Planners should target retiring women

Financial planners on the look out for new opportunities might do well to target women approaching retirement.

According to the latest Challenger/ Assirt Investment Sentiment Index, women are less likely to be aware of their pension entitlements than men. The survey found that 42 per cent of women are unaware of their pension entitlements, compared to 37 per cent of men.

Similarly, 48 per cent of women are unaware of how much they are able to hold in assets without disqualifying themselves from the pension, whereas the corresponding figure for men is 40 per cent.

Assirt chief executive Krystyna Weston says that women have a longer life expectancy than men, are earning more money than before and have an increasing participation in making financial decisions. But at this stage, the flow-through benefits to financial planners of this have been untapped.

"The finding reveals that communication to Australian women from financial services professionals has been lacking and is a clear opportunity for the industry moving forward," she says.

And when it comes to pursuing advice relating to the age pension, both men and women were far more likely to speak to Centrelink for advice (34 per cent surveyed) than seeking the advice of a financial planner (19 per cent). However, only 11 per cent said they would approach an accountant.

The Challenger/Assirt Investment Sentiment Index was conducted from a telephone review of 2602 respondents from metropolitan and regional areas nationally.