Nearly three-in-four Aussies believe they’ll never meet their definition of ‘wealthy’

In a survey of 1,030 Australians, Dacxi revealed men are almost twice as likely as women to believe that they’ll ever be wealthy in their lifetimes. 

While one in two adults expect to receive a pay rise in the next 12 months, only 44% of women do.

Rising interest rates, cost of living pressures, housing affordability, and inflation were the leading causes for the respondents pessimism towards wealth, especially women.

Men are also more likely to take more risks with their asset choices. 

Of the respondents, 38% of men invest in the Australian share market compared to 28% of women. 

Similarly, 15% of men invest in cryptocurrency while only 10% of women do.

“The best performing assets of the last decade have been the more volatile ones, like cryptocurrency and shares,” Dacxi CEO Ian Lowe said.

“With Australian men more likely to choose these assets over women, we can explain a lot of the gap in confidence to become wealthy between men and women in their asset choices.”

Perception of wealth differs among Aussies

According to the survey, Aussies believe there are three different ways to define “wealth.”

• Two-in-five Australians interpret wealth as earning over $150,000 per year after tax
• More than one-in-three define wealthy as having a net worth over $1 million
• Nearly a quarter interpret wealth as owning a home outright

Twenty-four per cent of Australians believe inheritance and family wealth is the best way to grow their own wealth while having high performing investment strategies followed with 23%. 

On the other side of the coin, only 5% of the respondents believe a financial planner is the best indicator of ability to grow personal wealth.

“It would be unfair to say Australians have given up entirely on being wealthy, but many are having to readjust expectations for what their retirements might look like based on how previous generations have lived past the age of 65,” Mr Lowe said.

“What’s clear is that the impact of generational wealth is becoming more stark.

“Australians who aren’t waiting for an inheritance and who aren’t already in the property market don’t have a lot of hope of attaining wealth in their lifetime.”

Superannuation plays a part in the perception of wealth

Amongst the Australians who have a superannuation fund, 68% are happy with the funds available in their account while 20% are very happy.

The survey found that 86% of Aussies who are happy with their super’s performance are more likely to believe they will be wealthy in their lifetime compared to 58% who do not believe so.

Australian net worth per capita, according to ABS figures, was $540,000 towards the end of 2021.

This is largely due to the rise in property values as well as mandatory superannuation.

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