This paper examines the retirement savings investment choices of Australian workers over a three year period, including the global financial crisis (GFC). The analysis is based on a large sample of 3.6 million members drawn from five superannuation funds with assets of $74 billion. Australian...

This paper assesses the level of sophistication evident in investment choices of a large sample of individuals drawn from three Australian retirement savings funds. Available US and UK evidence is somewhat mixed on both the measures that should be used when measuring the sophistication as well...

This paper examines the use and understanding of managed fund ratings in Australia. A survey of individual retail investors suggests information source and selection criteria constructs are more useful in explaining the role of ratings than an approach based solely on expectations of return and...

Purpose – Under its “Members Investment Scheme” strategic initiative, the Malaysian Employees Provident Fund (EPF) permits its members to invest part of their retirement savings in approved external funds. Given there is an increasing number of unit trust funds available in the market, it...

The need for individuals to increase retirement savings has been widely promoted, yet our understanding of the motivations of individuals to save at a higher rate remains sparse. This paper reports the findings of a survey of 2300 retirement savings fund members and their motivations to...

We assess investment sophistication in a large sample of auto-enrolled, retirement plan member choices. A strong preference for using a small number of investment options is provided with little evidence, overall, to support equally weighted allocations. However, when multiple options are...

Morningstar is one of the major ratings suppliers of Australian managed funds. Ratings are a convenient information source for investors. Over time the ratings methodology used by Morningstar in Australia has become more like its North American counterpart. However, Morningstar Australia...