Roy Morgan State of the Nation Report 4: NZers Aged 55+

Friday, 23 March 2012, 11:49 am
Article: Roy Morgan Research

Roy Morgan State of the Nation Report 4: New Zealanders Aged 55+ Gain in Share of Wealth

New Zealanders aged 55+ are now wielding over 50% of the nation’s net wealth, despite only making up 24.7% of the population. The net wealth of New Zealanders aged 55+ has risen from 43% ($176 billion) of the population’s total net wealth in 2002, to 52% ($492 billion) in 2011.

According to the Roy Morgan State of the Nation Report 4 – ‘Spotlight on New Zealanders Aged 55+’ – the net wealth of those aged 55+ has risen 179.5% since 2002, despite New Zealand’s total net wealth only rising 130.2% over the same period.

The rise in wealth of the 55+ age group is only partly due to this groups increasing proportion of the population; since 2002 the 55+ age group has only risen from 19.5% to 24.7% of the population.

Net Wealth of New Zealand Nation and Those Aged 55+

*2002 - 12 months to December 2002. **2011 - 12 months to December 2011. Source: Roy Morgan Research.

As well as wealth and debt data of those aged 55+, the report uncovers where this age group is investing, their demographics and characteristics, workforce participation and employment growth, underemployment and those looking for work, expenditure and intention to retire.

The new report is based on data from a nationwide survey of approximately 12,000 New Zealanders in the 12 months to December 2011, but also includes trended data stretching back over the past decade.

Pip Elliott, Client Services Director, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“The consideration as to whether New Zealanders 55+ have saved enough for retirement is one of the major issues facing the New Zealand Government. The intention of the report was not do an actuarial study on this topic but rather to give a broad understanding of how this group has progressed in terms of growth in wealth over the last nine years. The report uncovers aspects of those aged 55+ such as their increasing wealth, their investment decisions, as well as the increasing proportion of this age group that are engaged in the workforce.”

Roy Morgan’s New Zealand State of the Nation Report 4 will provide an understanding into the trends and issues facing Australians today. This report provides accurate and relevant information on the State of the Nation in terms of Society, Technology, Economy, Politics, and Environment.

About Roy Morgan Research
Roy Morgan Research is Australia’s best known and longest established market research and public opinion survey company. Roy Morgan Single Source is thorough, accurate, and provides comprehensive, directly applicable information about current and future customers. It is unique in that it directs all the questions to each individual from a base survey sample of around 55,000 interviews in Australia and 15,000 interviews in New Zealand annually - the largest Single Source databases in the world. The questions asked relate to lifestyle and attitudes, media consumption habits (including TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, cinema, catalogues, pay TV and the Internet), brand and product usage, purchase intentions, retail visitations, service provider preferences, financial information and recreation and leisure activities. This lead product is supported by a nationally networked, consultancy-orientated market research capa bility.
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ENDS

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New Zealand's leading social and market research company

A full service research organisation specialising in omnibus and syndicated data, Roy Morgan Research has over 70 years' experience in collecting objective, independent information on consumers. Roy Morgan Research was set up in New Zealand in the 1990s and has been collecting information across a wide range of industries in New Zealand ever since. Roy Morgan currently has over 10 years of trended data on a geographically and demographically representative sample of over 12,000 New Zealanders aged 14+.

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