In its quarterly Multiport SMSF Investment Patterns Survey for June 2014, Multiport found cash holdings in SMSFs reached a “record low” of 18.29 per cent, indicating it is a “less attractive option” for investors.
AMP SMSF administration head of technical services Philip La Greca said the “significant decrease” in cash holdings has mainly flowed into international, property and equity sectors.
“International equities have performed strongly throughout the year and we’ve seen an increase in funds in this asset class, as more investors move their investments away from underperforming asset classes, especially cash,” Mr La Greca said.
“The strong performance of exchange traded funds (ETFs) has proved a compelling option for investors and we’ve seen holdings in ETFs consistently increase over the past two years,” he said.
“Overall international holdings being held via ETFs is now 17 per cent, an increase of 1.9 per cent in the last quarter alone,” Mr La Greca said.
The SMSF administrator also found while there has been an increase in international equities, the allocation of funds to Australian equities has been “lower than expected” due to the performance of Australia’s top 20 stocks.
“Australian shares are still very popular with SMSF trustees with close to 40 per cent (39.3 per cent) of all funds allocated to this asset class,” Mr La Greca said.
“However, over the past three quarters we’ve seen slight decreases in the amount of funds invested in Australian shares,” he said.
