The fast-approaching ‘silver tsunami’ set to hit the Australian economy
As 710,000 Australians choose to retire in the next five years, there are serious implications for the economy on the horizon
2 min
Australia is fast approaching a ‘silver tsunami’ that will bring with it significant socio-economic challenges for the country says the Retirement Living Council (RLC), a division of the Property Council Australia. RLC Executive Director Daniel Gannon said the council is concerned about housing affordability for older Australians and the provision of enough housing options, such as retirement villages, to allow for an affordable and comfortable lifestyle after they stop working.
There are 4.2 million retirees in Australia today, and another 710,000 people intend to retire over the next five years, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Over the next two years, 226,000 people intend to retire, which is almost 100,000 more than the number of people who retired between FY21 and FY23.
For advice on planning a comfortable retirement now, read the Winter issue of Kanebridge Quarterly, on sale June 13.
The average age at retirement among Australia’s current cohort of retirees was 56.9 years, according to the data. However, the average age that most people intend to retire is 65.4 years, which is about 18 months before they become eligible for the age pension at 67 years of age.
On average, women retire sooner than men, but they are retiring later than in previous years. In FY23, the average age at retirement among female retirees was 54.7 years, up from 54 years in FY21. Men are also retiring slightly later with their average age at retirement now 59.4 years, compared to 59.3 years in FY21. Over these two years, Queensland saw the greatest increase in its retiree population, up 32,000 to 860,000. New South Wales had the largest retiree population at 1.3 million.
The ABS said the main factor influencing someone’s decision about when to retire was financial security. In FY23, the most common reason for deciding to retire cited by 31% of those surveyed was reaching the retirement age (i.e., pension age) or becoming eligible to access their superannuation. Most Australians can’t access their superannuation until they reach their preservation age. This age varies depending on the age of birth but ranges from 55 years for those born before 1 July 1960 to 60 years for those born after 30 June 1964.
The second most common reason behind retiring was sickness, injury or disability (13 percent). The next most common was being retrenched, dismissed or not being able to find work (5 percent). In these cases, financial security may not be assured and retirement becomes more of a forced decision. Currently, the age pension is still the main source of income for most retirees, with superannuation the second most common main source of income.
Given financial security is a key concern among those nearing or at retirement age, Mr Gannon said governments needed to ensure there would be enough suitable and affordable housing options for retirees as their numbers grow. “Unfortunately, a rapidly growing number of Australians are retiring with mortgage debt while the aged pension remains the main source of income for most retirees. Units in retirement communities are priced on average 48 percent lower than median house prices in the same postcode, meaning these communities can help address retirement income challenges.”
Mr Gannon said the recent Federal Budget contained no housing plan for older Australians amid today’s housing supply and affordability crisis. “While [the increase in] Commonwealth rent assistance is welcome news for some Australians, the existing eligibility thresholds exclude the majority of people living in affordably priced retirement units,” he said.
From elevated skincare to handcrafted home pieces, this year’s most thoughtful gifts go beyond the expected.
A haven for hedge-fund titans and Hollywood grandees, Greenwich is one of the world’s most expensive residential enclaves, where eye-watering prices meet unapologetic grandeur.
The lunar flyby would be the deepest humans have traveled in space in decades.
4 min
It’s go time for the highest-stakes mission at NASA in more than 50 years.
On April 1, the agency is set to launch four astronauts around the moon, the deepest human spaceflight since the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972.
The launch window for Artemis II , as the mission is called, opens at 6:24 p.m. ET.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams have been preparing the vehicles to depart from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the planned roughly 10-day trip. Crew members have trained for years for this moment.
Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut serving as mission commander, said he doesn’t fear taking the voyage. A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through.
“I could have a very comfortable life for them,” Wiseman said in an interview last September.
“But I’m also a human, and I see the spirit in their eyes that is burning in my soul too. And so we’ve just got to never stop going.”
Wiseman’s crewmates on Artemis II are NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
What are the goals for Artemis II?
The biggest one: Safely fly the crew on vehicles that have never carried astronauts before.
The towering Space Launch System rocket has the job of lofting a vehicle called Orion into space and on its way to the moon.
Orion is designed to carry the crew around the moon and back. Myriad systems on the ship—life support, communications, navigation—will be tested with the astronauts on board.
SLS and Orion don’t have much flight experience. The vehicles last flew in 2022, when the agency completed its uncrewed Artemis I mission .
How is the mission expected to unfold?
Artemis II will begin when SLS takes off from a launchpad in Florida with Orion stacked on top of it.
The so-called upper stage of SLS will later separate from the main part of the rocket with Orion attached, and use its engine to set up the latter vehicle for a push to the moon.
After Orion separates from the upper stage, it will conduct what is called a translunar injection—the engine firing that commits Orion to soaring out to the moon. It will fly to the moon over the course of a few days and travel around its far side.
Orion will face a tough return home after speeding through space. As it hits Earth’s atmosphere, Orion will be flying at 25,000 miles an hour and face temperatures of 5,000 degrees as it slows down. The capsule is designed to land under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean, not far from San Diego.
Is it possible Artemis II will be delayed?
Yes.
For safety reasons, the agency won’t launch if certain tough weather conditions roll through the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area. Delays caused by technical problems are possible, too. NASA has other dates identified for the mission if it doesn’t begin April 1.
Who are the astronauts flying on Artemis II?
The crew will be led by Wiseman, a retired Navy pilot who completed military deployments before joining NASA’s astronaut corps. He traveled to the International Space Station in 2014.
Two other astronauts will represent NASA during the mission: Glover, an experienced Navy pilot, and Koch, who began her career as an electrical engineer for the agency and once spent a year at a research station in the South Pole. Both have traveled to the space station before.
Hansen is a military pilot who joined Canada’s astronaut corps in 2009. He will be making his first trip to space.
Koch’s participation in Artemis II will mark the first time a woman has flown beyond orbits near Earth. Glover and Hansen will be the first African-American and non-American astronauts, respectively, to do the same.
What will the astronauts do during the flight?
The astronauts will evaluate how Orion flies, practice emergency procedures and capture images of the far side of the moon for scientific and exploration purposes (they may become the first humans to see parts of the far side of the lunar surface). Health-tracking projects of the astronauts are designed to inform future missions.
Those efforts will play out in Orion’s crew module, which has about two minivans worth of living area.
On board, the astronauts will spend about 30 minutes a day exercising, using a device that allows them to do dead lifts, rowing and more. Sleep will come in eight-hour stretches in hammocks.
There is a custom-made warmer for meals, with beef brisket and veggie quiche on the menu.
Each astronaut is permitted two flavored beverages a day, including coffee. The crew will hold one hourlong shared meal each day.
The Universal Waste Management System—that’s the toilet—uses air flow to pull fluid and solid waste away into containers.
What happens after Artemis II?
Assuming it goes well, NASA will march on to Artemis III, scheduled for next year. During that operation, NASA plans to launch Orion with crew members on board and have the ship practice docking with lunar-lander vehicles that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been developing. The rendezvous operations will occur relatively close to Earth.
NASA hopes that its contractors and the agency itself are ready to attempt one or more lunar landing missions in 2028. Many current and former spaceflight officials are skeptical that timeline is feasible.
A bold new era for Australian luxury: MAISON de SABRÉ launches The Palais, a flagship handbag eight years in the making.
MAISON de SABRÉ’s new Spring Harvest Collection turns everyday produce into collectible leather charms and introduces fresh silhouettes in its cult Bucket bag family.
