An end-of-year message from TelstraSuper CEO Chris Davies
December 11, 2023
As 2023 draws to a close, I would like to take a moment to wish you and your family a happy holiday season and reflect on some of the exciting developments that have shaped our Fund over the past year.
A key focus across our teams has been to enhance and expand the Fund’s product and service offering so that members have even more ways to make confident decisions about their super and retirement.
Making it easier for you to engage
Compared to other super fund members, TelstraSuper members are highly engaged, including when using digital services. So, to make it even easier for you to engage with us online, we've uplifted our online dashboard, digitised even more forms and enabled members to securely upload documents directly into our online portal.
We've also made it easier for members of all ages to plan their futures by introducing the latest innovations in online digital tools. This includes our new Retirement Lifestyle Planner, which allows you to estimate how long your income might last into retirement under different scenarios – such as making extra contributions, taking career breaks, moving to part-time work, or switching investment options.
This year, we also launched our first digital advice tool – our Investment Choice Selector – to help you understand your risk profile and which of our investment options could be suited to your personal goals and circumstances.
If you haven't already experimented with these new tools, log in to your SuperOnline account and take a look around – you'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy they are to use and what insights they provide.
I also encourage all members to keep an eye out for our increasingly popular webinars and seminars. This year, our member education team presented 155 webinars and seminars across 34 unique topics, with plenty of time allowed to answer questions from members.
Our investment offering remains competitive
There’s also been a lot happening on the investment front. We've changed our investment menu in recognition of the fact that members are working and living longer and are likely to benefit from the potentially higher returns from greater exposure to growth assets. This included introducing a new High Growth investment option and redesigning our MySuper Lifecycle arrangement. We also expanded our self-managed Direct Access option to retirees.
And we continue to be incredibly proud of our investment performance. Despite challenging economic conditions in the year to 30 June 2023, our most popular diversified investment options delivered competitive returns to members. As we look forward to the remainder of the year, our team of investment professionals will continue actively managing our investment portfolios, remaining alert to both opportunities and risks as they emerge.
A fund for life
Another highlight for the year was the launch of our RetireAccess Lifetime Pension, now available to most members aged 60 and over. The Lifetime Pension provides a tax-free income for life, filling a gap for members who worry about outliving their savings and want more income certainty.
The Lifetime Pension complements and can work in tandem with our popular RetireeAccess account-based pension.
Widely recognised as a retirement leader, we were again named the Pension Fund of the Year in the 2023 Chant West Awards. This is the second year we've achieved this recognition, which follows our 2023 Super Ratings Pension of the Year Award.
Thank you for entrusting TelstraSuper
On behalf of the Board and staff, thank you all for trusting us with your super - we're honoured to be part of your journey to a better financial future.
After such a busy year, the team at TelstraSuper is looking forward to a well-deserved break over the festive season – you can see our holiday hours below.
I wish you and your family the very best for the coming holiday season.
Chris Davies
TelstraSuper CEO