‘From pension provider to retirement partner’: CSC launches Retirement Income Strategy

Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC) has launched a new suite of retirement resources as part of its Retirement Income Strategy (RIS).

This includes a series of default retirement profiles that align to a range of financial circumstances and needs like super balance, home ownership, and lifestyle expectations to help members make informed decisions about the transition and retirement income options available to them.

CSC’s Retirement Income Strategy also spans comprehensive support tools, online guidance, and targeted life stage emails, starting at the age of 45.

CSC’s chief customer officer Adam Nettheim described the new suite of resources as a two-year endeavour towards supporting the unique retirement needs of the fund’s Australian government and Australian Defence Force customer base.

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CSC is understood to be the second fund to launch its Retirement Income Strategy, after TelstraSuper.

“We’ve been working on this since 2022, the middle of 2022, and we officially launched on 1 July 2024, so we’ve taken a bit of time to get here,” Nettheim told Super Review.

“We know three-quarters of contributing CSC customers are already on track for a comfortable retirement. This strategy will further enhance these outcomes with tailored support before, during, and after retirement.”

The executive said retirement can often be overlooked as people progress through their careers. However, “the earlier our customers start planning, the better retirement they will enjoy,” he said.

“Our Retirement Income Strategy is designed to educate, support and guide our customers on this journey. At CSC, we are focused on our journey from pension administrator to retirement partner,” Nettheim said.

In formulating CSC’s strategy, he said two things “really jump out” as key considerations, namely the cognitive load of entering retirement and tackling the non-financials of retirement.

Nettheim said: “There is so much happening to people at the time that they retire, that very few people think about the cognitive load that we are putting on the customer. And then we wonder why they might make some decisions that we would question.”

In light of this, Nettheim said CSC’s retirement profiles aim to alleviate the load by simplifying resources and decision making, with a set of retirement income solutions designed for each retirement profile.

Additionally, while money in retirement remains a crucial factor, he said it remains one piece of the total retirement puzzle.

“If you’re unhappy in your retirement, then how much money you’ve got probably doesn’t change that,” Nettheim said.

“So we’re doing a lot of work currently around some providers who can help us prepare people for retirement on the non-financials while we prepare them on the financials.

“That way, they’ve got their happiness, their health, hobbies, their social connections, in some cases, part-time work might be the way somebody chooses to retire […] so these different providers that we’re talking to at the moment will help around all of these aspects.”

The Retirement Income Strategy, according to the fund, focuses on helping members through access to financial advice, offering retirement income products, as well as a number of retirement income solutions.