Does your superannuation fund also provide you with insurance? Many of us are automatically enrolled without even realising. Now, the way super funds handle such claims has been thrust into the spotlight.

Australia’s corporate watchdog – the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) – has put our $3.9 trillion superannuation sector on notice, launching legal action against one of the country’s largest industry super funds.

On Tuesday, ASIC alleged that Cbus – which manages more than $85 billion on behalf of more than 900,000 Australians – was too slow to process millions of dollars in death and disability payouts, leaving many families in prolonged financial uncertainty.

ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said in a statement:

We allege Cbus failed its members and claimants at their most vulnerable time, and we are taking this case to protect all those vulnerable Australians trying to access the financial support to which they are entitled.

In response, Cbus apologised for the delays and announced a new compensation program for affected members.

But at a press conference on Wednesday, Court said the way claims are handled remains a “broader issue” in the superannuation industry. She indicated the regulator may take further actions against other funds early next year.

If true, this raises some urgent questions. Are Australia’s big super funds doing enough to protect and look after their members at the times it matters most? And what are your rights?

The case against Cbus

ASIC’s allegations centre on Cbus’s handling of a number of death benefits and total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance claims.

The regulator alleges that since September 2022, more than 10,000 members were impacted by significant delays in processing and payment of claims – 6,000 of whom by more than a year.

This allegedly resulted in a financial loss to members of about $20 million.

ASIC also alleges that the trustee for Cbus – United Super – failed to report the situation to ASIC within the 30-day timeframe required by law, and didn’t “take all reasonable steps” to ensure its reports were not materially misleading.

The case comes at a bad time for Cbus. The superannuation giant’s high senior staff turnover, links to embattled union CFMEU, and other governance concerns have led some analysts, such as those at Morningstar, to raise questions about whether Cbus is equipped to manage the complex needs of its members effectively.

A safety net at risk

Many Australians are automatically enrolled in life and disability insurance through their superannuation. This is designed to offer a financial safety net for members and their families in times of hardship.

These benefits can provide crucial support if a member dies, faces terminal illness, or becomes unable to work due to disability. For those counting on this support, delayed claims can cause immense financial and emotional distress, particularly during already vulnerable times.

ASIC’s scrutiny of Cbus signals a deeper problem – the risk that some funds are prioritising administrative convenience and cost savings over timely management of claims.

A wake-up call for the industry

ASIC’s lawsuit against Cbus underscores a critical point: that super funds must act in the best interests of their members at every stage, from managing contributions to paying out insurance claims.

Super policy reform discussions often centre on encouraging members themselves to save more for retirement. That approach is too one-sided.

If a broader regulatory crackdown goes ahead, it could become a turning point. Funds will be prompted to re-evaluate their governance practices, reinforce their claims management procedures, and make sure they operate with more transparency and accountability.

For superannuation members, it serves as a reminder to stay informed and engaged with their super funds, understanding their rights and expectations.

What should I know about my rights?

If you have insurance through your super, understanding your entitlements and the claims process is crucial.

Here are some key steps to ensure a smoother claims experience:

1. Review your coverage: Super funds usually offer life, total and permanent disability (TPD), and income protection insurance. Check your super statement or fund portal to confirm your coverage details. If unclear, contact your fund for a breakdown of benefits.

2. Understand the claims process: Each fund has its own procedures for handling claims, often involving medical assessments, proof of death, or evidence of disability. Knowing what documentation is required in advance can help prevent delays.

3. Ask for clear timelines: Request an estimated timeline when you submit a claim. Although funds must process claims within a reasonable time, delays can happen. A responsive fund should provide updates on your claim’s progress.

4. Escalate delays if necessary: If your claim is taking longer than expected, contact your fund’s claims team. If their response is unsatisfactory, consider filing a formal complaint. For unresolved issues, you can escalate to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), which assists in mediating disputes.

5. Hold your fund accountable: As a super member, you have the right to prompt and fair treatment. ASIC’s action against Cbus highlights the importance of regulatory oversight, but members also play a role in holding their funds accountable. Don’t hesitate to advocate for your rights if you feel your claim is mishandled.

Natalie Peng, Lecturer in Accounting, The University of Queensland

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Some 2.3 million of U.S. adults over 65 – more than 4% – have a diagnosis of dementia. But even without a diagnosis, a certain amount of cognitive decline is normal as age sets in.

And whether it’s due to fear of cognitive decline or noticing lapses in cognition when we are stressed, many of us have had moments when we thought we could use an extra cognitive boost.

The good news is research has shown that people can make changes throughout adulthood that can help prevent or delay cognitive decline and even reduce their risk of dementia. These include quitting smoking and properly managing blood pressure.

