TAL partners with McCrindle for real-time insights into modern Australia to enrich support for customers and partners

TAL has announced a new research partnership with McCrindle, one of Australia's most respected social research and advisory firms, to launch annual research that will shape how the life insurer will engage with and support its customers and partners.

The Modern Australia Index has particular utility for financial advisers, providing them with real-time understanding of the social, demographic and economic trends shaping their clients' needs.

Founder and Principal at McCrindle, Mark McCrindle, said the Index was designed to explore Australians’ preparedness at a time where rapid technological change and converging megatrends were reshaping Australians’ outlook.

"Geopolitics, digital and economic trends are changing more than just Australians’ economic mobility, they are changing how they think about the future.”

“This research will provide a clear sense of Australians’ long-term outlook, and their current financial reality, health, digital behaviours and social connectivity.” 

The Index will cover the issues most relevant to adviser-client conversations: financial realities, cost of living pressures, digital consumer behaviour, generational shifts, wellbeing and health, and Australians' attitudes toward protection and the role of advice in their lives.

Its longitudinal design means advisers will be able to track how views and circumstances are changing over time — translating broad social trends into insight they can act on in their businesses and client conversations.

For example, recent McCrindle generational analysis reveals that even though Baby Boomers hold half of Australians private net wealth, they’re not immune to inflation costs in their weekly expenses, and while Gen Y and Gen X have greater earning power in their peak earning years, they have less net wealth to rely on during periods of heightened uncertainty.

TAL General Manager, Consumer & Growth, Alexis Denby said the partnership reflected TAL's commitment to customers through a genuine understanding of modern Australian life.

“Demographics are shifting, healthcare needs are changing and consumer expectations are evolving at pace. Our partnership with McCrindle gives us a comprehensive view of those changes.”

“Advisers are working harder than ever to understand what their clients need — and we want to give them something that genuinely helps with that. For TAL, these insights will shape the products we offer, and how we engage with and support our customers.”

The Index will be made available to financial advisers and industry partners from July 2026.