and services,” she said.
Insurance costs are a major drain on pensioners’ finances, rising 16.3 percent last year as electricity bills rose 6.9 percent and food prices rose 4.5 percent.
