Top 10 most influential, 2004: Richard Gilbert and David Shirlow - the TAP dadies

Up until September 20 this year close to half a million Australians had put their retirement savings into one of two types of retirement income streams: allocated pensions or annuities.

Thanks to Richard Gilbert and David Shirlow they now have a third choice: term allocated pensions (TAPs).

Six years in the making, TAPs — also known as growth pensions or market-linked pensions — are the first type of retirement income stream to allow retirees to invest their superannuation in the investment markets without losing their social security benefits.

It was Shirlow, Macquarie Financial Services technical services manager, who came up with the idea back in 1998. But when Gilbert, then at the Investment Funds Association (predecessor to the Investment and Financial Services Association [IFSA]) got wind of it, the two joined forces to put the idea to government.

Shirlow took care of the technical side of things while Gilbert focused on publicity and lobbying Government.

It wasn’t until April 2004 that the Government gave into their persistent calls and gave TAPs the rubber stamp.

“I would like a dollar for every phone call I got from David Shirlow telling me to get off my backside and get down to Canberra to do some more lobbying,” Gilbert said earlier this year.

“This has been the longest running issue for IFSA since its inception, in fact, it was on the agenda for the first ever board meeting.”