Report shares Real Wishes of Australians

Secretly or not, pretty much everyone has something they wish for. Something you could have. Something you could do. Something you could be. Something you want to happen. That wish might be for right away. It could be for the future. Or it may be something you wish you’d done differently in the past.

In an Australian first, the Real Wishes Index 2020 was created with the aim of finding out what Australians greatest wishes are when it comes to finances, career and experiences. It also asked about family and friends, health and wellbeing, and the environment. 5000 people later, this is what we found.

While many of us are one the same page and wish for similar todays and tomorrows, some wishes were real eye openers.

All in a day’s work

For a great number of Australians, a good third of daily life is taken up by work. So, it goes without saying that all manner of career wishes figure pretty high amongst most Australians.

It turns out that while Australians might have a laundry list of wishes with their job, their job certainly isn’t highest on their wish list. In fact, being more present and spending more time with family and friends is a far greater wish with 81.2% of the nation. So, it seems Australians aren’t as career focused as you might assume. And it signals a possible shift to a more balanced lifestyle.

That said, when it came to careers, work-life balance, job security and, updating or learning new skills figured highest amongst the wishes.

Something you’ve never done before.

No doubt, Australians love to travel. Head overseas and chances are you’ll bump into one of us in some of the most unexpected places. So, it comes as no surprise that 4 in 5 wish to travel and try new things. Having more time for hobbies, pursuing passions and just getting really good at something all rate pretty highly too.

It also seems the younger we are the more trying new things is important to us. It scores 73.9 in the index for Gen Z. It’s a little lower for Baby Boomers at 59.5 but they are still up for new experiences of their own.

Interestingly, West Australians and Canberrans are keenest to travel while Victorians are lesser so and a little happier to stay put.

Money matters

While our finances are important to all of us being our livelihood, it scored somewhere in the middle of our greatest wishes with an index of 51.5.

Financial security tops the list here. Interestingly though, the dream of owning property doesn’t even rank higher than the ability to splurge on gifts for family and friends.

Age has a say in what you wish most with finances. The younger generation are more concerned with building financial security and keeping an eye on their budget, while the older generation have a great wish to help their next generation of their family.

Regrets, we’ve had a few

While Australians have many wishes for today and tomorrow, there’s also a few things we wished we might have done differently in the past. Worrying what others think of us and sweating the small stuff are high on the list.

Wishing you all the best

You can find out a lot more about the greatest wishes of Australians at  https://www.realinsurance.com.au/RealInsurance/media/documents/real-wishes-whitepaper.pdf