Australian superannuation fund choice

[nora]

Hi all,

I currently have my super with the commonwealth essential super, 100% Australian shares, but it is losing a lot of money at the moment, such that my contributions of 2500 a month are hardly raising the balance. Currently around 40000 is the balance. My husband is doing the same and his is around 28000 and also hardly rising.

And I wondered what would a mustachian do? Is there a better super fund I should put the money in? Or a better investment choice within the essential super? Or shall we just stick at it and things will improve when the Australian sharemarket picks up?  I don't find the transaction accounting very transparent at all either, I can't see the withdrawals for investment losses anywhere online to clarify exactly what they are.

Thanks for any input

[MsRichLife]

Hi Nora,

May I ask how old you and your husband are? This might help people give some advice based on your investment time horizon.

[deborah]

Trish Power http://www.superguide.com.au/ has a lot of superannuation advice, and also keeps an up to date list of how well different super funds are doing. She also has comments on the different sections of the superannuation industry.

[kaetana]

Short of going the SMSF route, I would go with either Australian Super or ING Direct. Both will let you invest directly in ETFs (although there are limits as to the percentage of your super you can put in shares).

[marty998]

+1 Aus Super. Very happy with the sustainable balanced option.

Nora, you've simply picked the wrong month to look at your balance. Market have been pretty crap this month, wouldn't matter where you invested, except for straight cash.

I'm sure over FY14 your returns were quite a bit better.

[nora]

Thanks for the comments so far. Will look into your recommendations further. I am 36 and husband 38. We are hoping to retire when I am 45.

[MsRichLife]

Nora, you've simply picked the wrong month to look at your balance. Market have been pretty crap this month, wouldn't matter where you invested, except for straight cash.

^This

I've been investing very conservatively since the GFC i.e. pay off debt, excess cash in term deposits, Super in the cash option.

However I've come to realise that while it makes sense to have my own investments in the low risk asset classes due to FIRE in the near term, the reality is I won't get access to my super for more than 20 years. Therefore, I can probably afford to keep my super in slightly riskier investments in order to get a higher return. Therefore, I'm in the balanced option for super and am not planning not to check to see how much it has lost this month. :)

I'm also 37, husband is 35.

[Melody]

Sunsuper, balanced. Employer puts $1k a month in and its balnce goes up every month.