We spoke to Graeme to find out more about his day job and what he thinks you need to know when it comes to investing your super.

How did you end up working at TelstraSuper?

I’ve worked in the superannuation industry for more than thirty years – I started before super was even compulsory! At that time most Australians didn’t even know what superannuation was so it’s been fascinating to watch it become such an important part of the financial wellbeing of all Australians.

For the first part of my career I worked as a consultant.  I helped super funds manage their assets and liabilities, and was fortunate enough to work with some of Australia’s largest and most influential super funds and other investors. This gave me exposure to a wide range of investment strategies over several market cycles.

I later led the Australian team for a large global investment consulting firm and got to know TelstraSuper.  TelstraSuper had an enviable track record of strong investment performance and a reputation for excellence and integrity so I was very excited when the opportunity arose to lead the investment team.

What sort of work goes into managing such a large amount of money?

We have a dedicated team of highly experienced investment professionals who are responsible for managing our investment portfolios.  Some of these portfolios are managed directly by our team, and for other portfolios we engage professional investment management firms. 

The main role of our investment teams is to carefully and prudently analyse each investment.    Most investments involve some form of risk, and our job is to assess whether the risks are likely to be outweighed by the benefits.  We only make investments where we believe that they will generate sufficient and sustainable returns for the benefit of our members.

It’s both a great privilege as a well as a great responsibility to be entrusted with the management of our members’ retirement savings.  

What are the sorts of things TelstraSuper invests in and what do you consider when selecting investments?

One of the key strategies that we use to manage risk is diversification – in other words we aim to ensure that our investments draw their returns from many different types of assets in many different countries and industries.  This ensures that we aren’t too reliant on a single investment and helps our portfolios to be resilient in a variety of investment environments.

We invest in many different types of assets including shares, private equity, infrastructure, fixed interest and cash.  For example, we are a large property owner – with almost $3 billion invested in property assets like office buildings, shopping centres and warehouses.  

Another example is our infrastructure portfolio that’s made up of vital assets for the economy such as airports, power generators, toll roads and gas pipelines.  This portfolio also holds a number of renewable energy investments like wind farms and solar plants both in Australia and overseas.

What do you think is most important for members to know about their investments?

I think it’s important for members to take the time to understand the investment option they’re invested in and make sure it’s right for them. 

Different members will have different personal and financial circumstances, plus different tolerances and appetites for risk. That’s why we offer a suite of investment options - each with a different objective, strategy and level of risk.  That way, members can tailor their strategies to meet their particular circumstances and preferences.  Given the importance of this decision, I think that members should consider getting help with this from TelstraSuper Financial Planning.

Members should also remember that super is a long term investment. For most members they should focus on expected returns over the longer term, rather than reacting to short-term results.  

What’s your focus for the 2021/22 financial year?

After a year of very strong investment performance, we're aiming to ensure that our members’ money is in a good position to withstand what we expect will happen in markets in the future. 

We believe that, in the near term, investment markets will continue to be supported by three key factors, namely high levels of government spending, low interest rates and accelerating economic growth as countries emerge from COVID slowdowns.   We therefore expect that investors are likely to continue to be rewarded for investing in assets such as shares, property and infrastructure.

However, after such a strong year last year, we’ve recently reduced the amount of risk in our portfolios and have chosen to position our portfolios somewhat more conservatively than they were positioned in the year to 30 June 2021.  In particular, we’ve reduced our exposure to shares and increased our exposure to cash and some other selected opportunities.

We are also keeping a watchful eye on inflation because we believe that if we see persistent inflation, this could potentially be negative for investor sentiment and result in interest rate increases. 

The other thing we’ll be focussing on in 2021/22 is implementing TelstraSuper’s Climate Change Action Plan into our portfolios.  This plan was adopted by our board in February 2021 and aims to ensure that TelstraSuper investment portfolios are well-placed in the face of a transition to a lower carbon economy. 

Read more about our Climate Change Action Plan 

As always, in 2021/22 we’ll continue to manage our members’ investments in a prudent and proactive manner – remaining vigilant to identify both risks and opportunities as they emerge.  

Investment updates

Graeme provides members with quarterly investment update videos which provide an overview of how the markets have performed in the previous quarter. 

Watch Graeme’s latest investment update