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A recent survey conducted by MLC has unearthed some interesting perceptions of how Australians think about money and especially wealth, class and retirement, compared to 20 or 30 years ago.

Some striking revelations from this survey such as; Twenty per cent of those with a household income of $200,000 are living pay-to-pay and having $1 million does not make you rich.

46% of survey respondents said they were living from pay-to-pay, which on it’s own is very alarming.

Also, about the same proportion (48%) said living comfortably requires at least $150,000 per annum income.

This survey was conducted by MLC for the purpose of providing advisers and wealth managers with a better understanding of how Australians identify themselves and discover their financial aspirations.

It seems the results are confusing and alarming to say the least, I would say anyway!

There were other misconceptions revealed from this survey about how Australians view their own, and other people’s wealth. Two thirds (66%) labelled themselves as middle class or lower middle class whilst in reality only 20% actually fit this category.

The research suggest there is a clear disconnect between the definition of “lifestyle” and “standard of living” with many of the respondents saying the pre-requisites for a typical middle class Australian were; having a professional job, the ability to send their children to private school and owning a house and a car. With the average household income of the middle class now sitting at $77,676 per annum it seems most Australians attitudes are a mismatch with financial reality.

It seems that managing people’s expectations as we move forward is going to be harder and harder when it comes to money and especially retirement.

One thing is for sure; our spending patterns have changed dramatically and are most certainly not in line with our savings patterns.

It also seems that financial apathy is becoming more of the norm as this research tells us that Australians are looking to the government for answers with almost half of the survey respondents believing the government should do more to help middle class families.

Personally, I thought government was there to govern and lead the country as a whole and provide the resources for its citizens to take advantage off. Since when is the government there to provide us all with wealth in retirement…wait, didn’t communism promote that and fail miserably, time and time again.

Yes I totally agree that whatever government has power they should put in place the systems for people to prosper, but it’s up to us to get off our collective butts and actually do something with it, not sit back and wait to retire on a government (less than subsistence) pension.

And without doubt our superannuation system should have long-term certainty to match its long term proposed outcome of self-funded retirement. Rather than being tinkered with by successive governments who look to superannuation as a means to recoup the massive multi-billion dollar losses from whichever government has stuffed up previously.

All this being said, and regardless of extensive surveys that reveal that Australians have unrealistic financial expectations, we do still have a fairly robust and workable superannuation system that caters for the vast majority of us working Australians so, why the hell not take advantage of it??

Come on people, get real about your financial future!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we need financial literacy to be taught at schools to educate our young generations about the need to plan, to budget and to be mindful of money so they do something positive about their financial futures.

And I don’t just mean at high school. This is an important issue and it needs to be taught to our kids at a young age across the board so future generations will be savers, not just spenders and end up with nothing.

I’m a father and I try to teach my son to be financially responsible and it seems to be working as he has a healthy attitude towards working for his pocket money and saving it rather than blowing it on worthless, meaningless stuff….and he seems to understand the meaning of what’s good value and what’s not.

At 11 years old he’s even asked me what superannuation is and when I told him he asked me if he could have a super plan, wow! I really wish he could have one at 11 years old.

Imagine what the future finances of this country would look like if every 11-year-old child wanted to have a super plan to save for their retirement?

That’s a debate worth having, don’t you think?

* The author of this article, Gary Fabian, is the Principal of Precision Advisory; finance, insurance and superannuation advice and consultancy.

I hear a lot of people make all sorts of comments about superannuation being too hard, or too far away to think about, or can’t see the point etc. etc. and it goes on and on.

The simple fact remains that only 5% of the population has enough money at retirement to be comfortable and self-sufficient, so isn’t it about time you got serious about a financial vehicle that, if used properly really could make you financially comfortable in retirement and not having to think about the government pension?

Now I know there are limits to what each of us can contribute to our super funds and we all have to live day to day and pay our usual bills such as the home mortgage, school fees, holidays etc. and there is that matter of age and time you have until retirement age comes around.

