New perspectives on retirement income

At two key industry events in June, TAL’s Jenny Oliver, Chief Executive of Group Life & Retirement, and Shaun Bransdon, General Manager of Retirement & Wealth, shared valuable insights into the opportunities and challenges super funds face in building member awareness and understanding of retirement income solutions.  

Reframing retirement products

At the All Actuaries Summit in Sydney on 13 June, Jenny joined a panel of industry experts to discuss progress towards meeting the obligations of the Retirement Income Covenant.  

Jenny explored Australians’ reluctance to embrace annuities, highlighting the psychological and behavioural barriers that influence retirement decisions.  

Jenny’s key messages included: 

• Disconnect between logic and appeal—the “annuity puzzle”: Even though annuities make financial sense, most Australians and their advisers don’t consider or engage with them.
• Why people hold back from retirement income products: Behavioural barriers such as fear of losing money (loss aversion), confusion about how products work, and a preference for liquidity often prevent people from choosing these options, even when the financial benefits are clear.
• Lack of familiarity: People are more confident engaging with familiar options like property. Property feels tangible, may grow in value, and can be passed on to family. In contrast, a lack of familiarity—and lingering negative perceptions—make annuities harder for Australians to engage with, despite their advantages.
• Time for a new approach: Framing annuities as a source of regular monthly income in retirement, rather than as an investment, make them more appealing. If the term ‘annuity’ creates a sense of complexity, we may need to shift the language to reflect what it actually provides: Lifetime Income.
• Supporting informed decisions: Actuaries are encouraged to step into the shoes of everyday Australians and contribute to the development of tools and guidance that help them make confident, informed decisions.
• The role of actuaries in retirement: Success in this space will depend on the profession’s ability to humanise and simplify lifetime income solutions. 

Changing the retirement conversation 

On 17 June, Shaun echoed Jenny’s sentiments at ASFA’s Spotlight on Retirement Conference in Melbourne, where he discussed how understanding behavioural drivers can help funds simplify the retirement journey for more Australians.  

He was joined by Associate Professor Jody Evans from Melbourne Business School, whose research explores how confidence, trust and emotional framing influence consumer engagement with lifetime income solutions.  

Shaun and Jody’s key messages:  

• Understanding member retirement needs: By using psychological profiling and segmentation (grouping members based on traits like confidence or risk tolerance), we can develop a deeper understanding of how people approach retirement.
• Supporting members at their life stage: Offering tools, guidance and real-life stories that are relatable to members helps them visualise their future selves and become more aware of their retirement options.
• Breaking down complexity to build confidence: Products need to be simple to understand. Breaking down complex concepts and offering flexibility can help create more tailored, relatable experiences for members. 
• Guiding decisions: The way options are presented can have a big impact on decisions. Providing the right information at the right time and starting with the simplest decisions helps guide members through the journey.
• A sector-wide approach: Too much jargon and complex disclosures can make financial products seem risky or untrustworthy. Using clearer, more consistent language across the industry would help build trust.
• A call to super funds: Through collaboration and alignment, the industry has an opportunity to reshape how financial concepts around retirement are explained using simpler, more meaningful language that resonates with members. 

For more information around TAL’s approach to designing and implementing retirement income solutions, speak to your Partnership Manager.