Super fund members slow to switch from shares after crash

Most Australians, who are still working, have  not yet adjusted the investments they have in their superannuation accounts.

However new research shows that retired people, who have superannuation pensions, have moved sharply to conservative cash investments.

Superratings reported that only 3.3 per cent of the money working age Australians have in their superannuation accounts was shifted from shares, to more conservative investments, after last September’s share market crash.

However the move, among retired people, has been marked.

The research also showed that the percentage of superannuation pension fund members’ money invested in cash options had jumped from 3.7 per cent in 2008 to 14.5 per cent in 2009.

The share market crash last September hit many newly retired Australians very hard.

They found shortfalls of up to $100, 000 – and in some cases  more – in their superannuation accounts when they retired.

The research organisation, Superratings, has just published its findings.

But the company’s managing director, Jeff Bresnahan, said it left one critical question unanswered.

That was whether the fact that there was little change in the supersnnuation investments of working age Australians – between last year and this year – is the result of conscious decisions, or lassitude.

Mr Bresnahan said many fund members seem to believe that the crash had affected everyone but them.

“That’s not to say that Australians have got it wrong,” Mr Bresnahan said.

“In fact the general apathy has probably assisted most through not providing them with the temptation to switch…”

After all, the share markets had risen by 25 per cent over the past three months.

Mr Bresnahan said, though, that superannuation fund members, who are still in the workforce, could  be in for nasty surprises, in the near future.

When the June 30 statements hit their  letterboxes, between July and Spetember, “the reality might just start to kick in,”Mr Bresnahan said.