It’s never too late to invest wisely

WHEN academics and professionals, with salaries higher than the community average, are being told that they are likely to rely on the age pension we have to sit up and take notice.

Data released by UniSuper this year indicates that about one third of its members are likely to rely heavily on the age pension in retirement, and yet the majority of the members have above average super balances, with many having contributions above 12 per cent.

Given this, it’s not just the low income earners that are going to be dependent on Government payments, which is mistakenly what a lot of people believe.

The problem is, there’s still this ‘I’ll be right’ attitude to retirement in Australia. And many nearing retirement think it’s too late to do anything about it, which is just untrue.

Of those people I’ve met who are actively looking to be different, the average age is between 45 and 55. The youngest are of teenage years, and the eldest is in his 80s. So age is no excuse. However, I meet 45year-olds who say they are too old to learn how to invest.

You don’t need to be a professional on a large income to be wealthy. However, you have to make a few smart decisions, including learning how to invest and what to invest in; with property and shares being the most popular investments.

What do we expect in the market?

The Australian share market closed up strongly last week at 5518 points to indicate that the current trend was likely to continue, and further gains were made this week.

The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) hovered around 5500 points until Thursday, when it finally jumped higher on the back of the news that OPEC had made a decision to create an agreement to cut oil production. This sent oil and energy stocks higher.

Some Energy stocks like Santos (STO) and Oil Search (OSH), which had previously been sold off heavily, welcomed the news. These shares jumped out of the blocks on Thursday. The short sellers would have scrambled to cover positions that were in profit from the recent falls.

This week the US market moved higher on solid US data, including a rise in consumer confidence.