Advancing the Retirement Phase of Superannuation
Australia is a world leader in policy design and practice around the accumulation of retirement savings but relatively little attention has been paid to the retirement phase.
Under the recently introduced retirement income covenant, superannuation trustees have an obligation to implement a retirement income strategy to help members maximise retirement income, manage risks to the sustainability and stability of that income, and maintain flexible access to capital. However, progress has been slow.
To contribute to the ongoing debate,听UNSW鈥檚 Innovations in Risk, Insurance and Superannuation (IRIS) Knowledge Hub,听听and the听听hosted an event to discuss solutions and strategies to enhance policy design and practice in the retirement phase of superannuation.
Our keynote听听(IFEBP Professor of Insurance/Risk Mgmt and Business Economics/Policy, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania) is one of the world鈥檚 foremost pension economists and presented on听Understanding and Managing Longevity Risk in Retirement.听This was followed by a panel discussion featuring thought leaders in superannuation who considered听How to Improve the Retirement Phase of Superannuation.听Our panellists included听Hazel Bateman听(School of Risk & Actuarial Studies, UNSW Business School; IRIS Research Hub; CEPAR),听听(Executive Director, The Conexus Institute),听听(Senior Partner, Mercer) and听听(Chief Marketing and Growth Officer, UniSuper). The program concluded with a Research Workshop featuring presentations by academics and representatives from the superannuation and financial services industry.
