Page 5 - How Australia Retires

04 Vanguard | How Australia Retires

Insight 01

Work and retirement are being

redefined by working-age Australians 2

Over the past decade, Through these impacts on the
the working lives of way we work, many working-age
Australians are not only changing
Australians have been their expectations of life before
impacted by a range of retirement , but also reshaping
4
factors across the social their expectations of retirement
and what this later phase of life
and economic landscape, means to them.
including regulation,
health and technology. Unlike generations before them,
working-age Australians are
more likely to want to disrupt the
The rise of the digital economy and traditional pathway to retirement
the COVID-19 global pandemic by taking parental leave, career
heralded further lasting effects breaks or pursuing further study, or
on the way Australians live and continuing some form of work even
work. The acceleration of digital after commencing retirement.
tools and capability across the
business and social community has
brought new flexibility and shifted
employee expectations of what
work looks like. So too has evolving
legislation like Australia’s national
Paid Parental Leave scheme which
will soon be further enhanced to
provide greater working flexibility
to Australian families . All this
3
has seen the career path options
of contemporary workers
irrevocably changed.

2. For the purposes of this study, ‘working-age Australians’ are defined as those within the study who did not self-identify as retired.
3. From 1 July 2023, the entitlement to 18 weeks’ paid parental leave pay will be combined with the current Dad and Partner Pay entitlement
to 2 weeks’ pay. This means partnered couples will be able to claim up to 20 weeks’ paid parental leave between them. Parents who are single
at the time of their claim can access the full 20 weeks (Source: Australian Government Fair Work Ombudsman, April 2023)
4. Traditionally, ‘retirement’ has been understood as a reference to the phase of life when one ceases full-time paid work or ceases paid work
altogether. Participants in the study were not provided with a specific definition of ‘retirement’, so the results effectively reflect individuals’
subjective interpretations of ‘retirement’ which may vary. While there is no one universally applicable prescribed ‘retirement age’ in Australia,
subjective understandings of ‘retirement’ may be influenced by the fact that an individual qualifies for the Age Pension between age 65-67
years old depending on when they were born (provided they satisfy all other relevant criteria), and gains access to their superannuation
savings once they reach their ‘preservation age’ and either retire or elect to receive a ‘transition to retirement’ income stream, and in any
event when they turn 65 years old (Sources: Services Australia and the Australian Tax Office).