Planning to be Productive - The Detailed Retirement Planning Strategies of Australian Pre-Retirees


Central to the goal of successful and productive ageing is adequate planning for retirement. Together with Insuranceline, National Seniors Australia has been conducting research on the prevalence and types of plans that pre-retirees have in place for their retirement.

The first report, published in October 2012, examined the prevalence of planning within this population. About 62% were shown to have some kind of financial plan, 24-27% had plans for their health and between 17 and 26% of pre-retirees had plans in place for lifestyle, social and community engagement priorities in retirement.

This report seeks to examine these plans in more detail and to also uncover different groups in the pre-retiree population who have limited planning strategies in place for retirement.

This is a key research question given the large cohort approaching retirement in Australia, whose future behaviours will have wide reaching implications for government, business, economy and the community more generally.

This research also raises additional questions. For example, pre-retirees have a range of strategies in place, but are they sufficient for them to enjoy a productive retirement? Moreover, why are certain demographic groups less likely to plan for retirement across a range of domains? National Seniors Australia will seek to address these questions in future research projects.

Download the full report below.