Retirement strategy: Superannuation or direct investing?

When discussing superannuation, I am sure you have heard a vast array of opinions: some good, some not so good. For those who have read my books, you know I am not a big fan of superannuation, although I am a big supporter of Australians planning for their future.

Yesterday I was listening to a financial expert advise that people have two options when it comes to retirement. The first is to rely on a government pension and the second is rely on their superannuation.

That way of thinking makes me question the financial services industry, although it does explain why so many Australians are struggling to retire.

The pension was never designed as a retirement vehicle, rather it was to be used as a safety net for those who lived longer than normal. Over many decades and successive Governments, we have been told it will be increasingly challenging to rely on the pension as a means to fund our retirement. Let’s face it, you certainly cannot live comfortably on a pension.

I am a big believer that you are responsible for funding your current and future lifestyle and every Australian has two options to achieve this: the first is through superannuation while the second is through investing directly. Unfortunately, too many Australians have become sceptical about superannuation given that many funds do not perform well and the government is continually changing the goal posts, which is why some are saying enough is enough, we need to be taking control and investing directly.

If this is you, then I encourage you to get a quality education about how to invest and grow your money, whether that is inside or outside of your superannuation, so you can achieve good returns. Taking control means you won’t have to rely on the Government or underperforming fund managers.

Now that’s something to get excited about!

So what were the best and worst performing sectors last week?

Healthcare was back on the top of the list for best performing sector this week rising over 1.6 per cent so far, slightly ahead of Real Estate and Consumer Staples, which were both up over 1.2 per cent.

Information Technology was the worst performer down nearly 5 per cent, and Financials, which was last week’s top performing sector, is slightly in the red, followed by Communication Services, which is slightly in the green.

Looking at the top 100 stocks, the best performers include Cleanaway Waste Management, which has risen over 20 per cent after announcing a 14 per cent rise in net profit. AMP also performed well rising over 12 per cent with Dominos Pizza not far behind rising just over 11 per cent so far for the week.

The worst performers include Whitehaven Coal down around 10 per cent followed by Tabcorp down over 8 per cent, with Bendigo Adelaide Bank and nine Entertainment down over 5 per cent.

So what's next for the Australian share market?

The All Ordinaries Index has moved higher for two consecutive weeks and in doing so achieved a new all-time high of 7,289 points to indicate that market is indeed bullish.

Moving forward I believe it will remain bullish for the next two to three weeks and trade up to my top end target of 7,600 points by late March or April before falling away into the next low.

Investors would be wise to stick with good quality stocks and not speculate on the lower end of the market, as you are likely to get burnt when the market does fall.