Why neglecting your super isn’t a super idea

Here’s the bad news.  The cost of living , for Australia’s retired people has been rising faster than that of the general population.

This effect, which may well be temporary. shows up in figures just released jointly by the Australian Superannuation Funds Association and the Westpac bank. They show, for example, that retired people saw their living costs  rise of by 0.7 per cent in the September quarter while those of the general population rose by just 0.4 per cent.

The difference arises largely from the different spending patterns or retired people and the general population.

Electricity prices, which affect the entire population, rose by 11.4 per cent in the quarter.

Their figures, published below, also give a very useful guide to how much you will need, in retirement, either to live modestly or to have a comfortable lifestyle.

They indicate, for example, that a retired couple in Australia now needs to spend $51,437 a year, to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.

You would need, of course, to adjust your plans each year, to maintain the value of your retirement savings, in real terms.

The present 9 per cent compulsory super levy will help with that, but it won’t be sufficient alone.

That’s because, by itself, it would provide barely enough to generate an income stream that could be described as “adequate,” let alone modest.

One of the great failings, of the present compulsory superannuation arrangements is that, by and large, Australians tend to set and forget their super funds, neglecting the fact that they need to be kept up to date.

Table 1: Budgets for various households and living standards

But there is good news, too.

Other figures, just released, show that there has been a strong recovery in super fund earnings, over recent months.

The independent agency, Superratings, reports that the funds have chalked up earnings growth of 10.07 per cent  over the past year.

Jeff Bresnahan of Superrattings, admits that the funds are still 11 per cent off the peak they reached in November last year.

But he said this is a far cry from the 25 per cent fall, evident just nine months ago.

In a second development yesterday, the Federal government released simplified product disclosure statements, for the superannuation and financial management industries.

Public comment is  being sought.