AMP and North’s market-first retirement solution, MyNorth Lifetime, has won Canstar’s Innovation Excellence Award, recognising its contribution to helping Australians retire with greater comfort and financial confidence.

Launched last year, MyNorth Lifetime is designed to provide higher levels of income for life, and helps Australians make the most of their retirement savings.

It’s unique because it combines the best attributes of account-based pensions and lifetime annuities, the financial solutions traditionally used by retirees.

MyNorth Lifetime’s benefits include:

• the transparency of an account balance and full investment choice from North’s Super and Pension menus
• the only accumulation account on the market which allows members to accumulate concessions to increase their age pension eligibility in retirement
• the only pension account on the market which allows members to continue making contributions in a tax-free earnings environment while deferring income, and
• account options for retirees, pre-retirees and those transitioning into retirement.

Canstar’s Innovation Excellence Awards winners represent a select group of institutions in the financial services industry with products or services that have been reviewed, assessed and deemed to be innovative.

The award follows MyNorth Lifetime winning two Plan For Life’s (PFL) awards at their Longevity Cover Awards in October last year, including for innovation. PFL’s awards identify market excellence and best practice by providers of longevity cover, including product offers that are specifically designed to meet some part of retiree longevity risk.

Edwina Maloney, AMP’s Director of Platforms, said:

“We’re proud MyNorth Lifetime has won another award – Canstar’s Innovation Excellence Award. The award recognises true innovation in retirement, an area of significant and growing importance to the well-being of all Australians.

“More and more of us are retiring and living longer, with research showing many are concerned we will outlive our savings.

“MyNorth Lifetime provides advisers and their clients with the comfort and financial confidence of knowing they will never run out of income in retirement, irrespective of how long they live.”

Sue Morris, Financial Adviser at Hyland Financial, said: 

“I’ve found the MyNorth Lifetime suite to be very useful for several of our clients because it not only gives them the benefit of income for life, but allows them to access the age pension and concession card.

“I’ve also used the Deferred Income Account option for clients who are still working and, as result, were edging just out of age pension eligibility under the income test. The account has allowed them to access pension benefits, which is really important to our clients who are keen to keep working in some capacity.”

Three account options

MyNorth Lifetime includes options for retirees, pre-retirees and those transitioning into retirement:

• The MyNorth Lifetime Income account: Provides a retirement income stream for life, for customers (and their spouses where selected).
• The MyNorth Lifetime Super account: An accumulation account with no capital restrictions that lets customers plan and save for retirement while locking in asset test benefits.
• The MyNorth Deferred Lifetime Income account: A tax-free accumulation account for customers who have satisfied a condition of capital release but do not wish to commence drawing down an income.

A hybrid between an account-based pension and a lifetime annuity