Regardless of all the splutter that has gone on for years about superannuation and what the government is doing with it and changes they make to it, super (in general) is still a very tax-effective method to self-funding your retirement for the baulk of the population.

And, if you start early enough and stick to making consistent contributions to your super fund you could actually end up very financially comfortable when the time comes to retire.

I come across a lot of people in my day-to-day work who actually have some surplus funds available to contribute towards superannuation, yet they think because it’s for retirement they’ll get to doing something about it sometime later.

Why is it that apathy sets in about this particular subject?

Don’t be fooled into thinking that time is on your side because one day you’ll wake up and you’ll be 55, 56 years old and thinking “OMG retirement is getting close and I wish I had put more money into my super”

I’m especially passionate about superannuation when I’m speaking with sub-30 year olds about financial planning issues and try hard to get them to see the many benefits for them to get serious about their super and what it could really do for them.

That doesn’t mean to say I’m not passionate about the subject when I’m talking to people over 30 years old, of course I am!

I’m always passionate about my work and the outcomes we can achieve for people who are motivated, regardless of their age bracket.

All I’m saying here is that people who are under 30 have the added benefit of time being on their side giving them 35 + years to go to reach age 65.

WOW!… the right super fund, plus a reasonable level of consistent contributions being made into the fund AND time actually being on your side in this tax-effective financial environment will result in a terrific retirement outcome.

So, regardless of your age superannuation is still a terrific means of saving and accumulating funds for our twilight years of retirement and really should receive much more attention by the majority of the working population.

Perhaps if it did, there would be more people with more available money when it comes time to retire?

* The author of this article, Gary Fabian, is the Principal of Precision Advisory and advises on superannuation and SMSF.

There’s no doubt that our financial lives today (and the financial products available on the market) can most certainly be very complex, to say the least.

It’s my opinion that seeking financial advice from a professional adviser is absolutely critical and people should never even think about getting risk insurance and/or superannuation without speaking to one such adviser.

An experienced adviser who knows their stuff can make a world of (positive) difference to your financial outcomes in all sorts of ways, and usually any costs associated with this type of advice will pale in comparison to what you should end up gaining by the exercise.

Plus, a good adviser will stay in touch and review your financial circumstances on a regular basis, to ensure everything is current and up-to-date.

Take for instance just the two areas mentioned previously of risk insurance and superannuation. These two subject matters are financial-minefields and for anyone to think they can navigate either of these (or both) without professional help is really kidding themselves!

Superannuation, wow!…even the absolute technical experts on this subject will tell you they struggle sometimes to keep up with all the little bits and pieces on this particular financial product.

In most cases, clients who go it alone will almost always make poor choices and generally purchase inferior products that simply don’t provide the level of cover and/or superannuation benefits they really need to suit their personal circumstances.

Today there are literally thousands of various types of financial products available to the consumer and whilst I’d say by-and-large most of these products are reasonable (at least) in delivering what they promise, it’s important to understand there is also a fair share of cheap-and-nasty stuff out there as well.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating having to pay through the nose for something either. I for one hate paying too much for anything, so I’m not suggesting that expensive financial products equal the best financial products, far from it.

All I’m saying is that professional advice in these complex areas will go a long way toward getting you the most appropriate products in place that will deliver when you need them the most.

I often say to my clients that this business of financial advice is very much like an iceberg in that what you (the client) see, is most definitely not what there really is lurking below the surface.

This is one reason why I truly believe the need for good financial advisers will only get stronger as time goes on.

I’m all for progress but the truth is, some certain things just require trained and experienced personal (human) advice and will always end up better than us dealing with robots or some wiz-bag tech web site that promises to solve all of your financial needs and requirements.

Technology has assisted us in making financial products substantially better for the consumer, but it’s the personal touch of a trained adviser that will ensure the use and application of these products is in the client’s best interest.

* The author of this article, Gary Fabian, is the Principal of Precision Advisory. He specialises is risk insurance, superannuation and finance.