Appendix A: Descriptive Results from the Survey

This appendix presents the results derived from the survey. We examine the proportion of people enrolled in a workplace or personal scheme, the level of their holdings and compare these with those not enrolled in a scheme. We present results for unpartnered individuals and for couples.

Enrolment in a superannuation scheme

Unpartnered Individuals

Of the total population of unpartnered individuals, 88.4% have neither type of superannuation scheme (see Appendix Table 1), while 0.6% have both; 3.7% have a workplace (WP) scheme and 7.3% of all those individuals have a personal scheme.

There are virtually no differences between unpartnered males and females in the rate of enrolment in either type of superannuation scheme (see Appendix Table 2).

Couples

Turning to couples, in 31.4% of the cases at least one partner reported having a superannuation scheme; 12.4% have a workplace scheme, 15.4% have a personal scheme and 3.6% have both. The remaining 68.6% of couples have no superannuation scheme (see Appendix Table 3).[12]

Value of holdings in superannuation schemes

Unpartnered Individuals

Overall, the mean value of the holdings in workplace schemes by unpartnered individuals is $52,400 and in personal schemes is $48,700 (Appendix Table 2). Clearly these distributions are highly skewed with a few individuals having very large holdings, as the median holdings are respectively $11,700 and $12,000.

Notably, the median holding by females is much higher than that for males for both types of schemes. The median level of personal superannuation by females is greater than their median level in workplace schemes. Overall the results suggest that women make greater use of personal rather than employer-based schemes. To the extent that women have more broken employment histories they may well enrol in a personal scheme which typically has more portability than a workplace scheme.

Another explanation for the higher median holdings by females may lie in fundamental gender differences. Odean and Barber (2001) argue that males tend to be overconfident about their own ability to invest. In this case, we might then expect males to hold a more aggressive portfolio than putting aside funds in a superannuation scheme. And even where males do hold schemes they manage them in such a way as to result in lower returns and hence have lower median holdings in the long run.

Among unpartnered females with employer-based schemes, 24% have holdings less than $5,000 and 55% have holdings between $10,000 and $50,000. Only 4% of females have holdings over $100,000 compared with 18% of males. These results are consistent with a higher median but lower mean for females.

Almost one half of females enrolled in a personal scheme have holdings in excess of $20,000, in contrast to males where only 35% of those with a personal scheme have holdings at this level, again reinforcing the result that women appear to make greater use of personal schemes.

For unpartnered individuals not holding an employer-based scheme, the median total net worth is $6,000 for males and $11,900 for females. In comparison those holding such schemes (many of whom will be older workers) have median net worth of $60,000 and $63,100 of net worth respectively (Appendix Table 4).