More work needed on annuity products
Retirees need more flexible annuity products if they are to continue working into old age, according to partner and actuary at PricewaterhouseCoopers Catherine Nance.
“A product that starts at a certain date, that converts your savings to income, that doesn’t allow you to work a period of time and not work a period of time, and adjusts your savings will not work in the future when we’re trying to encourage people to keep working for a long time in some form,” Nance said.
Nance was speaking at a session of the Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals' Association of Australia (SPAA) conference.
There is very little product in the Australian marketplace to help retirees manage investment, longevity and inflation risk, she said.
Most pensions were account-based, in which all the risk resided with pensioners, which made it very difficult to manage their retirement.
Eighty per cent of current retirees are on all or part of a managed pension, with typical retirement savings of $70,000, while 20 per cent of males and 10 per cent of females had more than $100,000 in retirement, Nance said.
Super funds could be the prime distribution path for annuity products in the future, she said.
Recommended for you
With an advice M&A deal taking around six months to enact, two experts have shared their tips on how buyers and sellers can avoid “deal fatigue” and prevent potential deals from collapsing.
Several financial advisers have been shortlisted in the ninth annual Women in Finance Awards 2025, to be held on 14 November.
Digital advice tools are on the rise, but licensees will need to ensure they still meet adviser obligations or potentially risk a class action if clients lose money from a rogue algorithm.
Shaw and Partners has merged with Sydney wealth manager Kennedy Partners Wealth, while Ord Minnett has hired a private wealth adviser from Morgan Stanley.
