A survey commissioned by Industry Super Australia has also shown that more than a quarter of the recently retired have been forced to go back to work.
The study conducted by Susan Bell Research saw a total of 734 industry fund members aged 47 years and older participate in either an online survey or a telephone interview between December and January.
It reported 38 per cent of recent retirees said they are living on a “very tight budget” with only enough for essentials, or they not making ends meet.
Industry Super said the figure had spiked from a similar 2010 research report when 30 per cent of recent retirees said they were either living on a very tight budget or not making ends meet.
In 2019, 20 per cent of retirees were noted to say their golden years were not as comfortable as they expected.
It also pointed to a gender gap, with the average pre-retiree woman at $190,000 holding just more than half the balance of men at $340,000.
Reflecting on the research, Industry Super has urged for the super rate to be lifted to 12 per cent by 2025, as legislated.
Industry Super chief executive Bernie Dean commented with an ageing population and many retirees doing it tough, the only way for the government to defuse the “ticking time bomb” is to lift the superannuation guarantee.
“With almost 40 per cent of retirees struggling to make ends meet Australian workers cannot afford any delay to the promised increases in the super guarantee rate,” Mr Dean said.
“Only by lifting the rate will workers be able to have the retirement of their choosing and the best chance to control when they end their working life.”
Some, such as the Grattan Institute have called for the opposite, calling for the super rate to be frozen at its current 9.5 per cent, with concerns that a raised guarantee will be taken out of workers’ wages.
The Association of Superannuation Funds Australia (ASFA) slammed Grattan’s recent report on consumer’s retirement aspirations.
ASFA chief executive Dr Martin Fahy said Grattan has offered a bleak vision of retirement, where “everyone over the age of 75 sits at home watching daytime TV, waiting for a public hospital bed.”
“A Jansenite model of retirement where the few are destined for a dignified retirement and the working classes are condemned to the age pension has no place in modern Australia,” Dr Fahy said.
“People are active and motivated in retirement and they want to have choices. They don’t want their grandparents’ retirement.
“The development of retirement policy needs to recognise and support the changing landscape where more and more Australians are working longer, living longer, and staying active longer.”
