Dreams dead for a third of Aussies: survey

It's enough to make you weep into your morning coffee.

A new survey suggests around a third of all Australians have given up on achieving their dreams, with most blaming a lack of cash and opportunity.

Worse still, more than one in 10 people asked by Suncorp about their life goals admitted they went to work without any long-term aspirations in mind.

For most of us however, things aren't so grim.

About two-thirds of the people surveyed for the Suncorp report believed they were already living their dream, with family outranking fame and fortune in the good life stakes.

Among the greatest optimists were Generation Y, with about a fifth convinced they'd retire before 55.

The rest of us take a less rosy outlook, with two-thirds of Australians hoping to call it quits by 70.