The New Daily

Many Australians are sitting on a pile of cash, property prices are rising, and nine out of ten jobs lost at the height of the pandemic have now returned to the workforce. The economic landscape for 2021 is positive and economists are confident that, in the absence of more widespread lockdowns, Australia will be a star performer among OECD countries. Households and businesses squirrelled away more than $200 billion in savings between January and November last year, according to figures from financial regulator APRA.

Commonwealth Bank head of Australian economics Gareth Aird said despite having been through a recession, household income was higher than before the pandemic as a result of federal government stimulus. “The household sector as a collective has actually experienced a positive shock to income over the COVID period, which is still going on right now,” he said. Mr Aird said wages, salaries and government payments going into Commonwealth Bank accounts are running well above pre-COVID levels.

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The New Daily

Superannuation funds have shrugged off the pandemic slump that roiled markets back in March, with the average growth or balanced fund returning an unexpectedly healthy 3.7 per cent for the 2020 calendar year. The top performing fund, Suncorp Growth, returned a massive 9.6 per cent. Chant West researcher Mano Mohankumar described the returns as “a tremendous outcome for super fund members and a great story for superannuation given the economic damage wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Although well below the 14.7 per cent that growth funds achieved in 2019, “it represents the ninth consecutive positive calendar year and the 11th in the past 12 years for growth funds”. “If we take ourselves back to late March, the prospect of finishing the year up 3.7 per cent would’ve been inconceivable,” Mr Mohankumar said. Independent economist Stephen Koukoulas said the strong returns had in part been driven by the economic recovery.

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The New Daily

Generational change is driving the move away from fossil fuel investments, with both superannuation funds and finance houses responding with targeted investment policies. Clean energy lobby group Market Forces has launched a campaign to push industry super fund Hostplus to reduce its fossil fuel exposure after pressure from the fund’s young membership. “Over the last year we have seen an uptick in Hostplus members using our website to call for divestment from fossil fuels,” said Market Forces asset-management campaigner Will van de Pol.

“They are mainly younger members who join Hostplus because their first jobs are in cafes and bars, and that demographic has pushed hard for real climate action around the world.” The campaign targeted Hostplus’s investments in coal-powered generation and coal mining through stakes in companies like AGL, Origin and BHP. Hostplus for its part said it was reviewing its options.

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