Investing in Growth Assets

Super is generally a long term investment (ie 7 years or more). And since I can’t access my money until I retire, I want to think about using a growth investment strategy.

Growth funds invest most of my super in growth assets like shares and property. Historically, these investments have provided much better returns than cash or fixed interest over the longer term. However, they involve more risk and may fluctuate in value quite significantly over periods of time. That’s why the recommended time-frame is longer than for more defensive types of investments eg cash or fixed interest.

The chart below shows how $100,000 left in a super fund for 20 years can increase in value by around 50% with just an extra 2% performance return each year.