Superannuation has been a leading area of concerns for financial advisers and their clients in the AMP advice network, accounting for a quarter of all technical queries, according to the financial services firm.
AMP Advice stated its technical service, TapIn, received more than 10,000 queries from financial advisers in the past year, of which 24 per cent related to superannuation contributions and death benefits, while around 6.5 per cent were concerned with concessional contributions.
“In addition to concessional and non-concessional superannuation contributions, the most common topics raised by AMP’s adviser network this year were condition of release or withdrawals, the transfer balance cap and home ownership issues,” AMP noted.
“The findings are supported by recent AMP research which found most older Australians heading into retirement lack knowledge about fundamental aspects of managing their retirement finances, underlining the importance of advice in helping them navigate this important transition.”
That research found 59 per cent of Australians aged 50 and over wished they had started planning for retirement earlier in life and 52 per cent did not know what a retirement income product was.
Commenting on the high number of superannuation queries, AMP head of technical strategy and TapIn John Perri said: “The only constant in superannuation is change and we have witnessed a growing number of calls from advisers around what the latest in superannuation reforms and regulations mean for their clients.
“AMP Advice provides a helping hand to our advice network through valuable services like TapIn, with a plethora of accessible resources, such as our publications, fact sheets, educational webinars and regular events like Network Connect to help showcase industry best practice.”
