10 December 2018

Super Simple Retirement Disclosure

The Morrison Government has today released the Retirement Income Disclosure Consultation Paper which is the next step in developing a retirement income framework to support consumers to maintain an appropriate standard of living in retirement.

The Morrison Government is committed to supporting Australians to maximise their retirement incomes and to make informed decisions.

The paper proposes a range of metrics to assist consumers to assess how a product aligns with their own preferences in relation to potential income, flexibility and risk management. These will be presented as factsheets to enable people to compare products. The paper sets out how the options for these metrics and features could be presented, to help consumers make decisions and improve transparency in the industry.

These factsheets will cut through to the key features that matter when making retirement income decisions.

Currently, when people approach retirement they are confronted with complex legal and financial information and long and complex documents. Typically, these documents do not provide clear information on the expected level, variability and duration or retirement income. This paper proposes an easy to read and understand document to supplement existing documents.

This paper builds on the Retirement Income Covenant Position Paper released in May 2018 and forms part of the Government’s broader work on the Retirement Income Framework.

The Retirement Income Framework will support the development of comprehensive income products for retirement (CIPRs). These products will give retirees confidence that they will not outlive their savings, while supporting higher living standards.

In addition to the Consultation Paper, the Australian Government Actuary has produced a technical paper outlining the retirement income risk measure and the method of calculation.

Consultation on the Retirement Income Disclosure Consultation Paper and the technical paper will be open until 28 March 2019 and the Government invites all interested parties to make submissions.