Over 10 per cent of ‘mass affluent’ people will not use superannuation to fund their retirement, while reverse mortgages remain unpopular, according to brandmanagement’s latest Australian Consumer Finance Report.

The Sydney-based financial services data consultancy surveyed 4272 ordinary investors, and discovered 436 respondents had no plans to use superannuation to provide retirement income. Most of these respondents, whom brandmanagement presumes are outside the compulsory superannuation net, plan to use direct shares and property to finance their post-working lives. The survey also revealed the marketers of reverse mortgages have some work to do – only 434 respondents said they would definitely re-gear their homes, while 2286 answered a resounding ‘no’. Less surprisingly, the survey found 63.1 per cent of respondents earning more than $350,000 each year would use a self-managed super fund (SMSF) to finance their retirement. From respondents earning between $250,000 and $300,000 each year, 36.1 per cent said they would use an SMSF, while 41.3 per cent of respondents earning between $200,000 and $250,000 said they would pursue self-managed options. The figures go on to show that the percentage of people intending to use SMSFs fell as respondents’ levels of annual income decreased. From respondents earning between $125,000 and $150,000 each year, 25.8 per cent said they would use an SMSF, while 22.3 per cent of respondents earning between $75,000 and $100,000 would use an SMSF, and 13.4 per cent of respondents earning less than $50,000 would use an SMSF. From the latter annual income bracket, 66 per cent of respondents said they would not use an SMSF, while a surprisingly high 20.7 per cent were unsure.