Helping retirees with the mental shift from accumulation to decumulation is a key role for financial advisers as they see the opportunity to help the retire-ready market, according to Vanguard.
Speaking at a Vanguard webinar, Jeremy Duffield, who founded Vanguard’s Australia and Asia divisions, said three particular factors were contributing to the need for advice for retirees.
There were 250,000 people retiring each year and 3.9 million aged over 65 in Australia, he said.
The three reasons were growing numbers of older Australians, insufficient numbers of advisers and signs that the regulatory framework was helping retirees.
A particular mental problem stemmed from the mindshift from accumulating assets to spending those assets.
“Retirees need help in tackling this transformation, it’s a tough transition going from being an accumulator of assets throughout your career to creating a retirement income stream. That’s one very big mental mind shift.
“Everyone has to align their retirement life with their financial situation, their own financial reality and that’s very hard to do. It is a challenge to work out how long your money will last and how much you can afford to spend. That’s why people need financial advisers.”
Speaking to Super Review, the $70 billion fund has unveiled its new solution to address the ‘cognitive load’ of retirement as members enter their golden years.
New research has suggested it’s time to reconsider the home as a fourth pillar of the retirement income system, alongside the age pension, superannuation, and voluntary private savings.
New research has revealed over 60 per cent of retirees believe their super fund offers retirement income products suitable to support their retirement lifestyle.
Some retirees are “needlessly” paying two sets of fees and often more tax than they need to, according to the industry body.