http://business.smh.com.au/industry-super-funds-more-super-than-others/20080222-1txc.html
Backing up my entry from a few days ago, a new study of around 100 Super Funds reinforces the benefits to be gained by putting yourself in a position where the management of your pension money doesn't suffer from any conflicts of interest.
Because there are no profits extracted from the funds, and the industry funds even refuse to pay broker commissions, the Industry Super Funds have shown themselves to be TWICE as efficient at generating income compared to the "retail" funds (which generate profits and pay broker commissions) on a "profit (dollars) per management fee (dollar)" basis.
That is, for every $1 dollar you pay the pension fund in management fees, the industry fund will increase the value of your private account by around $16 on average, compared to only $8 in the retail funds.
I also discovered this week that a recent amalgamation between two smaller funds has created "Australian Super", which is an "Industry Non-Specific Industry Fund".
This takes the concept to an even purer form, where (unlike the way in which the Construction and Forestry Union involved with the Construction and Forestry Industry Super Fund) the fund is ONLY owned and controlled by the members, without even the implicit fealty to a specific union (and any potential resulting corruption or cronyism).
More importantly, it's a fund that I can actually join.
So I think I shall pay them a visit next week and look into moving my account.
