According to MLC parent company Insignia, the Centre of Excellence will have “distribution specialists, digital advice member journeys and modelling tools”, including the new “Retirement Boost Optimiser”.
This tool will help clients visualise their total retirement income across super, retirement and the age pension, with Challenger chief executive and managing director Nick Hamilton describing it as an “innovative retirement solution for advisers and their clients”.
According to Insignia, the solution will “help clients visualise their total retirement income across super, retirement and the age pension”.
Essentially, the firm explained, MLC Retirement Boost operates like a standard superannuation account but with the added potential to allow Australians to boost income during retirement due to the “concessional treatment of innovative lifetime income streams”.
Insignia CEO Scott Hartley noted that, given the “critical role financial advisers play in retirement planning and delivering high-quality retirement advice”, the boost will be available on the MLC Expand platform for advisers to use with clients from August.
Hartley added that the initial announcement is the “first step” of MLC’s offering in this space, with Retirement Boost set to be continually enhanced over the next 12–18 months to “provide advisers with more options and flexibility to deliver personalised retirement income strategies to their clients”.
“MLC Retirement Boost will give Australians more personalisation and flexibility in their retirement planning, increase the potential of super for more people and potentially create higher retirement income, from their first super contribution,” Hartley said. He added: “This innovative partnership combines the expertise of MLC, as one of the oldest and largest pension payers in Australia, with TAL as a leading life insurer and Challenger as the largest annuity provider.”
TAL group CEO and managing director Fiona Macgregor echoed similar sentiments, saying: “As millions of Australians prepare for life after work, TAL is proud to partner on solutions that deliver better outcomes for retirees.
“Together, we’re focused on making retirement more secure and easier to navigate.”
Way to go, “Retirement Boost Optimiser”! Translation: Challenger’s latest revenue-booster, designed specifically to funnel retirees into overpriced, underperforming annuities—all neatly packaged as a magical path to the Age Pension. Chalk up another ethical win for these ‘thought leaders’.
I think it great that the product providers are getting back into the advice space through limited and general advice through subsiduary companies. Hopefully independent advisers wont start rorting the australian consumers again so we dont need another royal commission.