New research has revealed superannuation investors are not concerned with a product’s timeframe, because they are unaware of the implications this could have on their decision.

FuturePlus general manager of client services John Livanas said investors were unresponsive to the intended timeframe of their portfolios to achieve their investment returns, prompting a need for more education.

“I was astonished to find that investors seemed indifferent to the time horizon of their chosen portfolios, whether the maturity profile was one, five or even 10 years,” he said.

“The implication is that, though the superannuation industry has educated investors on the risk-return equation, there may still be a lot of work to do in informing investors on the implications that a product’s timeframe has on different decisions.”

The in-depth survey involved 238 investors who had considered investment changes over the previous year, plus data from 4,000 super fund members who had changed their investments over the past five years.