The national effort to have superannuation funds do more to assist members transition to retirement has made progress over the past 12 months, but key policy and commercial challenges remain.
That is the conclusion reached by delegates to the Retirement Conference, a joint initiative of Professional Planner publisher Conexus Financial and The Conexus Institute*, held at Old Parliament House, Canberra, last week.
It was also the message presented to the delegation by APRA deputy chair Margaret Cole, who said industry had made some progress in meeting its Retirement Income Covenant obligations, but that the “pace of change could be quicker”.
She specifically urged funds to more proactively partner with life insurers, longevity product providers and other service providers to develop a strategy for retirement income.
David Bell, executive director of The Conexus Institute and co-host of the conference, concluded that the likelihood of funds meeting regulator and community expectations on retirement was a function of how seriously they were approaching the task.
“Progress on retirement is correlated with priority,” Bell said.
“The funds making the best progress are those where retirement is a strong priority and that priority is clear across all parts of the firm.”
Echoing sentiments raised at the conference – which was held under the Chatham House rule and including government and shadow ministers, Treasury officials, academics, service providers and representatives of the 14 largest super funds – Bell listed a range of challenges that remain in the retirement phase of super.
They included members who qualify for pension mode remaining in accumulation; securing more information about member spending patterns and un-spent savings at death; and the ability for trustees to provide simple forms of education and financial advice.
Retirement’s media moment
In order to assist the market continue to do more to help members retire, Conexus Financial has announced the launch of a new media title dedicated to policy and commercial debates surrounding decumulation.
Retirement Magazine will initially take the form of an annual, premium print publication, co-edited by Bell and Conexus Financial editor-in-chief Aleks Vickovich, with digital iterations to follow. It will bring together a unique mix of academic research, journalism, industry thought leadership and practical solutions and management thinking from funds and their suppliers.
“Retirement Magazine will sit alongside Investment Magazine as symbolising the two – equally important – phases of super,” said Vickovich.
“Superannuation funds are rightly being called upon to do more to help their members transition to retirement with dignity. But it is also incumbent on the industry’s partners and supporters to assist this mission where we can.
“We also see a fundamental role for professional financial advisers in helping the nation successfully navigate the Baby Boomer retirement and generational wealth transfer, and invite members of our valued Professional Planner community to be part of this project and share their insights from the coalface.”
The Retirement Magazine launch partners are Allianz Retire+, Challenger, TAL, T. Rowe Price and Unisuper. For more information, follow Retirement Magazine on LinkedIn.
*The Conexus Institute is an independent, not-for-profit think-tank philanthropically funded by Conexus Financial
