TAL has partnered with research house McCrindle to study consumers’ financial planning and preparedness.

The life insurer says an annual report, launching in July, will give financial advisers an understanding of the social, demographic and economic trends shaping clients’ needs.

It will cover financial realities, cost-of-living pressures, consumer digital behaviour, generational shifts, wellbeing and health, and attitudes towards protection and the role of advice in Australians’ lives.

The Modern Australia Index will enable advisers to track how views and circumstances are changing, TAL says.

“Demographics are shifting, healthcare needs are changing and consumer expectations are evolving at pace,” GM of consumer and growth Alexis Denby said.

“Advisers are working harder than ever to understand what their clients need, and we want to give them something that genuinely helps with that.”

McCrindle founder and principal Mark McCrindle says the index is designed to explore consumers’ preparedness at a time when technological change and converging “megatrends” are reshaping Australians’ outlook.

For example, recent McCrindle analysis has found that even though Baby Boomers hold half of private net wealth, they are not immune from inflation costs in their weekly expenses, and while gens X and Y have greater earning power in their peak years, they have less net wealth.