One of the frequent tasks we face for clients is something known as a Section 14 transfer – this involves moving a retirement annuity (or preservation fund) from one company to another. Typically this would be from an insurance company to a unit trust company. Reasons for clients wanting to do this are many, such as:
- No/limited transparency from the insurance companies with respect to costs and performance of their investments. Many investors suspect that the fees are high and performance is poor but they are horrified when they find out the actual figures. The high fees are not limited to the “old generation” RA’s – there are many “new generation” products with very high annual fees! Investors should stay away from any investment via an insurance company…there are better options elsewhere – let the insurers focus on insurance!
- No/limited flexibility when it comes to making changes to the contribution amount or term and did we mention the penalties that are frequently applied to anyone wanting to move their funds? This is a legacy to an archaic pricing model. People’s circumstances change, often through no fault of theirs and to penalise someone who can no longer afford to pay a premium as a result of being retrenched or being forced to join a work pension fund is immoral and a bad business practice. There are better ways to do business!
So, to any of the insurers out there, here is the message from consumers. There is something fundamentally wrong with the business model when the S14 dept is “understaffed and backlogged” to quote one of the employees. The longer you take to action S14 transfers (180 days is the “legal max and many of you are abusing this) the more the reputation of your company is damaged. This applies to all the insurers – you may think you are keeping the funds for longer and making it difficult for people to transfer and that as a result they might eventually give up in frustration, but the reality is that in the process you are losing clients forever.
Address the issues that are leading to so many clients wanting to move – and it’s not advisors chasing commissions! Rather, it is a fatally flawed business model that is constantly dependent on new business to survive.
