Australia: world leader
Australia leads the world in terms of its preparedness to meet the challenges of an ageing population, according to research conducted by the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Program director and senior fellow at the Centre, Richard Jackson, told the Metlife Media Symposium in New York this week that the former Hawke/Keating Labor Government’s decision to pursue the superannuation guarantee had paid dividends for Australia in terms of its capacity to handle an ageing population.
“They call it ‘super’ in Australia and it has certainly proven to be super,” he said.
Dr Jackson said that, by comparison, nations such as China, Korea and Taiwan were facing challenges and that there was a risk that China’s rapidly growing economic strength might not be sufficient to meet the challenges of an equally rapidly growing population.
However, he said that Australia was well placed because it had a favourable demographic outlook due to relatively high fertility and net immigration combined with a means-tested public pension system.
“A large, mandatory, portable and fully-funded private pension system increases savings and helps ensure retirement security,” Jackson said.
He pointed to one of the deficits in the Australian system as the current low preservation age for super, which he said encouraged early retirement and the propensity of Australians to make lump sum withdrawals rather than pursuing annuities.
Recommended for you
The new financial year has got off to a strong start in adviser gains, helped by new entrants, after heavy losses sustained in June.
Michael McCorry, chief investment officer at BlackRock Australia, has detailed how investors are reconsidering their 60/40 portfolios as macro uncertainty highlight the benefits of liquid alternatives.
Having reset its market focus to high-net-worth advisers, Praemium’s administration solution has been selected by Bell Potter in a deal that increases the platform's funds under administration by $6 billion.
High transition rates from financial advisers have helped Netwealth’s funds under administration rise by $3.7 billion in the fourth quarter of FY25.
