superannuation and corona what have you lost

So my super about 2 weeks or so ago was up around $138K just checked it and now its $116K which is basically really pathetic. Im in australia super invested in 50% high grown and 50% socially aware. Should I change my investment strategy Ive basically lost a whole years super plus $2000 dollars could it go worse i mean seriously when the market is going good it never seems to jump 20k in a couple of weeks fell like im getting diddled.

 

Unless you sell and lock in your losses, you haven't lost anything.

I checked my super a week ago and I had 100,000 units. I checked of Friday and I still have 100,000 units. Sure they are worth less each but that only matters if I sell now. Otherwise I have actually lost nothing.

 

Focus on what you can do to make money from now. These are the times of opportunity.

 

Cheer up Charlie.. It could prove to be the perfect time to salary sacrifice into super while the market is cheap.

Not advice

 

I already salary sacrafice hence the reason why im annoyed, I dont understand how you say you have 100,000 units and you still have 100,000 units but now its worth less?

 

Now could also be the time to reassess your super fund.. I’ve found QSuper to be outstanding..

2 days before the market crashed I changed from Aggresive into cash/balanced.. I thought I was extremely lucky on my part.. but checking their unit price it’s only dropped approx 5% despite the market dropping 25% +

I found prior to the gfc aswell, QSuper were making changes which mitigated some big losses

 

The number remains the same value per unit drops.

You are dollar cost averaging. Unit price drops means you are buying more units per dollar spent

 

If you brought any number of shares Friday about 11 30 am you were up 10+% at close.

Closer to retirement is a good time to become more conservative with investments.

Long term Super grows at about 9% +/-

 

Still not really understanding this isnt a SMSF im in its just regular super. Anyway the losses seem very excessive for my balance. I didnt expect some silly news on coronavirus to have such a massive impact? Its like the media nearly controls everything these days . Wish I changed to fixed interest or something when you predicted it very well done by the way

 

The Share market is having a correction. It grew a huge amount from Dec 18 to Dec 19.

Shares dropped a lot during GFC and was it in 1987 another big lose day. Long term you are a winner. Even if you brought the day before those big fall days.

Wait till you buy a property and it falls 15% in a couple of years.

 

Each time you’re putting money into super, your dollars are buying units in a fund. The number of units is not changing, only increasing as you buy more. It’s the unit price which fluctuates in price..

Essentially the same principal as buying a single share.. bhp may drop from $100 down to $50 then up to $120 but you still own the same number of unit/s

 

"Price is what you pay, value is what you get"

 

Each unit has a unit price that changes over time in line with market movements.

Let's say last week each unit was worth $1. That means the value of my units is $100,000.

I check again on Friday and the unit price is 90c. That means my units are worth $90,000, but I still have 100,000 units. The number of units does not decrease.

Let's say in 6 months time my units are worth $1.20. My super would be worth $120,000 but I would still have 100,000 units unless I buy more.

Unless you are retiring soon, the number of units you have is more important than the unit price.

 

I have regular super too. When the unit price went down then I increased my salary sacrifice contributions because I am buying units at a discount. I'm glad I didn't move to fixed interest.

 

So how do you see your units thats something australia super doesnt show. Im still thinking switching to fixed interest would have been smart to switch to 2 weeks or so ago and then change back when things start looking positive again. No way I want to salary sacrafice more I would be thinking instead use the money to invest in blue chip shares that may recover

 

But you haven’t realised any loss yet.. if you switch to fixed interest you will lose big time if you sell low, then watch the market go up.

Your super fund is most likely indexed to the top 200 stocks, so there is no point trying to pick blue chips yourself.

Lots of upside investing in super.. not advice

 

The units are on my statement.

 

Say units are $80 each $2000 buys 25 units today.

Instead you put cash in low growth cash fund.

Next month unit price jumps to $100. Your $2000 now only buys 20 units. (they might even drop to $60 so you keep just buying your monthly salary sacrifice about)

5 years time units are $200
So 25 units worth $5000
And 20 units worth $4000

Salary sacrifice also is a good tax perk

 

(Most) People will get better. The economy will rebound. Selling now is selling at the bottom (maybe) like shorters and those with margins etc must do. At the end of this things will get better. How much ? Well there will be some certainty and markets hate uncertainty and punt the worst case. Thats the hard bit. There could be technical recession with 2 qtrs of neg economic growth. Then a major spike in activity and stimulus. You watch and world leaders will shrug off receession blaming it on a single health event that has passed and wanting to boost production and sales.