Investment Allocation: SMSFs increase holdings in ASX listed shares

Popularity of listed instruments on the rise - but the real shift is to cash

Investor Daily reports today the latests ASX research into share ownership has shown self-managed super funds (SMSFs) are allocating a larger proportion of their investment portfolios to listed investments.

Also of note:

• the proportion of SMSF investments in unlisted managed funds have dropped to 16% from 46% in 2006 and 38% in 2008
• residential property holdings are down from 19% in 2008 to 12% in 2010; commercial property made up 14% of SMSF portfolios in 2008 down to 8% in 2010
• SMSF holdings in real estate investment trusts and listed property trusts fell from 20% in 2008 to 4% in 2010.

Australian equity holdings have stayed steady at 52% but SMSFs have shied away from overseas shareholdings, down from 9% to 3% allocation in 2010.

Where has all the money gone?  The underlying assumption in this piece is that investors have largely gone to cash - secured returns of around 6% proving to be very appealing to SMSFs' risk appetite.

See article by Darin Tyson-Chan: http://www.investordaily.com/11558.htm