Facing yet another quarter of mostly negative returns can be disheartening. However, we must remember that the more markets fall, the more opportunity is created for future gains. The key, as always, is to focus on long-term goals.

There is no doubt that the first quarter of 2009 produced a less than ideal start to the year, particularly as the term ‘Great Recession’ entered into our vocabularies. However equity markets gave us some hope, with a rebound at the end of March. This was sparked by optimism that the US government’s US$1 trillion plan to remove bad debts from banks’ books is a crucial step to a recovery. The optimism spread to our local shares.

The key question now on investors’ minds is whether this was a short-term spike, or whether it might be the start of a longer term upturn. The answer is – nobody knows for certain. Which is why maintaining your long-term investment strategy is important. Markets hold a lot of opportunity at the moment, following the prolonged downturn, and they will inevitably rise (even if the timing tests our patience!). And when the real recovery does take off, being out of line with your long-term investment objectives could prove costly.

Russell portfolios	Quarter	1yr (p.a)	3yrs	5yrs	Inception date *	Since inception (p.a)
TARGET DATE PORTFOLIOS
Russell 2010	0.1%	-9.3%	-1.6%	‡	01/10/05	-0.1%
Russell 2020	-1.3%	-15.8%	-4.4%	‡	01/10/05	-2.7%
Russell 2030	-2.3%	-22.1%	-7.1%	‡	01/10/05	-4.3%
Russell 2040	-3.3%	-27.9%	-9.4%	‡	01/10/05	-6.1%
DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIOS
Russell Conservative	0.0%	-6.5%	-0.4%	3.4%	01/07/03	3.9%
Russell Diversified 50	-1.1%	-14.3%	-3.5%	2.7%	01/07/03	3.7%
Russell Blended Balanced	-2.9%	-20.7%	-6.1%	‡	01/04/05	-0.3%
Russell Balanced	-2.5%	-21.1%	-6.6%	2.0%	01/07/03	3.4%
Russell Balanced Opportunities	-3.6%	‡	‡	‡	01/07/08	-26.8%
Russell Growth	-3.0%	-26.4%	-8.7%	1.7%	01/07/03	3.6%
Russell High Growth	-3.4%	-28.9%	-9.6%	‡	01/04/05	-2.4%
SECTOR PORTFOLIOS
Russell Australian Cash	0.9%	5.5%	5.3%	4.9%	01/07/03	4.8%
Russell International Property Securities - $A hedged	-15.0%	-54.6%	-23.1%	‡	01/04/05	-12.2%
Russell Australian Shares	-2.1%	-26.1%	-5.8%	5.7%	01/07/03	7.6%
Russell Australian Opportunities	-0.5%	-26.9%	-6.8%	‡	01/11/04	1.8%
Russell International Shares	-8.2%	-25.3%	-13.4%	-2.7%	01/07/03	-0.8%
Russell International Shares -$A hedged	-5.1%	-38.2%	-14.4%	‡	01/11/04	-4.7%
Russell Global Opportunities	-5.5%	-22.3%	-11.0%	‡	01/04/05	-3.5%
Russell Socially Responsible Australian Shares	2.1%	‡	‡	‡	01/07/08	-32.5%
*The date the investment portfolio became available. ‡ Investment returns are not available for this period as this portfolio has not been in place for the period specifi ed. The returns shown are net of investment management fees and taxes on investment income. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. This performance information is provided to you by the Trustee of Russell SuperSolution Master Trust, Total Risk Management Pty Ltd (AFSL 238790).