CareSuper’s Pension product has won the Best Pension Product category in Super Review’s Super Fund of the Year Awards, beating out it’s industry and retail peers.
The panel, which assessed investment arrangements, pension payments, death payments, communications and ancillary benefits, determined CareSuper’s Pension was competitive and forward-thinking.
Chief executive of CareSuper, Julie Lander, said returns were very solid, driving home the strength of the fund’s net returns.
“We also have an easy way to move to the accumulation phase from the pension phase through our online portal,” she added.
Heron’s judges named excellent long-term investment performance, competitive fee structure, positive net promoter score and a dedicated pension line as key factors that led to the fund’s success.
As well, the fund was clearly member-focused, with an online application process and a mobile app to view and update pension details already established, and further enhancements planned over the next 18 months.
The Pension product also included advice around non-financial issues like mental wellbeing and having a purpose in retirement and a good range of investment choices for its members.
“Over the last year we have worked on helping members understand the broader aspects of retirement, not just the financial ones, to reach a purposeful and connected retirement,” said Lander.
Lander said given retirement could be up to 30 years, the fund placed a focus on making sure it was “purposeful and connected”.
The panel looked at how each fund assisted members to maximise retirement outcomes and pointed to the fund’s education program, which was expanded to include pension members.
Finalists included AMP’s Signature Super Allocated Pension, the Asgard Infinity eWRAP Pension, AustralianSuper’s Choice Income, BT’s SuperWrap Pension Plan, Colonial First State’s FirstChoice Wholesale Pension, IOOF’s Pursuit Select Associated Pension and MLC’s Navigator Retirement Plan Series 2 – Pension Service.
