ASFA

Investors say they want to build resilient portfolios but all they’re doing is making them robust. And that’s not enough to come back better from a downturn.

Traditional portfolio construction might be dead. But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to beat inflation, even as investors anticipate it will continue to rise and fall over the next decade.

Super fund trustees are throwing their full weight behind nation building projects where they feel their funds can get a competitive return, while the Coalition’s competing super for housing policy has been labelled “elitist”.

The Coalition wants to take the upper hand in the often emotional superannuation wars. Nation building and the new objective of super give it the perfect opportunity.

ASFA’s 2023 conference began with a pessimistic but realistic view of what investors can expect. They either need to build more resilient portfolios, trade more or “nail their colours to the mast and sail”.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers appears to have set himself another impossible task: ending the super wars. But legislating an objective for superannuation and urging funds to take part in nation building projects will only inflame them.

Superannuation funds are rapidly offshoring their assets as FUM grows faster than GDP, according to new data from NAB and ASFA. Coming early to the barbell strategy party has also paid off.

It’s big super’s “once in a lifetime opportunity” to build the future. But as funds look to invest in nation-building in Australia and the Pacific, they’ll want the government to share some of the risk.

ASFA wants the YFYS performance test benchmarks tweaked to account for the exclusions and negative screens that faith- and values-based funds use.

The spectre of early release still looms large over the industry, and super’s true believers want its purpose legislated to prevent Australia’s retirement savings from becoming a crisis piggy bank.