Networth News

Welcome to the Networth News update for Tuesday the 6th of September.

Investor confidence falls to lowest level since 2009

CoreData has released its annual Investor Sentiment Index revealing that nearly 25 per cent of Australians aren't able to make ends meet at the moment. Confidence has dropped to its lowest point since the first quarter of 2009, when the Australian stockmarket fell due to the global financial crisis. Money Management reports that the survey of 820 Australian investors found investor confidence was sitting at negative 21.7, a drop of 15.7 points from the previous quarter. Investors without a financial planner were shown to be more robust with their investment decisions, with the report showing they were likely to invest more money into an existing investment (23 per cent) than those with one (17.5 per cent).

Aussie super funds top world growth

The growth in assets of major Australian institutional funds was more than double that of their global peers, according to research from Towers Watson and Pension & Investments magazine. The P&I/Towers Watson global 300 ranking shows Australian funds grew 26% in 2010 in US$ terms, compared the global average growth rate of 11%. Since 2005, eleven Australian funds were added to the global 300 ranking, with Australian funds accounting for 3% of the assets in the survey. The Financial Review reports that a bias towards growth assets, such as shares, has helped drive growth of local funds.

QIC chief to retire

After 14 years with the firm, QIC chief executive Doug McTaggart will leave the state-owned fund on 30 June 2012. McTaggart, who has helped grow QIC to one of the country’s largest investment managers, will remain available as an adviser to the firm after stepping down next year. Investor Daily reports that QIC has started the search for McTaggart’s replacement hiring recruitment firm Korn Ferry to undertake a global search. McTaggart said the firm was in good shape and it was time for someone else to grow it further.