How can I tell if my super fund provider is in financial difficulty?

I recently reviewed Media Super’s Annual Report after reading a media article that reported them purchasing a 429-year-old violin as an investment. I thought this was an odd investment for a regulated super fund. Was this a responsible decision given the opaque market of collectables and the high transactional costs associated with such investments? And, how did this get past APRA? It triggered me to investigate Media Super’s investment policy.

managed fund, superannuationSeptember Design Studio15 February 2019ajfinancialplanning, alexjamieson, australianfinancialplanner, financialplanneraustralia, howtoinvest, industrysuperfunds, investingfunds, superanunciation

Are industry super funds headed for an asset allocation disaster?

Superannuation funds within the retail and industry super fund market usually offer ‘balanced’ or ‘growth’-based investment options. But what does this really mean; and aren’t these funds all the same?

On 31 May 2017, Vanguard’s Balanced Index Fund reported an allocation to growth-based assets of 49.9%.

Investing, superannuation, managed fundAlex Jamieson7 July 2017ajfinancialplanning, alexjamieson, industrysuperfunds, managedfunds