Angela Mollard: Do I keep scrimping or succumb to a ‘soft life’?

Many who once dreamed on independent retirement now ask if they should continue to strive when everyone else has thrown in the towel. Why not spend the lot and the collect the pension?

What’s wrong with this picture? Not much at all, say those weary of scrimping and saving. Picture: iStock

Like many of my generation, I’ve always aimed to be self-reliant in my retirement years.

If I worked hard, spent prudently and invested wisely, even on a journalist’s modest salary, I felt I could look after myself later in life.

I viewed it as a noble aim not to rely on taxpayer’s money which could be better directed to those who genuinely need it.

Through my mum’s job working with disadvantaged families, I knew that good health, a sound education and excellent parenting meant I was already ahead. I was happy to pay taxes to support those who’d not been so fortunate.

Likewise, I could see the value of a superannuation system that offered tax incentives to workers if they took responsibility for funding themselves in retirement.

The “soft option” sure looks sunny. Picture: iStock

But as I chug through my 50s, I’m changing my mind. Why should I continue working my butt off while politicians target me, subsequent generations resent me and everywhere I see others opting for a “soft life”?

My rationale for giving up a dream of independence is two-fold.

Firstly, I’m fed up that my modest self-sufficiency is now viewed as something others can plunder.

I have a large mortgage because, post marital break-up, I felt that working hard to put a roof over my kids’ heads was important.

Home ownership not only represented shelter but an opportunity to create an asset which might enjoy some capital gain.

And yet it seems me and my fellow mortgage-holders, only a third of the population, have single-handedly become responsible for bringing down inflation.

Many can no longer face the financial squeezes needed for a self-funded retirement.

Successive rate rises have decimated my disposable income to the point where I’m now scrimping on everything.

Meanwhile my parent’s generation continue to travel to their heart’s content and the generations behind me, having given up on home ownership, are merrily spending on activewear, fake eyelashes and iced coffees.

Sure, some are paying inflated rents, but in the era of prolonged adolescence plenty still live with their parents.

Had a temporary increase in GST been used as a lever to bring down inflation then we’d all be contributing.

Or, as some experts have suggested, legislating a temporary increase on compulsory superannuation contributions would mean no one loses money in the long term but we’d all have less to spend in the short, deftly knocking inflation on the head.

Friends with a single investment property, a group who makes up 70 per cent of the landlords in Australia, are similarly disenchanted.

Having paid the purchase price, astronomical stamp duty and legal fees – in many cases as a “get ahead” scheme to fund their later life – they’re now being publicly demonised, threatened with a withdrawal of negative gearing and bullied as to how they use their properties.

I know one couple so fed up they’ve decided to sell their investment, spend the profit on extensive travel for the next 15 years then rely on the pension to fund their old age.

But worse than any of that is the growing trend of younger generations opting for a “soft life”.

I champion anyone making empowered choices that suit their personal circumstances but there is so much defeat and despondency in the current generational narrative.

A soft life, coming sharp on the heels of “quiet quitting” and “lazy girl jobs”, is exactly as it sounds: unambitious; dependent; resigned.

It can involve giving up structured work, moving back in with parents, seeking contentment over financial stability and eschewing home ownership.

As an article on millennials quitting the rat race in The Guardian this week explained: “Ambition once came with a promise: a home, a salary, progress and fulfilment. What happens when that promise is broken?”

DIALOGUE OF DESPONDENCY

Seriously? The more pertinent question surely is: “What happens when despondency becomes the accepted social dialogue and a whole generation loses their grit?” I can’t help thinking a “soft life” is victimhood with a prettier name.

And now that negative narrative is impacting me.

Why, so many are asking, should I continue to strive if everyone else has thrown in the towel. As The Guardian opined: “There is a growing feeling online that hard work is fortifying a system that, at best, is giving them nothing back and, at worst, is screwing them over.”

Left to propagate, this mood is deeply concerning. Motivation and achievement is a soldering force.

A sense of capability is what makes us feel good about ourselves yet if all you can see around you is quitters then that’s what you’ll become.

More pressingly, who will fund this cohort? Their parents? The government?

I don’t yet know where my thinking will land.

Will I continue the careful squirrelling into superannuation while taking on every assignment to keep trying to erase that hefty mortgage?

Or will I ease up, give up the dream of independence and let the pension take care of me?

This year marks 40 years since I got my first job at Woolworths while still at school. That work ethic is hard to shift. I’ll continue relying on the grit and gumption that has always got me through … for now.