Investors using the Skaffold online stock research application are reporting stronger investment returns, according to a recent survey of more than 200 investors. These findings have implications for investors and their advisers, Skaffold chief executive Chris Batchelor said.
“These investors have their superannuation heavily invested in shares and a few are using an adviser or broker to help them with their stock decisions,” he said.
Forty-six per cent of those surveyed use a financial adviser and of those, 89 per cent were ‘very satisfied’ with the service provided.
“We think this shows a clear opportunity for advisers to re-engage with SMSF investors.”
“The Skaffold platform is highly compatible with investors who use advisers, or, more accurately, we believe it adds to the investor/adviser relationship by providing another pillar to the relationship, one that is built on research and rigour.”
While the survey showed investors are particularly upbeat about the Australian market, with respondents nominating it as the best for growth opportunities (33 per cent) ahead of the US (30 per cent) and Europe (16 per cent), Batchelor suggested this bullish sentiment is more reason to look offshore.
“People with SMSFs will be keen to diversify and invest in overseas markets,” he said.
“I hear a lot of talk about super and the like, and the main reason the average punter is disillusioned with some of their super funds is because they have been invested in funds that are tracking the index, and the index has gone nowhere.
“In fact, if you look back six years, and it is almost six years to the day, the market is down by 20 per cent.
“But if you take a shorter timeframe, we are up 25 per cent in the last 12 months. That is really why we are seeing this bullish sentiment at the moment.
“Sometimes there is a plethora of opportunities in the market, but now is not one of those times,” Batchelor said. “However we are seeing a lot more value in some of the overseas markets.”
When it came to buying intentions in international markets, more than two thirds of respondents said they intended to maintain current exposures to offshore markets. More than one quarter said they would increase exposure and only 5 per cent said they would decrease their offshore holdings.
