Lifetime Income

Whole of retirement for whole of life

Welcome to Lifetime Income (LI)

ü We are an independently owned boutique consultancy that provides strategic advice, research, modelling, and implementation support to businesses looking to expand in the rapidly growing retiree marketplace.

ü We apply our actuarial skills and over 50 years of experience to develop and quantify innovative, effective, and robust solutions.

ü Our approach is holistic and integrated, not limited to providing regular income stream, rather focused on the effective use of financial resources.

ü We support businesses seeking to address aspects of the multi-faceted retirement challenge (puzzle) with a focus on assisting retirees achieve financial security and dignity throughout their retirement.

ü We have been active in this space since 2011.

Our ABN is 71 151 435 611

Retirement challenges

ü Ageing population. The population is rapidly aging globally. The over 65 group (the traditional fixed age for ‘retirement’) is growing rapidly, both in absolute numbers and as a proportion of the population. This group’s wealth is also growing rapidly. The rates of growth for over 80s are faster.

ü Retirement is new. The concept of retirement, so well entrenched in our minds, is recent and continues to evolve. In 1950 just over 5% of the world population were aged over 65. By 2100 this percentage is projected (by the United Nations) to be nearly 30%. At age 65 over 100 countries currently have combined (male and female) life expectancies of over 80. Life expectancies at birth and 65 are increasing.

ü Complex challenge. Retirees face a very difficult financial management challenge for such long (but indefinite since few know when they will die) periods. This is compounded by the impact of declines in capacity, both cognitive and physical, and health. A major challenge is managing the payout or decumulation phase of defined contribution retirement funds efficiently as well as and addressing longevity risk.

ü Use of income. Discussion around retirement incomes and provision for sustainable and dignified living in retirement typically focus on the provision of retirement income streams. They implicitly presume retirees are healthy, wealthy, interested, and competent to make ‘sensible’ decisions. These assumptions become increasing less valid as people age. As anyone who has dealt with someone with dementia knows, putting money into an account does not help them as they are unlikely to be capable of accessing or spending it. The Australian Bureau of Statistics projects that dementia will become the leading cause of death in Australia by 2025.

Meeting the challenge

ü Many opportunities. We believe there are clear opportunities to provide more efficiently and sustainably managed product solutions to meet life-long retirement income needs, applying traditional actuarial concepts. This applies for both income streams and one-off major expenses. These applications take a holistic perspective and recognise that the fundamental challenge is the provision of services that income streams can support. Retiree capacity may decline with age, so there is a clear need for forward planning and support, to be provided in a fiduciary and trustworthy way.

ü No one has ‘cracked’ it yet! Our analysis suggests there are few if any efficient products currently in the market. It also suggests the balance between the key stakeholders necessary for a long term sustainable and robust solutions in the long term is missing. Our approach and processes support the design of efficient and sustainable products that meet the needs of retirees, product providers, product distributors (and advisors), supervisors and government.