The super challenge of retirement income policy

Australia's three-pillar approach to retirement income is internationally well regarded. However, many Australians currently approaching retirement face potential poverty, especially if they do not own their own homes.

Australia's aged dependency ratio (the number of people over 65 for every working-age person 15 to 64) is expected to double over the next 40 years, and the Australian Government recognises that current arrangements are fiscally unsustainable.

In this policy perspective, The super challenge of retirement income policy, CEDA examined:

• A history of government support for retirement in Australia;
• Market failure and the retirement income system;
• Alternatives to the current retirement income system; and
• Living income- and asset-poor in retirement
   

Download the report - The super challenge of retirement income policy

Read the media release -  CEDA retirement report: pre-tax mortgage payments or super for home purchases, options in policy rethink

On the CEDA blog: Far reaching review needed for superannuation and aged pension reform - CEDA Chief Executive, Professor the Hon. Stephen Martin

Funding your retirement: the role of life annuities - Professor Susan Thorp

Chapters and authors

Chapter 1: Historical development and recent reforms

Dr Dianna Warren, Research Fellow, Australia Institute of Family Studies

Chapter 2: Fixing the superannuation policy mess

Professor Stephen King, Professor of Economics and co-director of the Business Policy Forum at Monash University

Dr Rodney Maddock, Adjunct Professor in Economics, Monash University; Vice Chancellor's Fellow, Victoria University

Chapter 3: Australia's retirement system. How does it stack up? How can we improve it?

Dr David Knox, Senior Partner, Mercer

Chapter 4: Living income- and asset-poor in retirement

Dr Judith Yates, Associate Professor, School of Economics