Superannuation funds should lay off equities: CoreData

CoreData has criticised superannuation funds for their "addiction" to Australian equities, releasing research that shows the outperformance of cash over Australian equities since the onset of the global financial crisis.

Despite the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) recording a 10 per cent decline for the year, superannuation funds are "addicted" to the idea Australian shares are the best investment for assets, CoreData said.

"The real reason that super funds like equities is because that's what their fund managers tell them to do because that's where they (fund managers) make their money and usually that works, but we're in the sixtieth month of a very choppy market now and there's no sign of that changing," CoreData Consulting's Andrew Inwood said.

The research firm said superannuation funds needed to accept that Australian shares are no longer the 'go to' for long-term returns in light of a five-year long market downturn.

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CoreData modelling showed a $1,000 term deposit at 5.62 per cent held since July 2007 was more popular with investors than shares.

CoreData is embarking on a survey asking 100,000 super fund members what they think they are getting as a superannuation return, what they got, how they feel about it and what action they would take. CoreData plan to repeat the survey in one month's time.

Inwood said negative shocks for equities were obvious, but questioned what the driver of returns would be going forward.