The Rethinking Retirement Report 2025 revealed that rising living costs have eroded comfortable living standards for retirees, and fewer retirees said they are currently able to enjoy a comfortable retirement compared to last year.
It continued that three-quarters of retirees are using pension payments to cover essential living expenses, while close to one in four retirees are still paying down debt.
Additionally, almost eight in 10 retirees plan to remain in their current home.
“Regardless of whether they own a home or not, living essentials such as groceries and utilities are the most common expense pensioners use their pension payments on (76 per cent),” the report said.
“We also found that close to one in four (22 per cent) of retirees are paying off outstanding debt. This jumps to 30 per cent for those who do not own a home. It is worth noting that only 15 per cent of Australians over 50 plan to use their super to pay down debt compared to 24 per cent of those under 50.”
Furthermore, when it comes to their plans for the family home, 66 per cent of retirees wish to remain in their current residence. Only 13 per cent plan to downsize to a smaller home and 18 per cent haven’t thought about it yet.
Craig Day, head of technical services at CFS, said in the report that it is critical that retirees get their asset allocation correct.
“While taking on more risk to get higher returns could provide someone with more income throughout retirement, it could also expose them to a run of negative returns early in retirement – when they would have their biggest impact,” he said.
“Alternatively, dialling down risk to protect someone’s retirement nest egg may not be the best strategy either, as it would generally result in lower long-term returns and, therefore, less income throughout retirement.”
The report continued that over the past 12 months, there has been an increase in the number of Australians engaging with their super, including a rise in people seeking guidance from their super fund, although there is variation among age groups.
“Australians under 50 years of age are more interested in getting help with goal setting from their super fund (73 per cent) than those over 50 years (61 per cent). Younger Australians are also more likely (75 per cent) to share their financial goals with their super fund than those over 50 (63 per cent),” it said.
“Australians who have received financial advice are significantly more likely to have a more positive outlook on their financial situation, once again highlighting the importance of advice in preparing for retirement.”
