Great (Retirement) Expectations: A Review of Retirement Income Policy and Changes to Expected and Preferred Retirement Age of Australian Workers

The authors identify three key results. First, workers prefer to retire earlier than they expect to, on average. Second, both expected and preferred retirement age increased through the 2000s and 2010s but stalled from 2017. Third, a significant proportion of workers do not know when they expect to retire.

In the absence of the ability to set a mandatory retirement age, a key objective of retirement policy has been to raise retirement age. The results suggest that while workers' expectations and preferences reflect this, they have stalled somewhat. Further, a small but persistent proportion of workers do not form expectations which, given its importance in successful workforce exit plans and retirement wellbeing, presents a key challenge.