Complaints to the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) rose by approximately 6.5 per cent last year, with the baby boomer generation contributing to the increase, according to the tribunal’s chairperson.
SCT chairperson Jocelyn Furlan said the “greater account balances” of baby boomers are linked to the rise in complaints.
“I think it’s also just greater engagement and awareness of superannuation generally. It’s in the press all the time, so people are becoming more engaged,” Ms Furlan told InvestorDaily.
Ms Furlan said education regarding the purpose of superannuation could help avoid disputes related to the dividing of superannuation once the contributor passes away.
“It’s quite deliberate that superannuation doesn’t form part of people’s estate and that’s because often when people die prior to retirement, the benefit they get is actually more death cover than it is their account balance,” she said.
Anna Hacker, senior manager of estate planning at Equity Trustees, added that her clients often don’t understand the litigation surrounding superannuation.
“Super is the thing that almost every client has no understanding of. They don’t know how it works -they think it’s a bank account, they think that they can deal with it however they want,” she said.
“It never surprises me when people don’t understand super, but it just happens time and time again.”
The Superannuation Complaints Tribunal deals with complaints from members of regulated superannuation funds against trustees or insurers in relation to any aspect of their superannuation.
