The proposed superannuation changes are an opportunity for product providers to help financial planners, according to Investment Trends.
Investment Trends research director, Recep Peker, said 80 per cent of survey financial planners said they wanted help from product providers to help them service clients around the super changes.
“These changes that are proposed are a good way for product providers to connect with financial planners and help them out,” he said.
“The help they want is predominately around stuff will help them understand the proposals and that doesn’t tend to be too big of an issue, it’s more collateral or tools that they can use with their clients to explain it. So there is opportunity for the client facing side.”
Peker noted that the largest challenge for financial planners servicing pre-retiree and retiree clients were regulatory uncertainty at 61 per cent, followed by mitigating longevity risk at 27 per cent.
“Regulatory uncertainty is a big issue, by far the largest issue weighing on planners’ minds. One of the reasons behind this is around the TTR [transition-to-retirement] being removed,” he said.
Peker said this was an issue as TTR was a strategy planners recommended to on average over half of pre-retiree clients and the fact that 39 per cent of planners in Australia were retiree focused.
The future of superannuation policy remains uncertain, with further reforms potentially on the horizon as the Albanese government seeks to curb the use of superannuation as a bequest vehicle.
Superannuation funds will have two options for charging fees for the advice provided by the new class of adviser.
The proposed reforms have been described as a key step towards delivering better products and retirement experiences for members, with many noting financial advice remains the “urgent missing piece” of the puzzle.
APRA’s latest data has revealed that superannuation funds spent $1.3 billion on advice fees, with the vast majority sent to external financial advisers.