Just thought that I would share with you that my super (along with the majority of other Australians) crashed by 21% last year. I was in a moderate-aggressive fund but this was largely irrelevant because most people with even reasonably moderate funds would have lost a fairly big slice.
A couple of montsh ago, I had the foresight (or luck) to predict a bounce in the share market. Based on this hunch, I switched my super to 100% Australian Shares. Initially it dipped but in the last 6 weeks it is up over 11%. It feels quite satisfying to be recouping some of those losses thats for sure.
Having super that is flexible is quite important to me as this bounce will not last forever and another share market tumble is definitely on the cards. This will be the time to consider switching back to a more conservative fund. Note: there may be some fees involved and the entry and exit prices will mean that approx 0.5%-1% may be lost. I am with Colonial First STate and this process has been relatively pain free and can be done online.
I am relatively youg (at least I like to think so) but old enough to start to want to be in control of my future. I think it is interesting to note that the 'moderate' fund recommended to me initially (i.e. the CFS default) dipped the same amount as the %100 Aussie Shares fund but the recovery was only 2% as opposed to 11% for the Aussies Shares fund. This is significant and I will no longer just 'accept' what I am given in regards to super.
It is really cool that I am exposed to all of the Aussie Blue Chips via my super and I can play with my small-mid cap more speculative stocks via etrade.
