Produced in partnership with Allianz Retire+.

For more than three decades, the superannuation system has served members well as they accumulate savings during their working lives. Now funds are grappling with the task of helping members make the best possible decisions to ensure their income lasts long enough so that they can enjoy a dignified retirement.

In Episode five of the Pension Policy Series, Allianz Retire+ chief executive David Kane joins Conexus Financial acting co-chief executive and editor-in-chief Aleks Vickovich to assess the commercial landscape for retirement income solutions across super and advice.

Retirement remains only a small part of Australia’s $4.5 trillion superannuation pool. Kane says funds have been slow to implement the Retirement Income Covenant, and many responses to date have been cut-and-paste. Funds have built strong accumulation capability over more than three decades, but they lack the balance sheets to guarantee retirement income, raising the prospect that without the right solutions, members may be left carrying longevity risk themselves. 

Kane and Vickovich discuss how funds that partner with the right organisations can offer members a guaranteed income for life, shifting the longevity risk off the member and onto an entity built to carry it.