smurf<\/span> portfolio with 43.5% of value invested in 2011, up from 42.6% in 2010. Cash holdings have nevertheless increased to 25.6% in 2011 from 23.1% in 2010. That's true cash, such as a term deposit or cash management trust, and does not include fixed interest investments. It is interesting to note that the once typical allocation of a benchmark “balanced” portfolio included only 10% cash.<\/p>\n\n\t![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/ckfinder\/userfiles\/images\/1_1_smurf1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\tFor probably three years now, many a global market analyst has cited large amounts of “cash on the sidelines” as a reason to be bullish the stock market, on the assumption that cash all had to pour back into equities sooner or later. We can perhaps, however, blame the Greeks in suggesting such view is losing its logical weight. After a strong bounce-back rally in 2009, 2010 started well until Greece hit the frame. When we finally thought Greece had been dealt with 2011 started well, only to see Europe fall apart once more. <\/p>\n
\n\tNow 2012 has also started well so far, and Greece has been dealt with yet again. But investors sitting with cash “on the sidelines” would have watched in horror as those investors prepared to join the stock market game once more – no doubt already battle scarred from 2008 – were chewed up and spat out, in both the first and second halves. Those sidelines, it seems, are quite a comfy place to be if not as exciting, with the promise of a warm jacket and a hot cup of cocoa to be had.<\/p>\n
\n\tTo that end, those citing equities as being too volatile as a reason to hold cash instead grew to a whopping 32.4% in 2011 from only 17.0% in 2010. Those holding cash but still looking for the right time to run onto the field fell to 44.3% compared to 52.0%. Those simply believing cash investment is a good means of reducing risk grew to 48.9% but only from 47.6%. (Note that survey respondents could tick more than one box.)<\/p>\n
\n\t![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/ckfinder\/userfiles\/images\/1_1_smurf2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\tNow girls, what are you up to? You may not be able to read a road map or stack the dishwasher efficiently but you are meant to be the celebrated multi-taskers<\/span> and dare I say possibly more intelligent on the whole than us neanderthals<\/span>, yet it was with notable shame that SPAA<\/span> CEO Andrea Slattery<\/span> had to point out at the press conference that 43.2% of female smurfs<\/span> believe they will fall short of their retirement income needs compared to 27.1% of males. Or is that pragmatism over bravado? And females suggest they only need $1200 per week on average compared to $1700 for males. I'm sorry, but you can drink a lot of beers for the price of a trip to the hairdresser.<\/p>\n\n\t“Women are the inevitable growth segment for the SMSF<\/span> sector in future,” Slattery<\/span> suggested, “The gap in both their perceived knowledge and understanding in achieving their desired retirement income compared to their male counterparts makes females an ideal target for the professional advice industry”.<\/p>\n\n\tI must note here that, anecdotally, FNArena<\/span> seems very popular with female subscribers if correspondence is anything to go by.<\/p>\n\n\t![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/ckfinder\/userfiles\/images\/1_1_smurf3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\tWhich brings us to what we might call the “nature” of smurfs<\/span>. Russell\/SPAA<\/span> decided last year that smurfs<\/span> could be divided into three general categories: the “controllers”, the “coach seekers” and the “outsourcers”<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\tIn 2010 controllers made up about 40% of smurfs<\/span>. These are investors who make all their own decisions without seeking outside help. This, of course, defines to some extent the concept of an SMSF<\/span> in the first place. But over the past decade the growth in SMSFs<\/span> has reflected not as much an “I can do better myself” attitude as an “I am sick of being ripped off by the big funds” attitude which has led investors towards a SMSF<\/span> even if with a sense of trepidation. Of these, in 2010 some 14% were “outsourcers”<\/span> who while managing an SMSF<\/span> actually handed all investment decisions over to a professional. In a sense this contradicts the concept of an SMSF<\/span>, but then the feeling of being ripped off previously has cut deep.<\/p>\n\n\tThe balance of 25% of smurfs<\/span> in 2010 were “coach seekers”. These are investors keen to make their own decisions but given limited experience are keen to seek “mentoring” rather than straight up allocation advice. One might say they don't want to be told what to do, but they do want to be informed so that the most suitable decisions can be made. In the 2011 survey, 17.3% of financial advisers noted increasing demand from controllers but 38.8% noted increasing demand from coach seekers. <\/p>\n\n\tTaking the opportunity here for a shameless plug, without having ever adopted the expression specifically, FNArena's<\/span> mission has always been to be a “coach” to the “coach seekers” (while not being a licenced<\/span> financial adviser). FNArena<\/span> is fully independent of any broking<\/span> house, fund manager or media giant and seeks to pull apart extensive market research collated every day and distill<\/span> it down to an easy to understand assessment of the investment markets and where the most appropriate opportunities may lay.<\/p>\n\n\tAs a last word I'll leave you with the following table which may help smurfs<\/span> better appreciate how one's own experience as a self-manager stacks up against that of peers.<\/p>\n\n\t![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/ckfinder\/userfiles\/images\/1_1_smurf4.jpg\")
\n\t <\/p>\n
\n\tTechnical limitations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tIf you are reading this story through a third party distribution channel and you cannot see charts included<\/span>, we apologise<\/span><\/span>, but technical limitations are to blame.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tFind out why FNArena<\/span> subscribers like the service so much: "Your Feedback (Thank You)<\/a>" – Warning this story contains unashamedly positive feedback on the service provided.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The second annual Russell\/SPAA survey shows a healthy SMSF industry but an ongoing preference for cash as an investment, and not just as a parking station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[49],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59550"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}