There has hardly been a 6pm news bulletin over this past fortnight where speculation about the upcoming budget hasn’t been featured – including those comments from the Treasurer that the retirement age could rise to 70.*
This is probably the most significant change in superannuation policy in a generation and if implemented will impact hundreds of thousands of Australians, from all walks of life.
Yet no one seems to be talking about it to the general population from within the advice industry.
Why is that?
Financial planning professionals are ideally placed to help people retire at the age they’d like to with positive and proactive planning.
Who amongst us still wants to be working at the age of 70?
Who still wants to be putting up with the commute to work, the increased cost of parking, the pain of still getting XPlan to try and work properly and keeping up-to-date with whatever new compliance regime the government of the day has decided to implement.
Do you really want to be there at age 70?
So do you think your clients want to be there – facing whatever challenges they have within their own work lives when they are aged 70? Probably not I’d suggest.
This change in superannuation policy is perhaps the biggest marketing opportunity the advice industry is ever likely to see for some time.
So what are you going to do with it?
Help Australians retire when they’d like to I hope.
*Source: ‘Prepare for a retirement age of 70: Joe Hockey’ The Australian – 13 April, 2014.
