Australians priced out of comfortable retirement call for higher pension

Many older Australians are struggling with rising expenses, leaving them unable to enjoy the retirement they planned for.

Retirement cost figures show the age pension falls well short of what is needed for a comfortable lifestyle, particularly for renters.

Retirees are calling for greater support to ensure older Australians can live with dignity.

Many retired Australians have paid off their home, have a good superannuation balance and are having their savings boosted by higher interest rates.

But the pandemic, interest rate rises, the Iran war, housing shortages and health concerns mean others are not living the laid-back life they planned for.

At a certain age it's often not possible to work or earn your way out of a financial bind.

For Katharine Morris and her husband, retirement has been "stressful and demoralising".

They live in a 25-year-old caravan that is usually parked outside their son's rental in outer Sydney.

"Our future is uncertain, with no way to prepare for … when we can no longer live in a caravan," Ms Morris said.

After years working on a family farm, a lack of succession planning meant the couple and their children left the property with "no super, no savings and no employment prospects".

They established a tourism business but it was devastated by the global financial crisis.

Then Ms Morris's health issues meant they had to give up their fly-in, fly-out jobs.

They could no longer afford the repayments on their home or the investment property they planned to retire to in Western Australia.

"For the third time we were broke again," Ms Morris said.

These days the couple worry about constantly rising health costs, particularly specialist appointments.

They'd like to be travelling in their caravan, "enjoying beautiful country sunsets and sunrises".

But the rising cost of petrol means they often have no choice but to stay put until their next age pension payment arrives.

Ms Morris's message to the federal government is simple.

"Raise the age pension to something decent, to help us do more than just survive," she said.

Robert Donnelly moved to Batam, an Indonesian island a short ferry trip from Singapore, three years ago.

He made the decision to leave Australia when his age pension and income from taxi-driving two days a week was no longer covering rising costs of living on the Gold Coast.

"I was not prepared to pay the considerable increased asking rates and live in poverty," Mr Donnelly said.

He has a comfortable life in Batam, or "God's waiting room", as he describes it.

Mr Donnelly said he plays golf, swims and cooks and pays $180 per week in rent. Electricity, security and groceries from local markets are all affordable.

But he said the Indonesian island is not home and it is his "earnest desire" to return to Australia as soon as possible.

"I have family, friends, memories. I'm 78 in February. I don't want to leave this life other than in Australia," Mr Donnelly said.

He did not expect to be priced out of an affordable retirement in Australia.

"I contributed to [the] Australian workforce for 58 years plus. I was married and had three sons. I was active in many forms of community activities and contributed positively to how Australia is today," Mr Donnelly said.

He would like to see greater investment in social housing, a reduction in overseas migration, and for politicians to meet everyday people — not just big business groups and lobbyists.

Mr Donnelly also has some advice for younger Australians.

"Work hard all your life, save your money, buy a house and don't ever make any decisions other than these three, because no-one in this life is coming to save you," he said.

Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) chief executive Mary Delahunty says "a comfortable retirement is not a luxury lifestyle".

ASFA says a comfortable retirement includes top-cover health insurance, a reasonable car, meals out most weeks, a yearly domestic holiday and an overseas holiday roughly every seven years.

"Superannuation is essential to providing a more comfortable lifestyle than what is possible on the pension alone," Ms Delahunty said.

For Australians on the age pension the gap in income for a comfortable retirement is tens of thousands of dollars.

Even a modest lifestyle that includes basic private health insurance, owning a cheaper older car, and infrequent inexpensive meals out is beyond the budget on an age pension.

Renters need an even higher income and, again, the age pension with rent assistance is below what is needed.

Pensions and rent assistance go up twice a year to ensure they keep pace with the cost of living.

But for retirees like Ms Morris and Mr Donnelly it has not been enough to make their lives comfortable and they are calling on the federal government to do more.

A spokesperson for Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said "older Australians helped build this country, and Labor believes that older Australians deserve a fulfilling and secure retirement".

The spokesperson said the full rate for a single pensioner had increased by more than $6,500 a year since Labor came into government.

Pensioners are now receiving up to $2,000 a year more in rent assistance.

"And we are helping with other cost of living measures like $7.70 medicines and more bulk-billing," the spokesperson said.