Deferred lifetime annuities must be placed high on the new Government’s agenda if it wants to lessen the impact of longevity risk, the Actuaries Institute believes.
In a pre-Budget submission, the professional body called on the Federal Government to open the door for product innovation by removing barriers in the longevity risk space.
“The current limited range of income products that pool longevity risk, including the unavailability of pure longevity protection in the form of a deferred lifetime annuity (DLA) and other guaranteed retirement income products, is a major consumer issue for the growing number of baby boomers who are retiring each year,” the submission said.
It also called for the Government to incentivise income stream superannuation products to reduce the likelihood of retirees running out of lump sum super and using the pension as a fallback.
“In particular, retirees should be incentivised to protect themselves against their own longevity,” it said.
As a further measure, the institute said the pension age should be further lifted in line with rises in life expectancy.
In addition, legislative barriers preventing older Australians from staying in the workforce should be removed, it said.
The regulator has fined two super funds for misleading sustainability and investment claims, citing ongoing efforts to curb greenwashing across the sector.
Super funds have extended their winning streak, with balanced options rising 1.3 per cent in October amid broad market optimism.
Introducing a cooling off period in the process of switching super funds or moving money out of the sector could mitigate the potential loss to fraudulent behaviour, the outgoing ASIC Chair said.
Widespread member disengagement is having a detrimental impact on retirement confidence, AMP research has found.