I have found this thread interesting in that you seem to have exactly the same problems as we in Australia with our Superannuation schemes. Our employer pays 9% of gross salary into your nominated fund. You are normally unable to access funds before age 65. Contributions are taxed at 15%. At age 65 you can access all your account tax free or convert the funds to a pension. We have a variety of Superannuation funds,some run by unions,usually not-for-profit and others run by insurance companies. The union funds generally far outperform the others. However,the main problem is that most funds make good returns on the investment but spoil it for the customer by milking your account to pay trailing commissions to so-called financial advisers,management fees and any other means they can dream up to steal your cash. Consequently my AXA fund was making 7 to 8% return on my funds,but,after paying itself & it's parasites I got only about 2%,about equal to a term deposit at a bank. I was prepared to tolerate this until last year,when the account suddenly made a A$1000 loss. I immediately cleared the account & invested in secured notes at 3.35% and a residential mortgage fund at 5.2% until I can find some better ideas.
Because we have an insane residential real estate market in the eastern states,any shares in real estate companies are hot. Supermarkets in Australia are the world's most profitable & shares pay good dividends. Telcos & medical diagnostic laboratories are also gold mines.
You can make really good money depending on how adventurous you are and how much time you spend on research,it's really up to your preference. Handing over your funds to financial advisers is,as you've said,a form of insanity,punishable by long term poverty.
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