Over recent years some attention has been focused on the nexus between the retirement living standard aspirations of future retirees and their capacity to fund these standards.

A paper that looks at current retirees and strategies that could be employed to improve their retirement incomes is proposed. The paper could use FaCS administrative data and data from the HILDA Wave 2 Wealth Module to examine the assets and income of current retirees.

Noting that Australians hold a sizable proportion of their wealth in the family home, ways in which retirees can access this source of wealth to generate additional retirement income beyond that which can be provided by their savings and age pension are discussed. Recent signs indicate that more future retirees (and more recent retirees) may be more willing than current retirees to tap into this source of wealth to increase their retirement living standards. The policy implications of this practice becoming more widespread - particularly those implications associated with a changed pattern of inter-generational wealth transfer - will be highlighted.