Insurance company Suncorp-Metway Limited (ASX: SUN) discovered that 32 percent of Australians are in the dark about their current worth. The alarming thing about the ignorance is it is by choice.

The survey commissioned by the insurance firm shows one in three people are too apprehensive to look at their superannuation balance after the global financial crisis hit Australian shores. Close to 1,900 respondents from across the country participated in the survey.

Suncorp disclosed that 14 percent of the respondents never checked their super balance. In 2009, the figure was nine percent. Those who checked their balance once a year or less reached 32 percent in the April 2010 survey.

According to Suncorp's executive general manager of superannuation and investments Vicki Doyle, “These results suggest an increasing number of Australians are too scared to look at their super balance after a bad experience during the GFC where funds dropped due to market volatility.”

A high proportion of young professionals or yuppies are not aware of their super balance. Doyle said, “People should look at super like its an account balance... If you thought about it like a bank account sitting there with $30,000, which is a low average balance, you would be thinking about it quite significantly.”