Some last words

I've recently accepted a job within the Superannuation sector.  While this is great news, it does mean I have a conflict of interest and am not able to continue writing this blog.

I hope you've found the posts useful, and I suspect they'll continue to be relevant for some time to come. While costs have fallen gradually, there are still plenty of overpriced products out there and over the two years since I started, I have seen very few "game changing" products.  For now, I'm grateful for the iterative improvements we have seen and I hope to see further improvements, particularly in terms of low-cost advice.

Some parting suggestions:

1) Costs matter: Keeping costs of investment low means we keep more of the returns

2) If you pay more, know what you are getting: Sometimes there may be value in paying for an asset class or segment you cannot cheaply access (for example, unlisted property and infrastructure).  But if you go down that path, make sure you understand the benefit in terms of your portfolio - if your expensive actively managed Global Share manager ends up buying you largely the same international shares as Vanguard would then you are paying too much but getting little in return, impacting directly on your income and lifestyle in retirement.

3) It's not too late: Percentage fees matter more when you have a bigger balance.  So even if your Super has been held back by high fees in the past, there is still time to take advantage of the low-cost options now available.