Aliza attended the FSC retirement income conference and here is some of her insights:
The big topic that the conference discussed was that although it was been 25 years since superannuation was introduced in Australia, many Australians are still unprepared for the risks of retirement today.
The conference largely addressed this concern by exploring and discussing topics such as what do people need in retirement and also what is the industry doing to support the consumers for retirement.
Some of the key points noted by Aliza were:
- Australians are constantly being given conflicting estimates on how much they would need to save for retirement. Given how far reaching the retirement goal seems to be, they become disengaged and are switched off in putting a retirement framework in place earlier on in their lives.
- Life expectancies in Australians have increased dramatically in recent years which means retirees have underestimated how long they are living for. This has actually lead to retirees underspending their retirement income as they are worried they haven’t accumulated enough money.
- Aged care is one area that can be looked at as part of a retirement income framework. As Australians are retiring, aged are has become an increasingly important concern to consider and retirees are looking at how they can use their retirement income to support this risk.
- The nature of how Australians traditionally receive financial advice is also being looked at as there still seems to be a lack of education and trust with the consumers. Discussions of implementing robo advice and website and app access is surfacing as it has shown the younger generation expects instant answers and advice.
In conclusion, it is apparent that the term ‘retirement’ means very different things to different people. There is no one size fit all answer and the financial product and advice for retirement income should not be either.
Given Australia has one of the largest superannuation system in the world, there is definitely potential for changes, either through legislative changes, product development or customer advice. It seems there is still much work to be done.
