Super looms large on horizon: Mariner

In response to the superannuation changes announced in this year’s Federal Budget, Mariner Financial has created a new position of superannuation and retirement strategist.

Kate Anderson, formerly Mariner’s head of technical services, has stepped into the new role.

The reasons Mariner gives for the new job include a need for investors to examine retirement strategies in order to extract the full benefit of the Federal Government’s proposed changes.

According to Mariner’s managing director Bill Ireland “some of these changes might require investors to examine their strategies and take on the benefit of contributing as much money into super as they can as early as they can”.

With more emphasis than ever being placed on retirement, largely due to our ageing Baby Boomer population, Ireland said that “super and retirement will become a very important part of the financial planning sector”.

Anderson echoed these sentiments, stating that “contributing money into super has never been so important”.

“The biggest challenge in relation to these new proposals is getting on top of them and working out the best possible strategies for individuals to profit from them,” she said.

Referring to the superannuation changes contained in the 2006 Budget, Anderson and Ireland agreed that it allows planners to focus on more important considerations such as superannuation asset allocation, instead of the complexities that have characterised superannuation.