January is nearly behind us and most Australians are now back into the work grind, with kids returning to school to embark on another year. With things settling back to normal, it’s prompted one big retirement question to come to the minds of many workers.

Google Trends data shows searches for ‘how much do you need to retire’ surge as the school year begins. It’s one of four major spikes, along with around the Easter holidays, end of the financial year and the September school holidays.

Super fund HESTA has reported a surge in Australians using its retirement planning tool at the start of the school year, with activity increasing by more than 40 per cent in late January and early February in 2025.

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“We regularly see a jump in planning activity around this time of year after many members have enjoyed quality time with family and friends over the festive season – be it BBQs by the beach or relaxing by the pool,” HESTA CEO Debby Blakey said.

“As Australians look ahead to the rest of the year, many ask one simple question: when can I retire?”

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There’s obviously no one-size-fits-all answer to this question.

While there’s no set retirement age in Australia, to be eligible for the Age Pension, you’ll need to be at least 67.

In terms of how much money you need, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia’s standard estimates a single would need $595,000 and a couple $690,000 in their superannuation to retire comfortably at the age of 67. This assumes you receive a part age pension and own your home outright.

If you’re one of the many Aussies dreaming about retirement, Blakey said now was the time to take action.

“The reality is there is no better time than right now to take action on your super and it’s never too late to make a difference to your financial future,” she said.

“There are many small actions people can take to support their journey to a dignified retirement.”

To start with, Blakey said it was important to understand how much super you had, how much your employer was contributing, where your super is invested and how much it’s grown over the long-term.

The super fund’s research found a third of people were only checking their balance once a year or less, while 43 per cent were more likely to check it in times of market turbulence.

Making extra contributions to your super could also make a huge difference at retirement, whether that’s salary sacrificing or extra contributions.

“Our modelling shows $10 a week extra could amount to tens of thousands of dollars at retirement for someone in their forties and hundreds of thousands for someone just joining the workforce,” Blakey said.

Blakey also recommended checking your insurance coverage and ensuring you had a binding beneficiary nomination in place. Most super funds will offer advice at no extra charge.

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NEW YORK (WABC) — They’re called “ghost students” and they’re draining the resources of community colleges and stealing tax payer financial aid funds.

“You’re stealing from people who really have the least already,” said Dr. David Stout, President of Brookdale Community College in New Jersey. “It’s infuriating.”

Scammers are stealing people’s identities, often through data breaches, to apply for online college classes. Once they apply for financial aid and get the money, they disappear.

It’s a sophisticated scheme and community colleges are often targeted because of their open enrollment policies.

At Brookdale Community College, they’ve been receiving about 1,000 ghost student applications each year for the past three years.

“Knowing that there are individuals out there that are trying to steal from our community college students and individuals who are trying to steal from our community and from our taxpayers is infuriating,” said Dr. Stout.

Since the pandemic started, it wasn’t rare to have students across the country sign up for his college’s online courses. But three years ago, when one of his financial aid workers noticed a bump in enrollment, the president’s team investigated.

“So she dug a little bit deeper and found that there were seven students that all shared somewhat common credentials and it was at that point that we realized that we were the victims of ghost students,” said Dr. Stout.

“Of course I’m furious that we may have individuals who try to take advantage of the open door policies that community colleges have,” said Dr. Stout.

He said there’s no evidence that any of the fake students who applied at Brookdale received financial funds, they were discovered first. Since then, the college says it has put mechanisms in place to root out fake applicants.

Eyewitness News reached out to other colleges in the area who say they’ve also put new screening practices in place.

At the City University of New York, a spokesperson said ghost applicants make up less than 1% of its applications. In a statement, a college spokesperson said: “Thanks to our careful screening process none were accepted or provided financial aid, but we continue to strengthen our policies to reduce the number of these applications. For example, the University recently introduced CAPTCHA to screen out bots and fake applicants.”

Nassau Community College has also taken precautions.

A spokesperson said. “while we cannot disclose specific security measures, the college’s IT, financial aid, and admissions departments have been working together to protect the integrity of our admissions and financial aid processes and mitigate the risk this type of fraud poses to our institution.”

Eyewitness News partnered with ABC News to show how this is a growing problem across the country.

The Inspector General’s Office with the U.S. Department of Education says they have 200 open investigations nationwide.

“We see in some of these fraud schemes where people are enrolled in two or three different schools at the same time receiving aid at all of them,” said Jason Williams, the U.S. Dept of Education Assistant Inspector General for Investigation.

Some schools are now using special software to screen applicants.

“It takes a tremendous amount of administrative work to go through and verify that they’re fraudulent,” said Dr. Stout.

The Brookdale Community College President says they’re in contact with other colleges in the area on a continuous basis to share information and ways to prevent ghost applicants from getting enrolled.

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