Featured Image

Why partisan tinkering doesn’t solve Australia’s retirement savings gap

  • On 19/08/2015
David Murray’s Financial System Inquiry (FSI) indicated that a lack of clarity exists when it comes to the objective of superannuation.  It suggested the primary objective should be “to provide income in retirement to substitute or supplement the Age Pension.”  It made a number of subsidiary objectives including to alleviate fiscal pressures on government from […]
Read More
Featured Image

The Gap Between Group And Retail Risk Offers Continues To Narrow

  • On 06/08/2015
Recent market movements have continued a trend first raised by Rice Warner analysis revealing a narrowing between pricing levels of Australia’s retail and group life insurance sectors. First published just a few months ago Rice Warner research showed that the price differentials between the retail and group segment had significantly reduced during the prior eight months […]
Read More
Featured Image

Bricks and mortar underpin Australia’s concentrated private wealth

  • On 05/08/2015
As the largely retail members of the Australian financial services industry convene on the Gold Coast today for the annual Financial Services Council conference, some reasoned perspective should perhaps be given to the relative balance of wealth held privately by Australians. In strategic terms Australia’s wealth management and superannuation sectors are a significant and vital […]
Read More
Featured Image

Default focus comes at some cost to most super funds

  • On 22/07/2015
What has been the opportunity cost of developing sound default strategies for superannuation fund members? New evidence shows a harsh reality that the industry’s recent preoccupation with MySuper may have seriously impeded the focus on superannuation’s main game, members with the option to choose their fund. The haemorrhage of members to the self-directed segment of […]
Read More
Featured Image

Long term forecasts

  • On 10/07/2015
Global economies have now had years of low interest rates fuelled by declining growth in wealthy nations and quantitative easing from Central banks. Yet interest rates keep trending lower and economic activity continues to be subdued. Inflation, the scourge of past decades, also appears shackled. What does this mean for investment markets and, more importantly, […]
Read More