It’s fair to say that the past year or so has been one of the toughest on record for AUSCOAL Super members.

With economies slipping into recession and share markets down sharply most members would have seen the value of their super fall sharply.

Tough times like these shake our confidence and many members are probably questioning whether super’s all it’s cracked up to be.

So, not surprisingly, the latest edition of our member newsletter, AUSCOAL Extra, focuses on investments, highlighting the long term benefits of investing in super and some tips for smart investing in these tough times.

SuperRatings looked at fees and charges and concluded that over a 40 year working life, members of industry super funds could be 20% better off.

There were also reports by independent research company Chant West as well as SuperRatings which showed that industry super funds on average outperformed their commercial rivals over short and long term time periods.

• Go to our website to read more about these reports