The Age – A big difference between this year’s bear market and earlier declines is that most investors who have their money invested in multi-sector balanced superannuation funds have received little protection from the traditional defensive asset class, fixed interest.
The decline of fixed-interest assets, such as government bonds, as a component in super portfolios during the past decade has been marked.
Fixed-interest portfolios have changed dramatically. No longer dominated by government and semi-government bonds, these portfolios are full of corporate credit securities, asset-backed securities such as mortgage notes, hybrids and hedge funds.
