Financial uncertainty and macroeconomic uncertainty are commonly proxied separately by the volatility of stock returns or key macroeconomic variables, respectively. We propose a portfolio-based measure (PBMEU) that aims to capture aggregate uncertainty in both financial markets and the...

Over the past five years, the Australian superannuation system has been subject to a programme of policy and regulatory change of considerable scope and ambition: the Stronger Super initiatives. This article presents the findings of qualitative research undertaken with the fund executives on...

We interview Australian fund executives about how their organisations responded to MySuper, a regulatory framework for default retirement savings funds that providers were required to have in place by the beginning of 2014. We provide an account of the influences on MySuper product design. Our...

This paper summarizes views on the superannuation system and its regulation collected through interviews of fund executives. While the majority of interviewees saw the superannuation system as working relatively well, some areas of concern were detected. Issues raised relate to: certain aspects...

We interview professional institutional investors to learn how they choose between active and passive management, select active equity managers and construct multi-manager portfolios. We find that many of the aspects emphasized in the fund management literature, such as returns generated by the...

We combine survey data from retirement plan members with information from interviews with plan executives to get both perspectives on who accepts the default plan and default investment option and why. We use a natural experiment in default construction where a new regulatory framework required...

While increased financial literacy may improve individual retirement savings decisions, modifying the placement of key information in retirement savings statements can produce further improvements. We examined the extent to which placement of information and financial literacy affected the...

We interview Australian fund executives about how their organisations responded to MySuper, a regulatory framework for default retirement savings funds that providers were required to have in place by the beginning of 2014. In addition to providing an account of the influences on product design...

Default investment options in retirement plans are a potent influence on member choice. Little is known about how plans set them. We investigate how retirement plan providers choose default investment strategies for passive members. We interview plan executives and survey members during a review...

An emulation fund is designed to reduce trading activity, thereby lowering costs, for a multi-manager fund. It does this by delaying, and potentially combining, trading decisions from each employed fund manager to eliminate offsetting trades (e.g. one manager may buy a stock for her fund while...