Preferred Sources of Financial Information and Communications for Superannuation Decisions

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the importance placed by superannuation fund members on various types of financial information and communications on their educational requirements for saving for retirement. Through a web-based survey of university superannuation defined contribution members, five sources of information were investigated to determine the importance placed on non-superannuation fund educational sources. These sources are radio and television, financial newspapers and magazines, friends and colleagues and financial planners or advisers. It was found that many respondents place importance on these information sources and that friends and colleagues were rated as the most important source followed by newspaper publications, personal financial planner/adviser, financial magazines, and radio and television. Some important findings were that females, the less educated and those having a lower awareness of investment and investment and finance matters were more likely to find the financial planner/adviser and friend and colleagues more important to their superannuation decisions. Males, the more highly educated, and those with greater knowledge in investment and finance matters were more likely to find newspaper publications and financial magazines more important to their superannuation decisions