Planners’ performance picks up
Financial planners’ performance has improved over the past two to three years, according to 28 per cent of Australians surveyed in the fifth annual Confidence in Corporate Reporting Survey conducted by CPA Australia.
This was more than for any other professional roles included in the survey, with 45 per cent and 43 per cent of respondents respectively believing company directors’ and chief executive officers’ performances had worsened over the period.
Looking at retirement savings, the survey also found that 60 per cent of financial planners believe they are “largely responsible for safeguarding the retirement savings of their clients”, but public agreement with this view fell to just 26 per cent.
Forty-one per cent are not confident their superannuation savings will be sufficient to cover their retirement, rising to almost 60 per cent for women between the ages of 40 and 55, and falling to 30 per cent for shareholders.
Perspectives of financial planners, analysts and brokers as well as directors, chief executives and chief financial officers were also collected.
Among other key outcomes was a 29 per cent increase in respondents’ confidence in superannuation compared with a year ago, and a 31 per cent increase in investment confidence generally.
These levels were well above confidence level increases in major Australian corporations and domestic and overseas share markets.
It also showed that 34 per cent of Australians expect to rely on compulsory superannuation and 21 per cent expect to rely on voluntary superannuation in retirement.
Financial advisers expected these would be the primary sources of retirement funds for 74 per cent of their clients.
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