January is an excellent time to catch up on reading, and plan for year ahead. If you are wondering what you may have missed in the world of retirement, longevity and related topics here are some of our recommendations for summer reading. Enjoy.
Using retirement savings for funding retirement
One of the key trends that we observed in 2022 was an increased focus on the challenge of effectively and efficiently using retirement savings for funding retirement.
2022 was the year of the Retirement Income Covenant in Australia and National Seniors Australia and Challenger looked at The evolution of retirement income: A 2022 snapshot in their annual National Seniors Social Survey.
The Actuaries Institute published a Dialogue Paper on A framework to maximise retirement income. This paper explores how superannuation trustees may need to approach any quantitative requirements and analysis to meet the requirements of the Retirement Income Covenant with a focus on the cohort that represents ‘middle Australia’ when entering retirement.
Now that trustees have developed their retirement income strategies, the next step is to assess how these strategies deliver for their members. Geoff Warren and David Bell developed an assessment framework for retirement income strategies that superannuation funds and interested parties such as rating agencies and regulators could use.
Several of the new products emerging in Australia and around the world are related to or are variations of a tontine, a financial product in which participants invest a lump sum and receive an annuity that increases every time a participant dies. In the paper Modern Accumulation Tontines for Retirement Decumulation, Moshe Milevsky and Adam Murl introduce and modernise the Tontine structure.
Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald and Barbara Sanders discuss the concept of Dynamic Pension Pools, another product based on the concept of longevity pooling in Affordable Lifetime Pension Income for a Better Tomorrow.
The Retirement Income Covenant requires superannuation fund trustees to consider the different needs of different cohorts of members. Frontier Consulting worked with a group of funds to survey their members to learn what members want in retirement to inform the formulation and review of retirement strategies.
Wade D. Pfau and Alex Murgia created a Retirement Income Style Awareness Profile based on research to help them understand when different retirement strategies best apply to different individuals. See Determining Your Client’s Retirement Income Style.
The 100-year life is here. We’re not ready
That is the assessment of the Stanford Center on Longevity. In 2022, it released an update of its initiative called The New Map of Life. This initiative calls on us to assess older adults’ economic and social contributions. As we age, organisations are examining how interventions, data, and innovation can transform ageing such as in this report by McKinsey: Living longer in better health: Six shifts needed for healthy aging.
The ageing population presents challenges to governments, organisations and individuals. In this article for the World Economic Forum, David Sinclair explains how the world’s ageing population will change everything from cities, transport and consumption to relations between countries.
The Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity from the National Academy of Medicine discusses evidence-based recommendations to harness global aging to benefit people of all ages.
Ageing affects our decision making and it is crucial for superannuation funds to allow for this in their retirement income strategies. The Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research released some helpful research on financial decision making for and in old age during the year.
Australian Wealth Management at the Crossroads: Where to from here?
Towards the end of 2022, Brett Ebedes and Harry Chemay released a paper, “Australian Wealth Management at the Crossroads: Where to from here?“. This paper is an essential read for anyone interested in the future of Australia’s wealth management sector, including superannuation and retirement incomes.
As we head into 2023, the Optimum Pensions team will continue to work towards redesigning retirement to help super funds achieve the ultimate member outcome – for all Australians to enjoy a comfortable retirement.
To follow our adventures and keep up to date with all things retirement, longevity and related topics –
1. Subscribe to our newsletter
2. Follow on LinkedIn
3. Follow us on Twitter
Happy New Year!