‘Frustrated’ Gen Z more confident about retirement

Binaya Dahal

Journalist

17 July 2026

Despite reporting the highest levels of frustration with their current financial situation, Generation Z appears to be the most confident age cohort about achieving a comfortable retirement, according to a new MLC study.

The survey of more than 2,500 Australians, conducted by McCrindle on behalf of MLC, found 37% of those born between 1997 and 2012 believe they can meet their financial needs in retirement, with 45% being extremely or very confident in their financial knowledge.

Roughly one in three Generation Z respondents said they understood how long their retirement savings would need to last (32%), what their major retirement expenses would be (38%) and had calculated how much superannuation they expected to draw down each year in retirement (30%).

Retirement has also emerged as an important life goal for the generation who now rank having enough to retire comfortably (45%) at equal third with home ownership, behind work life balance (52%) and financial independence (46%).

MLC’s chief customer officer Renee Howie said it was encouraging to see younger Australians responding to financial pressures by engaging with their finances much earlier than previous generations.

“They’re talking openly and honestly about money, setting goals, learning about superannuation and thinking about retirement well before previous generations did,” Howie said.

“This is a digitally savvy generation that knows how to find information, but it’s more than just budgeting and planning, they’re taking meaningful action with that information too.”

However, the youngest cohort also reported the highest levels of financial frustration (37%), narrowly ahead of Generation Y (36%), followed by Generation X (32%) and Baby Boomers (19%).

Generation Z respondents also saw cost-of-living pressures (64%) as the biggest barrier to achieving their financial goals, ahead of their current income (37%) and debt (20%).

“Having enough money to retire comfortably is now one of Australians’ most important life goals, yet most people don’t feel on track to achieve it,” Howie said.

“With cost-of-living pressures, interest rate rises and even uncertainty around what recent Federal Budget changes may mean for them, it’s understandable many Australians feel less in control of when and how they retire.”