Research snapshot: Spending
Are our responses to the cost of living unsustainable?
What resources or options can you access now to help adjust to the increasing cost of living?
That’s a question over 5,500 older people answered in the 2023 National Seniors Social Survey.
One option stood out in terms of the number of people choosing it: nearly two-thirds (62%) indicated they could cut back on spending.
However, cutting back has an inherent problem: there is a limit to it. If the cost of living were to continue rising, cutting back would eventually stop being an option at all.
This point was part of a research report published in September 2023 by National Seniors and long-term partner Challenger.
The report noted that even for wealthier people, the lifestyle sacrifices resulting from cutting back may be manageable short term but not long term because they have an impact on wellbeing and quality of life.
Media coverage of the report’s launch, which ranged from the Broome Advertiser to the Wall Street Journal, emphasised the point that this option is not sustainable.
Challenger’s Head of Retirement Income Research, Aaron Minney, was widely quoted as saying, “An important factor for retirement wellbeing is having the financial capacity to maintain living standards that were enjoyed before retirement.”
Unfortunately, many of us have a long way to go to achieve that.
To find out more, read the full report The Cost of Living and Older Australians’ Financial Wellbeing at nationalseniors.com.au/research/reports.
