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There has been a lot of volatility since April on major markets. Over the short term, super fund balances have dropped as a result. That is because about half of the money in the typical balanced super option, where most people have their super, is invested in shares.

There was a particularly bad patch on sharemarkets in the last days of the financial year due to Greece's debt woes before Greece and the eurozone agreed to yet another bailout. That resulted in lower super balances over June.

However, the volatility that started last week has been the biggest.

The ASX200 dipped under 5000 points – a long way down from its high of almost 6000 points in April. The last time the market was at 5000 points was in the middle of 2013.

Sharemarkets around the world have since recovered some of the losses as investors snap up bargain-priced stocks. However, super balances are very likely to be down over August as well, when the data is reported, after having improved over July.

While the volatility is likely to continue for weeks, and maybe even months, it is unlikely to trigger a return to the economic conditions of the GFC.

The interconnectedness of markets is such that falls in China quickly spread to sharemarkets around the world. The Chinese market has been booming and was overdue for a correction.

The US and European markets had also been powering along and had moved ahead of fundamentals.

Markets are more or less rational over the long term, but irrational over the short term. They overshoot in both directions.

As for the fundamentals of the global economy, though, they are much improved since the GFC.

The US economy, in particular, is on the improve.

Central banks around the world have shown how they will not hesitate to pull levers to stimulate economic growth.

The word's banking system is much stronger than in 2007 and 2008 and is as strong as ever in Australia. Banks are much better capitalised.

Companies, particularly those listed on the sharemarkets of the advanced economies, are carrying much less debt. While Australian companies are not reporting booming profits, they are doing all right.

It is China's over-valued sharemarket that is having a meltdown, not its economy.

Nervous investors in China's sharemarket were looking for a trigger to sell after Chinese share prices had more than doubled over the 12 months to the end of May.

And the trigger came in the form of concerns that China's economy is slowing more quickly than anticipated.

However, Chinese growth is not about  to collapse and policymakers there have a lot of policy levers they can push to hold growth about 7 per cent.

There is also investor concern that the US Federal Reserve is about to lift interest rates. Surely, any plans  to life US interest rates for the first time in a decade will have been shelved.

All in all, there is no reason to be pessimistic that the global economy is falling back into a GFC-type malaise. As for superannuation, it is the long-term returns rather than the short-term returns that matter.

 @jcollett_money