67% of super members do not top up

Only one-third (34%) of superannuation members have topped up their super account, with that number falling to 20% when it came to consistent monthly top-ups, according to a Finder survey.

Research by the firm found 67% of super members were not taking action to build up their nest egg. A quarter of respondents said they had never topped up, 26% said they did not but might in the future, and 16% said they used to.

Finder superannuation expert, Alison Banney, said super members should not be under the impression that an unsupplemented super balance would be enough for a comfortable retirement.

 “There’s a very real chance of people falling short financially when they retire,” she said.

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“The likely scenario for many is that their super fund might be enough to ‘scrape by’ but it won’t allow them to enjoy the golden years in the way they had planned.

“Often people don’t realise just how much they’ll need in order to fund their ideal retirement.”

Pointing to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) Retirement Standard data, Finder said the average man could only live for 3.5 years off their super, and only 2.8 years for women.

“Women have saved only 79% of the amount of their male counterparts by the time they reach retirement – often feeling the effects of the gender pay gap and time out of the workforce to perform caregiver duties,” Banney said.

“Without other assets like shares or investment properties to supplement their income, they may be looking to the pension within a decade.

“You could be retired for an extra decade than your parents - so you really need to take this into account much earlier in your life.”