Members want their super fund to point the way as retirement confidence hits a decade low

Only 28 per cent of Australians approaching retirement feel prepared for it, the lowest level in a decade, according to the Brighter Super and Investment Trends 2026 Retirement Income Report. A year ago the figure was 38 per cent.

The share of retirees living comfortably has fallen from 58 per cent to 38 per cent. Brighter Super’s response to this is advice: chief executive Kate Farrar says the research “should encourage every Australian to consider seeking advice as they approach retirement” and that “making advice more accessible must be a priority”.

What the report also suggests is that members are looking to their super fund first.

Members want a steer from their fund

Super funds remain the first port of call for pre-retirees and retirees when they start looking into retirement, the report says. Yet 55 per cent of retirees say they received no guidance when moving into retirement. Only 24 per cent got it from their main fund and 15 per cent from an independent adviser.

About 60 per cent of pre-retirees said they want their fund to suggest suitable solutions and leave the final decisions to them. Retirees gave the same answer. A further 24 per cent of pre-retirees want guidance without a specific recommendation.

That is not the same as preferring a fund to an adviser. Asked what they would do, 25 per cent of retirees said they would use a financial adviser, against 15 per cent who would seek guidance from their fund and 31 per cent who would research it themselves.

However the stakes are higher for requests more personal than general information: 29 per cent of pre-retirees do not know what they will do with their super when they retire, and only 6 per cent of retirees use a lifetime income product.

The OECD’s catch: where guidance ends

The OECD’s Pensions Outlook 2026 offers a cautionary frame. Its chapter on financial advice says advice can lift savings and help people stay invested, but most of that value comes from an ongoing relationship. The benefits of one-off or non-comprehensive advice for retirement are “more limited”.

It also says the boundary between information, guidance and advice must be clear, or providers hold back for fear of liability. Australia is one of its examples: providers removed digital tools and calculators because they feared the output would count as personal advice, until ASIC granted limited relief.

Australia is now trying to fill that space. The OECD points to the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms, which proposes a new type of adviser that funds can employ for simple matters while still meeting a best-interest standard, and to proposed Targeted Superannuation Prompts that funds could send to defined groups.

It flags two risks. In markets where commissions are banned, it says vertically integrated firms can cross-subsidise advice and undercut non intra-fund advisers. The second is supply of advice due to the tougher qualification rules which shrunk Australia’s adviser pool, by more than 40 per cent between 2018 and 2022 after the education requirements were introduced.

The OECD does not assess Brighter Super or any Australian fund’s advice model.

What it means for advisers and licensees

Brighter Super’s own pathway shows how the layers might stack. Super and retirement health checks come at no additional cost to members, retirement advice starts at $990, and comprehensive advice starts at $3,750 and is delivered by external advice partners. Both paid tiers may be payable from super.

For advisers, the opening is that falling confidence and wide knowledge gaps create demand for personal, ongoing advice.

The pressure is at the simpler end. If superannuation funds can offer limited-scope help and prompts to members who are asking for a steer, the work that once fed an adviser’s client base may start with the superannuation fund. For licensees, that raises questions about referral terms, who holds the client relationship, and whether they can offer simplified advice at scale themselves.