FPA calls for inquiry into savings

TheFinancial Planning Association(FPA) has renewed its calls for a public inquiry into the issue of Australians’ poor savings record, in the wake of Democrat Senator Allison calling for a new committee be set up looking into superannuation and insurance.

Senator Allison has called for the establishment of a Senate Select Committee into Superannuation and Insurance, which FPA senior manager of public policy Con Hristodoulidis says will hardly go far enough to address the issue of improving Australians’ savings patterns.

Hristodoulidis says while the move could be seen as a step in the right direction, Allison’s call to address taxation of superannuation is a limited approach to simplifying and making super more relevant to all Australians.

“We see a couple of issues coming out of super. First, super only seems to become relevant to people when they get to 40-45, so we’d like it to become more relevant to people younger than this age,” he says.

“Second, we’ve found through feedback from members reporting what their clients are saying, that they feel superannuation is competing for savings with other savings vehicles.”

Hristodoulidis says he would prefer to see super as a complimentary savings vehicle, but exactly how this would be achieved is still being thrashed out internally in the FPA before a statement will be made.

“We’re currently going through rigorous policy debate on how to address this problem,” he says.

He expects the FPA to make a statement outlining its policy and suggestions by the first half of this year. But in the meantime, Hristodoulidis says he would welcome a public inquiry looking at the level of national savings in Australia.

“The need for a review is as important as ever,” he says.