#22. Co-hosts Sarah Penn and Neil Benson chat with Anthony Saliba, Partner at Deloitte Actuarial Consulting.

Highlights

• Retirement income measurement challenge: Determining if retirement income solutions are working is complex, especially with new best practice principles released by Treasury.
• Best practice principles explained: Treasury’s principles aim to guide trustees in supporting retirees, but are non-binding and allow for flexibility and market-driven solutions.
• Principles-based vs. prescriptive rules: The industry favours a principles-based approach; there is ongoing discussion about whether these guidelines will eventually become enforceable standards.
• Realities for smaller funds: Some super funds may decide to exit members into specialist retirement funds rather than investing heavily in retirement offerings for a small retiree base.
• Complexity for members: Switching from accumulation to retirement products and navigating financial advice, age pension eligibility, and new lifetime income products creates challenges, especially for those without access to personal advice.
• Emphasis on member confidence: Leading funds invest in digital tools and education to improve member confidence and provide support beyond traditional advice models.
• Measuring outcomes: Funds should use objective, evidence-based data to evaluate retirement strategies and avoid “marking their own homework.”
• Personalisation and cohorts: True hyper-personalisation is aspirational; most funds cohort members by life stage and balance, with some moving toward more nuanced demographic analysis.
• Data access limitations: Lack of access to data like home ownership and marital status hampers more tailored solutions; innovative tools to gather member data can help bridge this gap.
• Regulatory barriers to engagement: Strict personal advice laws prevent funds from using member data for targeted communications and are seen as a roadblock to better member engagement.
• Drawdown patterns: Most retirees draw the minimum required, sometimes due to uncertainty or default settings; there are calls to encourage greater, more sustainable drawdowns early in retirement.
• Missed opportunities: Members often pay unnecessary tax or miss out on age pension entitlements simply by not taking key actions (like moving to drawdown phase or promptly applying for the pension).
• Annuities and product innovation: Lifetime income products can help manage longevity risk but suffer from low uptake; the industry is seeing product innovation and working toward better “solution” messaging.
• Asset-rich, income-poor issue: The system facilitates cases where people use super to increase home equity and then qualify for age pension; potential for equity release products and need for policy refinement.
• Key takeaway for trustees: Always use an evidence-based, objective approach when measuring outcomes and designing solutions, and clearly communicate trade-offs to help members make informed decisions.

Guest: Anthony Saliba

• Connect with Anthony Saliba on LinkedIn
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• Visit Deloitte website

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Your Cohosts

Sarah Penn

Sarah Penn is the CEO and founder of Mayflower Consulting, an Australian financial services consultancy specialising in product governance, PDS management, and product operating model design. Her team works with super funds, fund managers, and investment platforms across Australia.

• Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn
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• Visit Mayflower Consulting website

Neil Benson

Neil Benson is the global chief product officer at ChandlerCX, where he leads a team focused on intelligent customer messaging for regulated organisations, including superannuation funds, banks, insurers, utilities and public sector organisations. His AI startup, Novagentic, was acquired by ChandlerCX in February 2026.

• Connect with Neil on LinkedIn
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• Visit ChandlerCX website

Mentioned in this episode:

Mayflower Consulting

This episode is brought to you by Mayflower Consulting. We work with product teams across super funds, fund managers, and platforms to move faster. Faster PDS updates, faster decisions, and less friction. If governance is slowing you down, we can fix that.

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