Superannuation comparison dashboards could be a game-changer for the industry, encouraging consumers to review their fund, research reveals.
In its report on the super dashboards, carried out on behave of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Latitude Insights, found fund members tended to “set-and-forget” once they had joined a fund, regardless of how engaged they were.
The testing was conducted ahead of the introduction of the requirements for all registrable superannuation entity licensees to include choice dashboards on websites from 1 July 2016, and followed on from research conducted in 2013.
“Over half the sample recruited had, in the past two years, either made an active choice of superannuation fund or product or had considered making a choice, having been prompted to consolidate their superannuation into one account when they were changing jobs,” the report said.
“Among those who claimed to pay less attention to financial matters, there was a greater need for information that was very personalised to their own situation.
“While the sample contained those who had made an active choice with superannuation and/or were engaged with monitoring their fund/s, there were others who had never compared funds.
“In both groups, there was a strong tendency to ‘set and forget’ once the choice was made.
“The latest choice dashboard findings suggest there may be potential to disrupt this behaviour with the provision of the dashboard that contains a superannuation estimator.”
The report found that some participants considered superannuation to be a topic that could be simplified and better communicated and while dashboards were not for everyone, for they provided a resource that was considered to be highly valuable.
The research also indicated people became disengaged when superannuation information is complex.
