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Date Published : Thursday, May 08, 2008
Planning for retirement can be hard. Knowing how much money you will need a decade in advance can be tough to gage and puts many Australians off from retiring early.
However, help could be at hand from an unlikely source - the federal government.
Superannuation minister Nick Sherry recently announced that the federal government was considering boosting super funds of those close to retirement with more than $2 billion seized from the funds of tens of thousands of foreign workers who have left the country.
Temporary residents who have left the country are entitled to claim super funds from the federal government but many never do, leaving the money in a state of limbo.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the money could be used to help out those who are struggling to save for retirement.
Mr Sherry said: "The measure is not inconsistent with the way Australians who work overseas are treated on their permanent return to Australia.
"In many cases, they cannot access the compulsory social security or employer pension contributions made in that overseas country.''
Recent research by Cannex found that people across the country are becoming ever more desperate with how they go about boosting their super funds in the few years before retirement.
According to the consumer group, the growth of reverse mortgages over the past few years has occurred through a panic to help retirement funds.
The study found those taking out a reverse mortgage - which allows a retiree to re-mortgage their home, without any obligation to repay the loan until they sell the house or die - could be better off regularly dipping into home equity to finance their retirement, rather than taking out lump sums.
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