Clients facing longevity risk dilemma

Speaking at the roadshow’s Sydney event yesterday, Perpetual’s Adam Curtis said that in the current climate, financial advice clients often suffer from the “investment dilemma”.

“We all in this room have a responsibility to provide stability and visibility and certainty in our client portfolios,” Mr Curtis said.

The investment dilemma arises when investors demonstrate a conservative approach to risk appetite and yet need a level of risk in their portfolio to combat longevity risk, Mr Curtis said.

Mr Curtis said adopting new approaches to benchmarking and accounting for changes in benchmarks over time may help assuage this risk.

He said advisers need to assist in building portfolios that are focused not so much on “benchmarks” as “opportunities”.