Despite stringent disclosure requirements, members are still confused about the fees they are paying to their super funds. New research commissioned by Vanguard Australia found only 1 per cent of Australians can identify the multiple types of fees being charged to their accounts. SuperRatings insights manager Joshua Lowen said it’s on both funds and members themselves to solve the challenge.
AustralianSuper has made its first investment in the US data centre market, injecting $2.2 billion in DataBank alongside the company’s existing investor DigitalBridge.
Housing Australia and super fund Australian Retirement Trust will invest in the delivery of 604 new affordable and social housing across South East Queensland, with the support from state government.
Complex member communication could deter people from engaging with their retirement savings, but for super funds, maintaining simplicity in their messages has become one of the most difficult things to do. Utilising behavioural science and understanding consumer biases could be the key to better retirement engagement efforts.
Australian super funds’ collaboration with their British counterparts to change the UK policy setting is an engagement effort the first of its kind. However, as the global pension industry and financial markets become increasingly entwined, it certainly won’t be the last. IFM Investors’ David Whiteley outlines its global engagement ambitions on behalf of super funds.
There are reasons profit-to-member super funds have outperformed their retail counterparts, but Colin Tate AM writes that Garry Weaven is wrong to say the structures of their respective boards is the main one, and it may not be a reason at all.
A consumer advocate group and an industry fund association have welcomed the passage of a bill that will introduce tax changes for high-balance super accounts through the lower house, saying it is a step towards creating a fairer retirement system.
As a blockbuster election looms in the world’s largest economy, Insignia’s super and asset management investment chief Dan Farmer said regardless of the outcome, it will be difficult for the US to address its staggering budget deficit and national debt.
Australian Wildlife Conservancy has an ambitious goal to grow its newly established endowment fund to $100 million in the next decade, and to get there, the not-for-profit is counting on gradually building an investment track record and securing more direct support from sponsors.
Asset owners that are long-term investors should be wary of the conventional model of assessing the stock-bond correlation that is based on several “implicit assumptions”, the Fiduciary Investors Symposium has heard. Instead, the question investors should be asking is: are bonds a hedge or a risk?
Iress has announced several changes to its executive team, including the departure of an Xplan co-founder.
World-renowned behavioural economist and UCLA professor Shlomo Benartzi has praised stapling as a piece of legislation that puts Australia in a leading position when it comes to instilling the idea of superannuation as a lifetime account. However, he urged funds not to let the member behaviours that the super system fosters, mostly the set-and-forget mentality, turn into disadvantages during the retirement phase.
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