How long have you had your SMSF?
I’ve had it for about five months. It took longer to kick in than I actually thought it would.
Why did you start it up?
I got out of a [superannuation] fund a year ago, the fund had just kept losing and you see your money just getting whittled away.
Where did you put your funds in the meantime?
I had it in the bank. About a year ago I emptied the super fund to put a deposit on a home and for various reasons I was able to pay it back [to the bank account].
Are you pleased with its performance?
I’ve done spectacularly well, without doing anything like acting like a genius. It’s up 15% in four months and that doesn’t include the dividends. I’m very, very happy with it.
What is your asset allocation?
It’s 60% in the bank [cash] and 40% in shares. I think when things become a little clearer [in Europe] I’m thinking I may reverse that ratio. I’m not terribly confident about Europe.
What is it invested in?
I only bought four shares – Telstra, CBA, WBC and ANZ.
Do you use an advisor or any kind of service provider?
It’s hard to get good advice, everyone has their own views but you’ve got to get good advice. In the end a trusted friend who is an accountant, I went to him and talked everything over with him.
There aren’t too many people I trust to know what’s going on. It’s not about trusting them as people; it’s about trusting their judgement. Pretty much I did what he [my accountant] suggested. He was the one who suggested those four shares.
How would you describe your investment approach?
I think I’ve got to stay conservative. I’ve got half a parliamentary pension, which is a pretty good one, so I know I’ve got some income no matter what. This million [in my SMSF] is basically it. I’ve got a five-year-old child, so I’ve got to build up assets for him, to get through school and university, and I probably won’t be alive for all of that.
What are your investment plans for the future?
I like the way this is going and I may well put some more into super. I went out and bought a house with a very big mortgage of $3 million. Apart from that, my only asset is superannuation.
You don’t have any international investments?
No, none whatsoever offshore.
And finally what do you think of the current Labor government’s recent budget?
I think it was actually quite good, I had Chris Richardson [from Deloitte Access Economics] on my show … and he thinks they got the mix about right.
The fact is the relevancy, because a mini-budget will probably change all that.
The whole budget … is all about entrenching things for years to come in a way that nobody has every tried before. I’ve never seen anything like this in my lifetime.
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