The Highly Selective Dictionary of Golden Adjectives for the Extraordinarily Literate, published in 2002, is a compendium of adjectives that are golden in the sense of being brilliant, exceptionally valuable, advantageous, or otherwise fine, according to the author and word connoisseur Eugene Ehrlich.
In compiling this work, Ehrlich decided that 'superannuated' was one of these golden adjectives.
The term entered the English language from Medieval Latin and was used around the mid-17th century to describe cattle older than a year, but it quickly developed the additional meaning of a person incapacitated by old age.
Despite the somewhat unflattering origin of the word, superannuation is indeed, as Ehrlich said, exceptionally valuable.
It has been 20 years since a mandatory savings system was created in Australia through the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, which legislated compulsory employer contributions.
But the struggle to create the $1.3-trillion system and the champions who navigated superannuation through the perilous political seas are not widely known outside the industry.
This situation existed because the system lacked a passionate chronicler, until now.
Former Investor Weekly editor Christine St Anne has written a history of the Australian superannuation system. The book was launched earlier this week at the Sydney offices of Fidelity Worldwide Investments.
A Super History covers the conception of the system from the forerunners of today's funds, including the Victorian Federated Storeman and Packers Union's 1974 accumulation fund, to the latest incarnation of the government-spearheaded, one-size-fits-all solution MySuper.
The book provides an insightful view of the different stakeholders, the hurdles that needed to be overcome in order to get the system through and the pitfalls that caused the implementation to veer off course more than once in the lead-up to the 1992 legislation.
I'm obviously biased towards this work, but it should be essential reading for anyone working in the financial services industry. I, for one, learned a lot from it.
It has been said the book is largely a history of the industry funds, while today's sector comprises a substantial amount of assets in retail funds and self-managed super funds (SMSF).
This criticism is not unjust, but it bypasses the fact the creation of a mandatory system, which has been the key catalyst for the growth of the industry as it exists today, found its origin almost solely in the efforts of those people who created the industry fund sector.
The future of superannuation, on the other hand, is more likely to be a member affair.
With super accounts increasing, the interest of members will rise and their desire to get a grip on its management will heighten too.
The rise of SMSFs and the sector's snowballing funds under management are good illustrations of this.
SMSFs represent the largest sub-sector in size and are shaping the competitive direction of many other areas of the super industry - think AustralianSuper's Member Direct service.
In many ways, the story of super has only just started.
Nearly all funds are still in accumulation mode and it will take some time before the first employees that have made contributions over their full working life under the superannuation guarantee will start to retire.
And before we reach this point, the super system is likely to undergo many more changes: new incarnations of the default funds, legislation on transparency and governance, and probably a raft of new products and services.
