Jeremy Cooper will be the keynote speaker at ‘Investment Magazine’s’ conference on post-retirement solutions for super funds on Thursday March 10 in Melbourne.

Cooper, who is now Challenger’s chair of retirement income, will be speaking on the immediate challenges in managing risk – longevity, market and inflation – for retirees and why trustees cannot wait for the Federal Government on this.

Challenger’s general manager distribution, Matt Gaden, said the move from defined-benefit to defined-contribution had transferred risks to members, and trustees had to act now.

“If we start now, we may tackle some of the issues that retirees face,” he said, “In five years, it will be too late.”

Until now, the focus had been on accumulation, but the GFC had shown that 100 per cent market-linked approaches had left members well-short of their retirement needs, he said.

Other key speakers include Wade Matterson, practice Leader of Milliman Actuaries. Matter son will address why funds must focus on member engagement and education – what members need, rather than what funds and BDMs want to sell them.

This will be the third annual conference on post-retirement in association with AIST, and about 150 executives from the largest 80 funds will attend.

Other sessions include:

• portfolio construction and risk management issues at the fund level, and
• financial planning is central to member retention, and is not an optional extra.

This will be a crucial conference for industry members to attend and hear the latest thinking on the burgeoning post-retirement issues of adequacy and longevity.

For more information, go to http://www.conexusfinancial.com.au/events