In a potentially dangerous year for investors, going global would benefit Australian investors seeking reduced investment risk and lower volatility, Rushton Financial Services executive director Glenn Rushton said.

Mr Rushton said share market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty are making it harder for SMSF trustees to select investments that can generate meaningful returns without uncomfortably high risk.

“SMSF investors would usually turn to traditionally low-risk asset classes, such as cash, bonds, and property. Unfortunately, record low interest rates have pulverised cash and sovereign bond yields, and sent property prices rocketing upwards,” he said.

The best strategy is to scale back exposure to risk from around the age of 50 onwards, making a market-neutral approach ideal for those in this age bracket, as it has the ability to generate a healthy return over the medium to long term, with lower volatility than a long only share investment.

“As the Yale University and countless other institutional, investors have shown in recent decades share market volatility does not mean investors have to compromise returns and risk exposure, and with the rising popularity of these alternative investments among SMSF trustees, many Australian investors are joining the trend,” Mr Rushton said.

He said the newly expanded fund will offer investors a multi-thematic investment strategy and international exposure with around 670 positions in markets across the Asia-Pacific region and Europe.

“Importantly, a market neutral portfolio diversified across hundreds of positions is actually more diversified than a typical share portfolio holding hundreds of shares.”