Is longevity risk 'overstated’?

The superannuation industry’s fixation on longevity risk could be distracting it from bigger-picture issues, an actuary believes.  

Addressing delegates at Super Review’s Post-Retirement and Ageing forum, State Super Financial Services’ managing director Michael Monaghan said that while there was a shortage of products on the market to deal with longevity risk, the severity of the issue might have been overstated.  

“I’m not one hundred per cent convinced that longevity risk is as bad as people make out,” he said.  

Fellow panellist Peter Lambert, CEO of Local Government Super, has long-heralded beliefs that the superannuation system is too focused on longevity risk, when the aged pension would be adequate for many.  

At the conference, he echoed the concerns and said the focus of the industry should shift to providing low cost advice for younger Australians.  

Monaghan called for industry-wide dialogue about how advice is delivered, particularly to address the mobile future.