reforms, the spotlight is again on how to pay for increasingly longer

retirements. Since saving for life after work became mandatory in the

early '90s, Australians have shown a marked preference for cashing out

super. The appeal of investing in an income stream through an annuity

has been miniscule. But in Switzerland about 50% of the accumulated

pension wealth is annuitised. The "generous" means test for the pension

in Australia, in part, may explain the difference, as Monika Bütler,

dean of the School of Economics and Political Science at University of

St Gallen, told a recent Australian School of Business seminar. But that

may not hold if the government keeps changing the rules.