In its budget submission, Super Consumers Australia argued that all Australians should be able to improve financial security and gain greater peace of mind with quality financial advice.
Super Consumers Australia director Xavier O’Halloran said that new solutions are needed, particularly for consumers seeking retirement guidance. And while the incoming retirement income covenant – which will require superannuation trustees to plan and outline a retirement strategy for members – will have benefits, Mr O’Halloran said consumers will need assistance navigating its complexity.
“To achieve this, we need to go beyond the financial advice sector and consider the role of independent organisations, government and new business models in complementing financial advisers and overcoming these barriers,” he said.
“In the United Kingdom, their government created a ‘guidance guarantee’ to develop assistance for people approaching retirement. The proposal received widespread support, even from industry stakeholders, who acknowledged that consumers wouldn’t engage with guidance unless it was impartial, good quality and covered the options in the market.”
On a recent episode of the ifa Show, Challenger Life’s general manager of retail distribution, Luke Cheetham, said the covenant will present a huge opportunity for financial advisers.
“We work in a highly complex retirement system and you couple that with a lack of understanding of the risk that many will face over a 20 to 30 year retirement, it really means that transitioning from work to retirement without the right guidance [and] without the right advice can be a really daunting prospect for many,” Mr Cheetham said.
“So I do feel that there’s great potential for product manufacturers and the advice market to work together and help make sense of retirement to give people the confidence that they need, when it comes to managing their savings.”
Once you decipher all the weasel words and underlying intentions, this is just a union aligned activist lobbying for more conflicted advice to be delivered by union aligned organisations. Guess what that advice will be??
“Transfer all your money into union funds”.
I’m pretty certain Challenger is not an industry fund
Challenger is a Product Manufacturer – just the same as Industry Super with their Industry Super Funds. How is that hard to decipher?
Yep. Spot On. Lets be very clear folks…have I got your undivided attention?. For the umpteenth time, product manufacturers and the FSC for that matter have only one objective (despite their rhetoric)…..say and do whatever is required to maximise the flog of product. End of story.
It’s called competition. Not every client needs an adviser.
I believe your right. And the thing to worry about – he was given over $1,000,000 in the last Federal Budget to do exactly what he is doing. FPA was given a similar amount to help Women into Financial Planning. Seems obvious that Ben Marshan is not well considered with the Federal Liberal Government – perhaps he needs replacing – or the Liberals or both.