Australian superannuation funds continue to languish in heavily negative territory, but SuperRatings chief Jeff Bresnahan believes members should ride out the short-term pain and look to longer-term results.
Releasing its data for January, research house SuperRatings revealed that the median balanced superannuation option recorded a loss of 1.85 per cent for January.
And, according to Bresnahan, apart from some government hand outs, there would appear to be no good news for any Australian who holds investments in anything other than defensive style assets like cash or fixed interest.
He said sharp declines in the Australian equity and listed property sectors in January led balanced super fund options backwards and assisted in dragging the rolling three-year return for these options to a negative 1.86 per cent a year.
Bresnahan said in financial year to date terms, the median of minus 15.10 per cent for balanced options meant only a major financial miracle could prevent Australians from suffering their second consecutive negative financial year return after losses of 6.4 per cent in 2007-08.
However, he urged against members jumping ship to cash, pointing out that the longer-term performance of Australian superannuation funds actually reinforced the benefits of a balanced portfolio as a long-term strategy.
At the same time, however, the SuperRatings analysis said Australians risked costing themselves significant amounts of money by staying put in funds that continually failed to deliver adequate benefits.
