Majority of Australian retirees don’t have a financial adviser
Although Australian retirees believe that a financial adviser is important to their finances, the majority of them are not involved with financial professionals and navigate their way through their retirement finances independently, according to the new research from Franklin Templeton.
Only 24% of Australian retirees worked with a financial adviser which was one of the lowest rates compared to countries such as Canada and the US where 57% of retirees and 47%, respectively, used an adviser, the study found.
Further to that, only 54% of Aussie retirees with a spouse or partner said they coordinated their retirement planning with them prior to retirement.
Also, 81% of those retired had never had a written retirement income plan and only 43% said they had a strategy to generate income for retirement that could last 30 years or more.
“Given ongoing market volatility and protracted low interest rates, it would be unwise for retirees to adopt a set and forget approach to their savings and investments and this is often where those working without professional advice become unstuck”, Manuel Damianakis, Head of Retail for Franklin Templeton in Australia, said.
“As an industry and as a society, we need to navigate a better path where all retirees can access professional advice and still feel they have sufficient self-management and control.”
The survey was conducted in Australia for the first time in May 2019 through an online questionnaire with more than 2,000 Australian aged 18 or older.
AUTHOR
Oksana Patron
Recommended for you
As private markets garner mainstream attention, a panel of experts believe access to the asset class through managed accounts will become more widely available, providing opportunities for advisers to diversify portfolios.
While retail investors turned to blue-chip stocks last month, according to AUSIEX trading data, September saw advised investors switch into ETFs.
With the intergenerational wealth transfer underway in Australia, wealth managers are focusing on how they can attract the next generation of advisers to service these younger clients.
ASIC wants to expand proceedings against Equity Trustees to seek compensation for members following Macquarie’s agreement to pay $321 million over Shield failings.
