I am a deferred benefit member of the above super scheme (ie. I have am no
longer a Commonwealth employmee and left/preserved my benefit in the
scheme
until my retirement). With the recent drop in the sharemarket, the
standard
(default) investment option has LOST 0.724% since July 1, 2007. It lost
4.37% of its value in Jan alone which more than wiped out the gains made
in
earlier months in the financial year.
This abysmal performance is making me seriously consider switching to the
Cash (interest rate) option which is currently paying somewhere between
0.4
and 0.5% per month. Of course it all depends on the direction of the
sharemerket in the medium term. Any thoughts? Anyone switched recently?
Also CSS deferred benefit members are discriminated against compared to
current contributing members - why? As the market drops, deferred members
lose in both their lump sum refund of contributions, as well as in their
pension amount. Whereas current members only lose in their lump sum amount
-
their pension is a fixed benefit of their final salary - a true defined
benefit scheme. Why are deferred members treated as second class
citizens?
Geoff
