More advice power to funds: ASFA
Super funds should be able to provide members with limited advice on retirement products, according to the white paper released by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).
This was one of six recommendations made by ASFA in its newly released white paper, which aims to achieve a “sustainable super system”.
ASFA is seeking feedback from both the industry and community on the paper, which aims to reach a national consensus towards retirement incomes policy.
“The scaled advice model envisaged by the Future of Financial Advice reforms is intended to enable trustees (or those employed by them) to discuss issues such as adequacy of superannuation accumulation, interaction between the member’s superannuation interest and Centrelink entitlements, and nomination of beneficiaries,” the paper read.
“A smoother transition between the accumulation and drawdown phase is needed, particularly for individuals who have only a limited amount of superannuation and/or are not willing to pay for a holistic financial plan.”
Other recommendations include amendments to the Superannuation Industry Supervision Act to provide equivalent treatment of post-retirement products offered by life insurance companies and superannuation funds, as well as changes to the tax treatment for deferred annuities.
Chief executive officer Pauline Vamos said while the announcement of no new unexpected changes to super in the Federal Budget is welcomed, now was the time to talk about the future of the system.
“This is not a conversation the industry can have just with itself; we need to ask the community how they want their retirement to look and what their expectations about how they want to spend their post-work years,” Vamos said.
“This is why we are calling for feedback and input from across the community, so that their views can be collected outside of political hype,” she added.
“Let’s de-politicise super and move towards a bipartisan approach to policy which helps people achieve the lifestyle they deserve in retirement.”
Submissions will remain open until 14 August, 2013 with the outcomes of the consultation process to be presented at the ASFA Conference later this year.
The association had launched a website with further information about the consultation process and the white paper.
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