In addition to these lifestyle changes, many people are turning to brain-training games, which claim to optimize your brain’s efficiency and capacity at any age. The makers of brain-training apps and games claim their products can do everything from staving off cognitive decline to improving your IQ.

But so far these claims have been met with mixed evidence.

We are cognitive neuroscientists who focus on brain health across the adult lifespan. We study how the brain informs cognition and the ways we can use brain imaging to understand cognitive and brain-training interventions. We aim to understand how our brains change naturally over time as well as what we can do about it.

Ongoing research shows what actually happens to the brain when it is engaged in new learning, offering a window into how people can sustain their brain health and how brain-training games can play a role. We believe these studies offer some strategies to train your brain the right way.

Brain training fact vs. fiction

Brain training is a set of tasks, often computerized, based on well-known tests to measure a type of cognition, but in a gamified manner.

Most brain-training games were designed to help participants master one or more specific skills. One example is a game that shows you a letter and number combination, where sometimes you must quickly identify whether the letter is even or odd, while other times you must switch to deciding whether the letter is a consonant or vowel. The game may increase in difficulty by requiring you to accomplish the task within a set time limit.

Such games are designed to require a high level of attention, fast processing speed and a flexible mind to alternate between the rules, known as executive functioning.

But it turns out that the specific skills learned in these games often do not translate to more general, real-world applications. Whether brain games meet their end goal of lasting cognitive improvement across a number of areas is still highly debated among psychologists. To make such claims requires rigorous evidence that playing a specific game improves cognitive or brain performance.

In 2016, in fact, the Federal Trade Commission issued a US$50 million penalty to one of the most popular brain-training games at the time, Lumosity, for misleading consumers into thinking that they could achieve higher levels of mental performance at work or at school and prevent or delay cognitive decline by using its product.

If improving on a brain game helps the player get better only at that or highly similar games, maybe game developers need a different approach.

Put some challenge into it

In a study dubbed the Synapse Project, in which one of us, Ian McDonough, helped assess the final outcomes, one group of participants were tasked with engaging in a new activity with which they had little experience. They were assigned to either digital photography or quilting. Though these activities were not games, they were meant to be engaging, challenging and done in a social environment.

Another group was assigned activities that involved little active learning, such as engaging in themed activities related to travel or cooking, or more solitary activities such as solving crossword puzzles, listening to music or watching classic movies. These groups met for 15 hours a week over 14 weeks. All participants were tested at the beginning and end of the study on various cognitive abilities.

Those assigned to the new, challenging activities showed significant gains in their memory, processing speed and reasoning abilities relative to those assigned to the less challenging activities. None of the participants were directly trained on these cognitive tests, which means that the challenging activities enhanced skills that transferred to new situations, such as remembering a list of words or solving abstract problems.

Brain scans of participants showed that over the course of the study, those engaged in the more challenging activities increased their neural efficiency. In other words, their brains didn’t have to work as hard to solve problems or recall information.

The study also showed that the more time participants spent on their projects, the bigger their brain gains and the better their memory was at the end of the 14 weeks.

One difference between the types of activities engaged in the Synapse Project and traditional brain training is whether activities are done in a group or alone. Although other studies have found a benefit to social interaction, the Synapse Project found no difference between the social and solitary activities in the low-challenge group. So, challenge rather than the social components seems to be the driver of maintaining cognitive and brain health.

What you can do to maintain a healthy brain

You might be thinking it’s time to take up digital photography or quilting. But in the end, it’s not about those specific tasks. What matters most is that you challenge yourself, which often comes naturally when doing something new.

The new learning that often is accompanied by a sense of effort – and sometimes frustration – requires accessing the resources in the frontal lobe, which manages thinking and judgment, and the parietal lobe, which processes attention and combines different sensory inputs. These regions constantly talk to each other to keep the mind adaptable in all kinds of situations and prevent the brain from going into “habit mode.”

Where does this leave us? Well, on the one hand, games touted as “training your brain” may not be the best solution compared with other routes to improving cognition.

Ironically, you might already be training your brain by playing effortful games that are not marketed as “brain training.” For example, games such as Tetris or real-time strategy games such as Rise of Nations have shown improvements in players’ cognition. Research has even shown that playing Super Mario 64 can result in increases in brain volume in regions such as the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain.

While little evidence suggests that any brain-training game or program globally improves cognition, some may improve specific aspects of it. As with other activities, challenge is key.

If you’re a word person, try a numbers-based game. If you love math, consider a word game or puzzle. Choosing a task that makes you feel uncomfortable gives you the best shot at maintaining and even improving your cognition. Once you start feeling a sense of ease and familiarity, that’s a sign that it’s time to switch tasks, change the game or at least add some challenge by advancing to a new level of difficulty that feels just beyond your reach.

Ian McDonough, Associate Professor of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York and Michael Dulas, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.