The unexpected reasons Australians are retiring earlier than planned
A new report reveals 710,000 workers plan to retire over the next five years
2 min
Australia has a community of 4.2 million retirees, with another 710,000 intending to retire over the next five years and 226,000 of them planning to do so over the next two years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). One of the biggest generations in Australia’s history – the baby boomers – is in the midst of its retirement years today. The baby boom began after WWII, with boomers being born between 1945 and 1964, making the youngest of this group 60 years old today.
The average age at which today’s workers intend to retire is 65.4 years. However, the long-term historical average is more than eight years earlier, with the average age at which existing retirees left the workforce being 56.9 years. People working in agriculture, forestry and fishing have the latest intended retirement age of 68.3 years. This is followed by workers in property at 67.1 years and manufacturing at 66.1 years. Workers in the mining sector have the earliest intended retirement age of 63.7 years, followed by workers in IT at 64 years and financial services at 64.3 years.
One factor that may be prompting people to retire earlier than planned is unforeseen circumstances, such as job loss, personal sickness or injury, or the need to provide care for someone else. Among existing retirees, an ABS survey found 13 percent retired because of sickness, injury or disability. Another 5 percent retired because they were retrenched, dismissed, or unable to find employment. Three percent retired to care for an ill, disabled or elderly person.
For 31 percent of retirees, gaining access to financial support was the main reason they retired. The age pension is the biggest source of income for most retirees today, followed by superannuation. The age at which baby boomers can receive the pension has increased over time from 65 to 67 years. However, they can access their superannuation earlier, once they reach preservation age.
Preservation ages vary depending on birth dates. Australians born before 1 July 1960 have a preservation age of 55 years. The preservation age increases by one year for every financial year from FY61 to FY64. For those born after 30 June 1964, the preservation age is 60 years. This means the youngest boomers will all gain access to their superannuation this year, which may prompt them to retire. Otherwise, they have seven more years to wait for eligibility for the age pension at 67.
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics said: “In 2022-23, a Government pension or allowance was still the main source of personal income at retirement for 43 percent of retirees. This was followed by Superannuation, an annuity or private pension at 27 percent.”The full age pension is currently $43,752.80 per annum for couples and $29,023.80 for singles. The average superannuation balance for Australians aged 60 to 64 years is just over $360,000, according to the latest tax office data.
The impact of one of our largest generations retiring is reflected in surging superannuation payouts. New figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority show an 18.1% increase in payouts over the 12 months to 31 March. The payouts, taken as lump sums or pension streams, totalled $112.9 billion.
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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.
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