Retirement
‘Unrealistic expectations’: Retirement products don’t address volatility
Retirement
‘Unrealistic expectations’: Retirement products don’t address volatility
While a requirement that super funds offer comprehensive income products is an “inspired idea”, there’s a question around how these products navigate volatility, a robo-adviser has said.
‘Unrealistic expectations’: Retirement products don’t address volatility
While a requirement that super funds offer comprehensive income products is an “inspired idea”, there’s a question around how these products navigate volatility, a robo-adviser has said.

Treasury has proposed the introduction of a retirement income framework to ensure funds have strategies and products to match members’ retirement income needs. These include a requirement for funds to offer annuity-style, comprehensive income products for retirement (CIPRs), which protect against the risk of outliving savings by pooling this risk.
In its submission to Treasury, robo-adviser SuperEd said it generally welcomed the proposal but had concerns around how well these products could navigate volatility in investment markets.
“Treasury has responded effectively to the comments in submissions to the previous paper that retirees are a diverse group and 'one-size-fits-all' approaches are unlikely to match retiree needs,” chairman Jeremy Duffield said.
“The proposal recommends what we believe are workable and sensible default retirement income solutions, under the rubric of CIPRs. We thought the framing of the CIPR as a flagship retirement income product that the fund can offer to its members as a standard for comparison was an inspired idea.

"However, we are concerned that the narrow bands recommended by Treasury are unrealistic expectations because they do not adequately appreciate the volatility of investment markets through changing economic regimes likely to be encountered in a retirement spanning 20-40 years."
The Treasury position paper said the expected income from a CIPR should be efficient and constant, defining this as a product with an income remaining within a narrow +/-2.5 per cent ban from the real or nominal income in the first year.
SuperEd argued a more likely expectation is +/-3 per cent a year in real income with very substantial changes over the 40 years in retirement.
“More generally, we are concerned about whether realistic expectations are being created for CIPRs, particularly in the current low interest rate/expected return environment, which makes providing high sustainable retirement incomes very challenging,” Mr Duffield concluded.

Superannuation
Aware Super slashes admin fees for retirees by up to 25 per cent
Aware Super has reduced administration fees for members with a retirement income account by up to 25 per cent and lowered the maximum annual fee. Read more

Superannuation
SuperAPI co-founder criticises Labor's superannuation tax as 'sneaky tax on young people'
The co-founder of SuperAPI has labelled Labor's proposed tax on superannuation balances above $3 million as a "sneaky tax on young people, tomorrow" disguised as a policy targeting wealthy retirees ...Read more

Superannuation
Election policies could reshape Australia's superannuation landscape, expert warns
Competing superannuation policies from Australia's major political parties could have significant implications for investors and retirees, according to a financial expert. Read more

Superannuation
Industry leaders weigh in on concessional super tax as Budget confirms $55bn investment
Changes to the taxation of superannuation earnings and contributions have drawn mixed responses from financial and payroll sector leaders, as the Federal Budget confirms over $55 billion in ...Read more

Superannuation
Call for indexation on super tax cap as $3m threshold draws criticism
A senior executive in the superannuation technology sector has criticised the Federal Government for failing to index the proposed $3 million superannuation tax cap, arguing the measure will unfairly ...Read more

Superannuation
Rest members back calls for fairer superannuation rules ahead of Federal Budget
Rest has called on the Federal Government to implement superannuation reforms aimed at improving fairness across the system, after member survey results showed strong support for a range of proposed ...Read more

Superannuation
Rest welcomes progress on ‘Payday Super’ reform
Rest, one of Australia’s largest profit-to-member superannuation funds, has welcomed the Australian Government’s release of draft ‘Payday Super’ legislation, which aims to align Superannuation ...Read more

Superannuation
SuperAPI and Humanforce partner to improve superannuation compliance for one million Australians
Superannuation engagement platform SuperAPI has partnered with human capital management provider Humanforce to streamline payroll and superannuation contributions for more than one million Australian ...Read more

Superannuation
Aware Super slashes admin fees for retirees by up to 25 per cent
Aware Super has reduced administration fees for members with a retirement income account by up to 25 per cent and lowered the maximum annual fee. Read more

Superannuation
SuperAPI co-founder criticises Labor's superannuation tax as 'sneaky tax on young people'
The co-founder of SuperAPI has labelled Labor's proposed tax on superannuation balances above $3 million as a "sneaky tax on young people, tomorrow" disguised as a policy targeting wealthy retirees ...Read more

Superannuation
Election policies could reshape Australia's superannuation landscape, expert warns
Competing superannuation policies from Australia's major political parties could have significant implications for investors and retirees, according to a financial expert. Read more

Superannuation
Industry leaders weigh in on concessional super tax as Budget confirms $55bn investment
Changes to the taxation of superannuation earnings and contributions have drawn mixed responses from financial and payroll sector leaders, as the Federal Budget confirms over $55 billion in ...Read more

Superannuation
Call for indexation on super tax cap as $3m threshold draws criticism
A senior executive in the superannuation technology sector has criticised the Federal Government for failing to index the proposed $3 million superannuation tax cap, arguing the measure will unfairly ...Read more

Superannuation
Rest members back calls for fairer superannuation rules ahead of Federal Budget
Rest has called on the Federal Government to implement superannuation reforms aimed at improving fairness across the system, after member survey results showed strong support for a range of proposed ...Read more

Superannuation
Rest welcomes progress on ‘Payday Super’ reform
Rest, one of Australia’s largest profit-to-member superannuation funds, has welcomed the Australian Government’s release of draft ‘Payday Super’ legislation, which aims to align Superannuation ...Read more

Superannuation
SuperAPI and Humanforce partner to improve superannuation compliance for one million Australians
Superannuation engagement platform SuperAPI has partnered with human capital management provider Humanforce to streamline payroll and superannuation contributions for more than one million Australian ...Read more