A: Thanks for the questions.

I am not in the habit of making predictions years’ out because there are too many exogenous factors. That said, my expectation is that in the absence of some external shock, the market will re-test its previous high of around 6,800. There is an argument that the high in 2007, adjusted for all the equity raising in 2009,  is more like 6,200 – even so, it is still more than 1,000 points from where we are today.

In relation to the question about relatively secure investments (other than cash and term deposits), you could also consider hybrid securities and some of the bond funds. With hybrid securities, you probably want to diversify across several of the issuers (to minimize that risk). There are a number of bond funds – unlisted funds from the major fund managers, and also fixed income ETFs. One fund that we reviewed at the Switzer Super Report and feel is pretty strong is AMP Capital’s Corporate Bond Fund.