This year marks 30 years of ASFA’s industry leading research into the retirement needs of everyday Australians – now the man behind three decades of data, Ross Clare, reflects on how the sector has changed and what lies ahead.
Launched in 1996, ASFA’s research division has continued to publish the insights and analysis that Government, super funds, their service providers and the media rely on to make sense of the nation’s world-leading retirement savings system.
This includes regular updates like the quarterly ASFA Retirement Standard and regular updates on account balances that track the super system’s health and effectiveness, as well as more bespoke documents that have helped to shape Government policy.
Reflecting on 30 years as ASFA’s Head of Research, Ross Clare said 30 years at ASFA represented a major milestone.
“These days for many people the only thing they might stay with over 30 years is their mobile phone number, but for me it has not been hard to stay with ASFA.
“There always have been interesting research and policy tasks to undertake with ASFA, and our advocacy influences policy outcomes in a very positive way. Additionally, both the ASFA team and our wider community have been great to deal with.”
During his tenure, Ross has witnessed significant changes across the industry.
“Back in 1996 it was very different – ASFA had hundreds of corporate fund members, industry funds were growing strongly from a relatively small asset base and the retail fund sector was a far cry from what we know today,” he said.
“Technology was different too, the internet was only just taking off and ASFA relied instead on Faxstream for its more urgent communications. We’d only just launched our website!
“What’s more, the pace of change was slower and while people still had some interest in their superannuation, retirement savings were not featured in the daily headlines like they are today.”
Despite these changes, one finding has remained consistent across three decades of research: the super system keeps delivering better retirement outcomes for Australians.
Ross notes that the number of Australians covered by super continues to grow, the gender gap continues to shrink as women’s participation increases, and these improvements will afford more Australians a higher standard of living in retirement.
“This money is theirs to spend on age care, to help close the gap on medical expenses,” he said.
“Super could mean Australians can skip the waiting period to get their knee reconstructed or get dental work – things that can have a massive impact on their quality of life.”
“It also allows them to do the fun things – eat out, socialize, travel, and spend time with their children and grandchildren”.
This success is evidenced by several data points, including in a recent report into the effectiveness of the 12 per cent guarantee contribution rate. That report showed the proportion of Australian retirees experiencing poverty has dropped from 30 per cent in 2001 to 11 per cent in 2022.
Current projections indicate that figure will likely continue to decline.
At the same time, the share of Australia’s GDP spent on the Age Pension sits at only 2.3 per cent, far below the 9 per cent average recorded across the OECD nations.
“The receipts for the success of the superannuation system keep coming in,” Ross said.
“While compulsory super does not fix every economic and social problem, it does a lot to strengthen the living standards of retired Australians and helped make Australia’s economy stronger and more resilient.
“Other nations look to Australia as a great example to follow”.
