Written by Christopher Hall, AdvDipFP | Authorised Representative, AFSL 526688 | May 2026 Middle Australia's non-housing wealth grew by 196% between 2002 and 2022 — the average Australian retiree is more than $256,000 better off in retirement today than their equivalent twenty years ago (Super Members Council, 2026). The primary driver is Australia's compulsory superannuation system, where profit-to-member fund returns have outpaced wage growth by a factor of two across the s

Written by Christopher Hall, AdvDipFP | Authorised Representative, AFSL 526688 | May 2026 · Updated July 2026 Three in four Australians aged 60 and over say they would be much happier in retirement with a guaranteed income for life — yet 59% have never heard of lifetime income streams as a retirement strategy. This is the central finding of the Third Annual Challenger Retirement Happiness Index 2026, which surveyed more than 2,000 Australians aged 60 and over. For a country t

Written by Christopher Hall, AdvDipFP | Authorised Representative, AFSL 526688 | May 2026 Staying in the accumulation phase beyond the point of eligibility costs super fund members up to 15% tax on every dollar their fund earns — tax that a retirement phase account eliminates entirely. Since 2017, eligible Australians have collectively forgone $13.5 billion in tax-free investment returns by not making the switch when they became eligible (HESTA and Laneway Analytics, 2026). T