More income flexibility for Equip MyPension

Equip is offering greater retirement income flexibility as an enhancement to the award-winning Equip MyPension, first introduced in July last year.

Some conversations with members, who registered their interest in Equip MyPension, revealed that allowing them to nominate an annual income at the minimum permitted for account based pensions would convert even more inquiries into new Equip MyPension accounts.

Equip’s Executive Officer, Strategic Marketing and Communications, Geoff Brooks, said: “Our original design aimed to make Equip MyPension a simple off-the-shelf retirement income solution, removing the need for on-going member decisions about income and investments.

“Through talking to members who are considering the product, we found they loved the investment management model with its prescribed asset allocation and annual rebalancing features.

“But some had very specific ideas about the retirement income they needed, or that best integrated with other income and benefits they received outside of super. A number aged up to 64 wanted to reduce their drawdown as low as the minimum mandated 4% per annum,” Mr Brooks said.

The original required drawdown of 7% of opening account balance was designed to deliver a reliable retirement income, while extending and managing longevity risk. It is still the ‘default’ level of income for the product.

He said the initial launch had been an outstanding success in raising awareness of Equip’s retirement offering and its financial planning services. While a number of people had already established Equip MyPension accounts, after discussion others had sought financial planning advice on more tailored solutions.

Equip is rolling out communications to members over the next week, advising members of the Equip MyPension product enhancement.