Australians undecided on selling family home to fund retirement

Almost half of Australians are undecided on whether they will have to sell the family home to fund their retirement, according to the latest MLC Wealth Sentiment Survey.

Australians also expect to cut spending on their children, home and entertainment in retirement and direct the savings into meeting healthcare and medical costs.

In net balance terms, 23 per cent of Australians expect to cut back spending on their children in retirement, while 30 per cent expect to spend less on major household items, followed by home improvements.

By comparison, most respondents expect their health spending will rise and to a lesser extent, other essentials such as utility bills and insurance.

Australians are also more willing to cut back on entertainment and dining-out costs once retired, but less likely to reduce spending on travel, groceries and their superannuation and investments.

While more than half of those surveyed believe they won’t have enough, or far from enough to retire, the overall level of concern about financial sufficiency in retirement fell for the September quarter.

This is despite little change in conservative investor behaviour.

“Australians are looking to rely on the family home to help fund their retirement and cut back spending on their children and home to make their savings last,” NAB Wealth group executive Andrew Hagger said.

“With a trillion-dollar retirement savings gap and ageing population, we want Australians to start planning and investing for their retirement now so they can achieve their goals in the future,” Mr Hagger said.

“While the level of concern about financial sufficiency in retirement fell this quarter, half of all Australians still aren’t confident they will have enough to fund their retirement and around one in six are not investing at all,” he said.