Failure of successive governments to address the superannuation needs of the growing population of the over-65s - projected to be 1.1 million by 2032 - is going to lead to a looming superannuation crisis.
Retirement commissioner Diana Crossan suggests
future generations of retired Kiwis will be "begging in the streets" if governments continue to turn a blind eye to a looming superannuation crisis, the retirement commissioner warns.
Diana Crossan said successive governments had failed in their duty to taxpayers by sweeping repeated requests to address the question of future retirement income funding under the carpet.
Ms Crossan hit out after the Government ducked a response to the Retirement Commission's 2007 report warning that the cost of future pensions must be debated now to give future retirees time to adjust to any changes.
We daily read of elderly people unable to afford to heat their homes adequately on current superannuation rates. If superannuation is reduced in the future because it is unaffordable abject poverty may well be the result. Not everyone is able to put money aside for their retirement; if you're on the minimum wage now there isn't going to be a lot of spare cash to put aside for retirement savings.
I'd like to think the Government might take this situation seriously but I think their focus is elsewhere.
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