It took about a decade to construct the cross-party consensus, and the support of trade unions and employers, that made automatic enrolment into private pension schemes a realistic prospect. The achievement…
Delaying the super guarantee increase will have widespread repercussions.
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The Abbott government’s deal with the Palmer United Party to freeze the minimum superannuation contribution rate at 9.5% until 2021 will not only cost retirees, it will also see future governments forced…
He’s only 28 years old, but Eamon Sullivan has hung up his goggles.
EPA/Julian Abram Wainwright
As the Commonwealth Games enters its last days, Australian sprinter John Steffenson announced he’s hanging up the spikes after the tournament is over, and diver Matthew Mitcham hinted at retiring too…
They want us to retire at what age?
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Warren Sanderson, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York) dan Sergei Scherbov, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
The idea of raising the retirement age is not popular – most people resent being told they must work for longer. But with life expectancies increasing and people enjoying higher quality of life at older…
Many people prefer casual work and a phased approach to retirement.
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The norm of permanent full-time terms of employment is under serious challenge. In Australia today more than one-third of employed people work on more variable terms – in particular as casuals (19%), independent…
It’s unrealistic and unfair to expect everyone to have the same retirement age.
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Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey has confirmed the pension age will rise to 70 by 2035, meaning all Australians currently aged under 50 will be affected. It follows a recommendation from the Commission…
Treasurer Joe Hockey has his sights set on the age pension.
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Treasurer Joe Hockey last night stepped up his rhetoric on the the need for heavy government spending cuts, singling out the A$40 billion age pension cost as “much more than we spend on defence, or hospitals…
Older workers are already working longer; but the debate around paying for the Age Pension has only just begun.
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Talk about increasing the Age Pension eligibility age to 70 has generated a lot of anxiety and indignation. What seems to be going unnoticed in all the hype is that we have just experienced a round of…
Having enough money for retirement will take more super contributions than most Australians are making.
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Australians are increasingly relying on superannuation for their retirement income, but despite more than 20 years of compulsory super, many people are not retiring with enough. The assets under management…
Retirement incomes will leave many short, especially single people.
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Only 53% of couples and 22% of single people are on track to achieve a comfortable level of retirement income, according to an in-depth study of the adequacy of retirement savings. The outcome of a collaboration…
Redundancies at Holden highlight the fact that around three quarters of those retiring early do so involuntarily.
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Holden’s move to withdraw from Australian manufacturing draws attention to the significant problem of involuntary retirement in Australia. While the official retirement age is 65 years, there are many…
Dealing with an ageing population and workforce has been a concern for some years, with Tony Abbott promising changes to make it easier for older workers to find employment.
AAP/Paul Miller
The Federal Government only took a few hours to quash suggestions made by the Productivity Commission on Friday to lift the retirement age. But while the Commission’s report is based on research that’s…
Australia’s approach to retirement incomes policy has three pillars. The first pillar is the means-tested age pension, which dates from 1909, and is intended to provide a safety net should the other pillars…
A quarter of retirees are using their superannuation lump sum to pay off debt: is this poor planning or the result of tax incentives?
Will extra debt neutralise increases in the superannuation contribution rate? Studies of retirees’ financial positions show that many people accumulate debt faster than they add to their super. Once they…
Welcome to Shades of Grey, a series from The Conversation that examines the challenges posed by Australia’s ageing workforce. Today, Rafal Chomik, a Senior Research Fellow at UNSW’s ARC Centre of Excellence…
There’s little proof that the transition to retirement has a significant impact on mental health.
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Welcome to Shades of Grey, a series from The Conversation that examines the challenges posed by Australia’s ageing workforce. Today, Australian National University’s Sarah Olesen and Peter Butterworth…