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There is currently a superannuation imbalance between Australian men and women, according to new findings from a survey conducted by Savvy.
One of the report’s key findings was that, among the representative demographic sample of Australian adults, a higher proportion of female respondents had a lower amount of super compared to their male counterparts, with 24 per cent claiming their super balance exceeds $100,000, as opposed to 44 per cent of men.
Adrian Edlington, spokesperson for Savvy, said the survey highlights how the gender pay gap extends beyond wages and savings and into the realm of superannuation.
“Nearly half of all adult women in Australia currently have $50,000 or less in their [super] account, while the number of men who have $100,000 or more in their super is almost double that of women,” he said.
“This is a clear symptom of the gender pay gap, which currently sits at more than 14 per cent. Women in Australia earn $263.90 per week less than men, a disparity which can put acute pressure on them in times of aggressive inflation and interest rate rises,” he added.
Other key takeaways from the survey include:
- Forty-five per cent of women have a super balance of $50,000 or less, in contrast to 32 per cent of men.
- Sixty per cent of women make no additional superannuation contributions, as opposed to 55 per cent of men.
- Nineteen per cent of women report their super balance as $10,000 or less, compared to 13 per cent of men.
- Sixteen per cent of men have between $200,001 and $400,000 in super, nearly double the 9 per cent of women in the same boat.
- Twelve per cent of Australians reported having no super at all. A large portion of this is made up of people aged 65 and above (31 per cent) and 55-to-64-year-olds (15 per cent).
Savvy’s survey also found that over half of all Australian adults (57 per cent) made no voluntary repayments to their superannuation, with the most prevalent demographic group aged between 25 and 34 years old — where 67 per cent failed to contribute to their retirement savings.
Mr Edlington said: “It’s clear more needs to be done to educate adults — particularly those between the ages of 18 and 44 — to grow their super so they can more comfortably set themselves up for retirement.”
Australian men voluntarily contribute more to their super than women.
According to the survey, 17 per cent of men commit between 1 per cent and 5 per cent of their salary to their retirement funds compared to 14 per cent of women.
Approximately 10 per cent of men put between 6 per cent and 10 per cent into their super as opposed to 7 per cent of women.
When it comes to workers voluntarily topping up their super with more than 10 per cent of their salary, 6 per cent of men fall into this category, while just 2 per cent of women could say the same.
The survey also found that older Australians had lower confidence in the sufficiency of their super balance. Just over half (52 per cent) of Australians aged 45 to 54 years old reported being either unconfident or possessing little confidence that they have enough of a financial buffer to retire by the age of 65, with this number dropping to 40 per cent amongst those in the 55 to 64 age bracket.
Savvy found that confidence grew as age diminished, with 43 per cent of Australians aged 18 to 24 expressing confidence in their ability to have enough superannuation to retire by 65, while just 24 per cent reported feeling not confident in this occurring.
“The current financial climate may also contribute to the general lack of confidence in super savings being enough for retirement,” Mr Edlington explained.
When broken down by gender, the report detailed that 38 per cent of men felt confident or very confident that they’d have enough savings to comfortably retire, compared to one-quarter of females.
Moreover, 44 per cent of females reported feeling little confidence in their retirement savings being adequate to retire comfortably by 65, nearly 10 per cent higher than the 35 per cent of men who answered similarly.
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