Oz investors worried about super access

CANBERRA - Just over half of Australians are worried that the federal government may change laws surrounding access to their superannuation funds, a survey has found.

Almost a third said they would decrease their super contributions if they were told they could not access their super until they reached the age of 67, the quarterly investor sentiment survey conducted by the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) and CoreData shows.

Under government reforms, the qualifying age for the age pension is due to gradually increase from 65 to 67 by 2023 and concerns are that super access may follow suit.

Overall, the survey of 743 respondents showed that investor confidence fell in the first three months of this year after rising for three consecutive quarters last year.

The IFSA/Coredata investor sentiment index for the March quarter fell to 2.9 points from 7.4 points in the previous quarter.

"While investor sentiment remains in positive territory, it's fair to say that people are exhibiting feelings of great uncertainty," IFSA chief executive John Brogden said.

Just over half of investors surveyed (50.6 per cent) expect the growth of the economy to speed up in the next three months, slightly less than the 56.4 per cent recorded in the December quarter and the 57.8 per cent seen in the March quarter.

Almost one third (29.5 per cent) expect the economy to slow down, more than the 26.5 per cent in the December quarter.

"While sentiment remains positive, the results indicate that investors are cautious about the sustainability of the current pace of economic growth," CoreData analyst Kriten Paech said.

Only 24.9 per cent of investors are likely to invest new money in existing investments in the next three months compared with 31.9 per cent who were likely to invest in the March quarter.

- AAP