Australia 2050
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WINNER – 2014 ALUCA TURKSLEGAL SCHOLARSHIP Australia 2050 Lara Neate – BT Financial Group Question 10 According to the treasury, over the next 40 years the proportion of the population over 65 years will double to around 25 per cent. At the same time, growth in the population of traditional workforce age is expected to slow to almost zero. The demographics are therefore changing significantly in the core market for risk insurance products. How is the industry going to adapt to these changes? Describe what the industry should be offering older Australians both in pre- and post- retirement phases of their life. To the extent there are problems with the current mix of government policy and regulation holding back the development of insurance products in this space, outline both the problems and describe the legislative and other changes that need to be made to enable the industry to provide useful products that meet the needs of this sector of the community. Introduction Increased life expectancy and decreased birth rate have introduced a societal challenge – a rapidly aging population. The needs of aging societies are complex and require cooperation between individuals, companies, industry and government. The aging population slows economic growth due to the decreasing workforce and lower discretionary spending by retirees, creating a lower tax pool from which to fund increasing government spending on the age pension and health care (Dragan Savic, 2013). To reduce the impact of the aging population, the goal of government and the insurance industry should be to maximise private retirement savings, increase the incidence of self-funded retirement and ensure superannuation savings are used appropriately post retirement (Dragan Savic, 2013). Who are Older Australians? People older than 65 years of age account for 13% of the almost 20 million Australians, with projections suggesting an increase to 26%–28% by 2051 (ABS, 2008). Those older than 85 years currently represent 1.6% of the population but will increase to 7%–10% by 2101 (ABS, 2008). Australians enjoy one of the longest life expectancies, 79 years for men and 84 years for women (AIHW, 2013), projected to rise to 100 years by 2060 (Oeppen & Vaupel, 2002). Winner – 2014 ALUCA TurksLegal Scholarship 1 Lara Neate, BT Financial Group As the population ages, the prevalence of chronic diseases increases. Currently, there are approximately 330,000 Australians diagnosed with dementia (Samsung Life Insurance, 2013). Within the next 5 years, it is expected that dementia will be the leading cause of disability within Australia, surpassing cardiovascular disease, cancer, and depression (Department of Health and Ageing, 2006). About 60% of individuals aged over 65 will require at least some type of long-term care services in their lifetime (National Care Planning Council, 2014) Growth of the workforce The growth in the number of people of workforce age is expected to fall from around 1.2% per annum over the last decade to almost zero in forty years time. In 2002, there were more than five people of working age to support every person aged over 65. By 2042, there will only be 2.5 people of working age supporting each person aged over 65 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004). This increase in older Australians and reduction in the population of workforce age presents a challenge for the health care system as treatment transitions from acute disease to chronic condition. It also places a strain on the availability of labour to provide goods and services and the sustainability of social safety nets (RGA, 2013). How will industry and government adapt to these changes in demographics? The insurance industry has 3 main areas that it can address in relation to the changing demographics of the Australian population: preparing retirees financially for the future; offering an innovative and flexible range of products and extending the duration of healthy, independent living in later life. These products and areas will need to address both the pre and post retirement phases. As life expectancy increases, the retirement systems will need to cater for longer periods of retirement (Dragan Savic, 2013). Preparing retirees financially for the future Retirees who are financially prepared place fewer burdens on social safety nets and require less support from younger generations (RGA, 2013). This requires individual planning, as well as education and innovative products (RGA, 2013). Consumer education Retirement financial planning requires time and effort in making the required complex decisions. The risks related to making decisions about retirement security are complex and can often be unclear. Therefore, individuals require clear and comprehensible education and guidance. There are already initiatives that have been developed in Australia to assist individuals to make informed financial planning decisions such as the Australian Financial Services Council’s LifeWise campaign (lifewise.org.au). The problem with many of these initiatives isn’t the content but rather the effectiveness. The Actuarial Foundation provides consumer financial education on insurance and retirement planning. Canada created the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) in 2001 to provide financial literacy initiatives with various tools, programs and publications (Generali Assicuranzioni, 2013). As there are already existing resources, industry and government should promote these already existing resources creating awareness and simple ways to access these. The Insurance industry has the ability to provide clear and comprehensible consumer education that is written in everyday language to provide Winner – 2014 ALUCA TurksLegal Scholarship 2 Lara Neate, BT Financial Group practical considerations and advice. From a government perspective there is the possibility that financial planning could be taught in schools to create a culture of lifelong savings. Offering an innovative and flexible range of product solutions The insurance industry would need to act as the innovator in the development of new products and services to protect the financial security of its customers. Governments already invest in research and development incentives but as the population ages they will be required to do more to support the wealth protection needs of the population. There are a number of areas that both government and industry can offer products. In Germany, which appears to have been successful so far in addressing the issue of an aging population, the government has aimed at changing the pension landscape by shifting the financing of pensions towards private pensions and capital funding (Generali Assicuranzioni, 2013). Products offered in Germany are many and most have generous tax incentives, for example the Government provides tax deferrals and exemption from social security contribution in order to encourage individuals to convert part of their wage into pension plan schemes. Private voluntary pension products can only be offered by insurance companies. Insurance companies offer insurance products to cover occupational pension schemes of various types and Insurers and brokers provide effective and extensive advisory to consumers when selling their products (Generali Assicuranzioni, 2013). Macquarie currently offers the Macquarie Life Active policy which is an alternative to traditional insurance products. It’s a comprehensive all-in-one insurance with severity based benefits, broader coverage and the ability to make multiple claims (Macquarie, 2014). In Belgium, insurance companies offer cover where Term Life, Income Protection, and Trauma are offered all together and the insured person risk and therefore premiums and benefits changes during their lifetime. A possibility of this could be definitions with objective severity criteria when higher ages are covered. Compared to a pay-out on any diagnosis, the risk of deteriorating claims experience is strongly reduced due to medical progress or changing screening behaviour (GenRe, 2014). Another possibility would be the reduction of the sum insured over time. There is large scope to make changes and improvements in the way individuals are able to use their superannuation. As the law currently stands, there is nothing to prevent anyone from accessing all of their superannuation as a lump sum once they reach their preservation age. To prevent lump sum withdrawals and to better plan for an income during retirement, there are requests by life insurance companies for this option to be removed and replaced with mandated income streams. Financial products such as annuities can serve this purpose. Annuities provide a guaranteed regular income stream for an upfront lump sum payment or a series of smaller payments. Retirees receive income over a specified time horizon (fixed-term annuities) or for the remainder of their life (lifetime annuities) (TAL, 2014). ‘Indexed annuities’ protect this income from the effects of inflation, while ‘deferred lifetime annuities’ provide an income stream once the person reaches a certain age (TAL, 2014). Deferred lifetime annuities would help to maintain a retiree’s lifestyle, but they have not taken off as a retirement investment solution in Australia. This is due to the difficulty financial advisers and their customers have understanding the regulatory complexities governing these products, and how the regulations do not provide the tax benefits afforded to other superannuation products. Winner – 2014 ALUCA TurksLegal Scholarship 3 Lara Neate, BT Financial Group The Chinese