House poor, super rich: The one area young Australians are winning

September 27, 2026 — 5:00am

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Make no mistake, when it comes to how younger generations compare financially with older Australians, there are plenty of reasons to take issue and feel as though decades of government policies have left us behind. From record high housing prices and higher education debt to stagnant wage growth that’s failed to keep up with the cost of living and the soaring price of trying to raise a family, these complaints are well documented and valid.

But if the federal government’s most recent projection of how younger Australians will fare in the future is anything to go by, there is one area in which these generations are now thriving by comparison with today’s retirees, and they are on track to massively outperform their elders. The area? Superannuation.

According to the 2026 Intergenerational Report, which was published last week and offers projections about what life might look like 40 years from now, the number of Australians aged 67 or over (the current age of retirement) will have risen from 4.7 million in 2024 to 9 million in 2066. Yet despite the number of retirees effectively doubling, the report predicts that the number of people accessing the federal age pension is set to fall from 66 per cent today to 52 per cent.

The reason for that fall is, as you may have guessed, our superannuation scheme. The latest Intergenerational Report estimates that where the median super balance for Australians aged between 65 and 69 in 2024 was $204,000, for those in the same age bracket in 2066 – which will be anyone born in 1999 or before – that figure will be $450,000.

While a higher balance is great for retirees on an individual level, the median balance being more........

© The Sydney Morning Herald