The number of Australians investing in superannuation is at its highest level since December 1997 despite a lack of investor enthusiasm to pump more money into super, according to the latestING/Melbourne Institute Household Saving Report.
The report says that for the March 2004 quarter, superannuation constituted the greatest form of savings held by the population at 63.9 per cent.
ING executive director Ross Bowden says while he’s encouraged to see the number of people contributing to super on the rise, the number of people intent on investing new savings in super remains very low relative to other investments, such as real estate.
A comparable fraction of the populations holds savings in banks and similar institutions, while more than a third of households hold shares and nearly one-fifth of households hold savings in property. This is roughly the same proportion as those holding savings in managed trusts.
And while superannuation is held by almost 80 per cent of Australian households, 10 per cent of which hold more than one form of superannuation, there remains a reluctance to personally increase superannuation investment.
The report says only 4.6 per cent of households would be directing new savings into superannuation, and that the majority (almost 82 per cent) of households with superannuation have employer-based superannuation.
Only 19.4 per cent of households hold personal superannuation and 6.5 per cent of households hold do-it-yourself superannuation.
In the March quarter, fewer than 11 per cent of households said they would be happy to put more money into superannuation, with inadequate returns, the desire to pay off debt and the riskiness of the investment cited as reasons.
Another popular form of investment for the quarter was deposits with banks and similar institutions, with 61.2 per cent of households holding savings of this type. Managed trusts and ownership of shares also saw a rise in popularity in the March quarter compared to the same period in the last two years, the report says.
The report is a quarterly publication based on a representative survey of 1200 households nationwide.
