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19 May 2022
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Retirees worry about running out of money, and living solely on the age pension is viewed differently from spending their own money. But in retirement, many report adjusting well to what they have.
Super is reducing reliance on the age pension for the majority of people entering retirement. Most newly-retired Australians are not accessing the age pension at all, and only 25% of 66-year-olds are drawing a full age pension.
With the availability of large pools of retirees, the law of large numbers will start to see a predictable distribution of lifespans around the mean, allowing for longevity risk products. An important development.
The National Seniors Australia (NSA) survey reveals that retirees want access to regular and stable income, even at the expense of lower returns. The need to preserve capital reduces tolerance of losses.
Life expectancies have increased dramatically since the nineties, but the uncertainty is forcing retirees to live too frugally. The super industry is switching its attention to the drawdown phase to find better solutions.
As Cuffelinks celebrates five years of publishing, I have chosen five of my favourite articles over that time, all of which deal with the ‘retirement income challenge’ one way or another.
Policy proposals allow young people to access their super for a home bought from older people who put the money back into super. It helps some first buyers into a home earlier but it may push up prices.
In this environment, safe-haven assets like Government bonds act as a diversifier given the uncorrelated nature to equities during periods of risk-off, while offering a yield above term deposit rates.
A key attribute of great investors is the ability to abstract away the specifics of a particular domain, leaving only the important underlying principles upon which great investments can be made.
The Transfer Balance Cap limits the tax concessions available in super pension funds, removing the need for large, compulsory drawdowns. Plus there are no requirements to draw money out of an accumulation fund.
Companies tend to pre-position weak results ahead of 30 June, leading to earnings downgrades. The next two months will be critical for investors as a shift from ‘great expectations’ to ‘clear explanations’ gets underway.
We may have been extremely unlucky with the unforgiving weather plaguing the East Coast of Australia this year. However, on the economic front we are by many measures in a strong position relative to the rest of the world.
Discounts on LICs and LITs vary with market conditions, and many prominent managers have seen the value of their assets fall as well as discount widen. There may be opportunities for gains if discounts narrow.