New research conducted by Roy Morgan Research has revealed that few people are gaining professional advice before switching superannuation funds and that, unsurprisingly, declining super returns have made people less satisfied with their existing super funds.
The research, released this week, also revealed that industry funds had been the biggest beneficiaries of switching, while companies such as AMP had struggled.
The research said that with the complexities and changes in superannuation, it was of some concern that only 63 per cent of people switching their fund had got any advice at all, and that of those who got advice, only 27 per cent of switchers had obtained it from a financial planner, adviser or accountant.
However, it said those switchers who did not get any advice at all were more likely to come from the lower end of the market.
The research said the best performance from switching in the 12 months to September 2008 was from industry funds, which had a 2.7 per cent increase in net share, while self-managed super funds had also performed strongly.
It said AMP was again the poorest performer with a 2.8 per cent decrease in net share of switched products.
The Roy Morgan data also tended to confirm some industry fund criticism of financial adviser habits, suggesting that planners within the big six financial planner groups were currently placing an average of 74 per cent of their clients’ superannuation with their own funds, up from 71 per cent two years ago.
It said AMP showed the highest proportion with 83 per cent, while ANZ/ING showed the lowest proportion with 43 per cent.
