Superannuation as Boomers Reach Retirement
July 15, 2008
The term Baby boomers refer to persons born between 1946 and early 1960’s. The term was derived from the booming number of population or spike in birth rates during the Post World War II primarily in English-speaking countries such as US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. And now that Baby boomers has reached or are about to reach the age of retirement, the government of the aforementioned countries formulated a way to prevent problems due to costs of retirement as the average age reaches around 50. New Zealand and Australia developed a law that involves a superannuation fund to resolve the anticipated demographic shift due to the increase of pension payments that may strain the economy.
Superannuation benefits in Australia fall into three categories namely preserved benefits where the funds can be accessed until the employee reaches the age of 55. Restricted non-preserved benefits is the same as the first category but can only be accessed until the employee meets a condition of release such as end of employment in an employer superannuation scheme. Lastly, the unrestricted non-preserved benefits may be accessed upon request of the worker involved.
The superannuation fund is based on the Superannuation Guarantee and Superannuation Guarantee Law.
