This is a pre-mixed, diversified fund that invests your super in a range of assets with a strong allocation towards Australian and international shares, direct property and infrastructure. Investment allocation is the same for all members in the Balanced fund, regardless of age. It's an authorised MySuper product.
Similar to AustralianSuper Balanced, Australian Ethical Super Balanced is a ready-made investment portfolio, but it has a strong focus on ethical investments. This fund invests in a mix of local and international shares, property and alternative assets. Investment allocation is the same for all members in the Balanced fund, regardless of age. It's an authorised MySuper product.
Performance
Past performance of AustralianSuper Balanced as of June 2020:
5 years: 7.76% p.a.
3 years: 6.44% p.a.
Past performance of Australian Ethical Super Balanced as of June 2020:
5 years: 7.03% p.a.
3 years: 4.5% p.a.
Fees
Here's how much you'd pay in fees for one year if you had the following amounts invested in AustralianSuper Balanced:
$5,000 balance: $85 in fees
$50,000 balance: $382 in fees
$100,000 balance: $712 in fees
Here's how much you'd pay in fees for one year if you had the following amounts invested in Australian Ethical Super Balanced:
$5,000 balance: $121.50 in fees
$50,000 balance: $603 in fees
$100,000 balance: $1,138 in fees
Additional diversified investment options
If you don't want to invest in the default option (AustralianSuper Balanced), you can choose to invest your super in one of the following pre-made investment options instead:
High Growth
Socially Aware
Indexed Diversified
Conservative Balanced
Stable
If you don't want to invest in the default option (Australian Ethical Balanced), you can choose to invest your super in one of the following pre-made investment options instead:
Advocacy (this is a high-growth option)
Growth
Conservative
Defensive
Single-asset class investment options
If you want to design your own investment mix, you can invest your super in one or more of the following individual asset classes:
Australian Shares
International Shares
Property
Diversified Fixed Interest
Cash
If you want to design your own investment mix, you can invest your super in one or more of the following individual asset classes:
Australian Shares
International Shares
Both these single asset class shares options also have a very small allocation towards cash (only about 5% of your balance).
Mobile app
The AustralianSuper app has a 3.6-star rating from users in the Google Play Store and a 3-star rating in the Apple App Store.
Australian Ethical Super does not have a mobile app, but you can manage your super online using the desktop platform.
The two default MySuper options are AustralianSuper Balanced and Australian Ethical Super Balanced. Both are MySuper products and both are pre-mixed, diversified funds. They both have a very similar level of risk and have a similar level of exposure to international shares.
However, where they do differ is with Australian Ethical Super's complete focus on ethical and sustainable investing. Therefore, while both funds may have similar levels of exposure to shares, the individual companies each invests in are quite different.
Finder survey: How confident are Australians that ethical super funds deliver competitive financial returns?
Response
75+ yrs
65-74 yrs
55-64 yrs
45-54 yrs
35-44 yrs
25-34 yrs
18-24 yrs
Very confident
4.26%
1.21%
1.91%
2.98%
2.17%
2.11%
1.9%
Not confident
2.13%
1.21%
3.18%
2.38%
0.54%
2.11%
0.95%
Somewhat confident
9.09%
6.37%
4.76%
7.61%
13.16%
11.43%
I don't know
1.21%
1.91%
2.38%
1.63%
2.11%
0.95%
Source: Finder survey by Pure Profile of 1016 Australians, December 2023
How do their fees and performance figures compare?
AustralianSuper Balanced and Australian Ethical Super Balanced have similar fees for smaller balances. However, for larger balances of $50,000 or higher Australian Ethical Super has higher fees than AustralianSuper. One reason for Australian Ethical Super charging higher fees could be because its investment managers need to do a high level of research into each company it considers investing it, to ensure the company aligns with its strict and specific ethical standards.
These funds have achieved very similar returns over the past three-year period, but AustralianSuper Balanced has slightly outperformed Australian Ethical Super Balanced over the past five-year period.
How do the ethical investments compare?
If you're looking for an ethical super fund above all else, Australian Ethical Super will likely come out on top for you when compared with AustralianSuper. While Australian Super does offer one dedicated ethical investment option (AustralianSuper Socially Aware), Australian Ethical Super is an ethical fund in its entirety.
Australian Ethical Super has a strict and specific list of investment principals, including what is does and does not invest in and the reasons for this. As well as excluding investment in fossil fuels and coal, it also excludes companies that harm animals in the form of live exports or traditional agriculture and farming which it deems unsustainable. Instead, it actively includes investments in plant-based meat alternatives and other sustainable products.
However, the AustralianSuper Socially Aware investment option does charge lower fees than Australian Ethical Super. So this could be something to consider if you're concerned about investing ethically but also want to keep your costs to a minimum.
If you're interested in investing your super ethically, you can compare these funds with a range of additional ethical super funds in our guide.
How do the additional investment options compare?
AustralianSuper offers five additional pre-mixed super investment options instead of the default Balanced option, including an indexed option. Australian Ethical Super offers four additional pre-mixed investment options and does not offer an indexed option.
If you want to design your own investment mix using the single asset class options, you have a lot more choice with AustralianSuper. AustralianSuper offers five individual asset class options, including local and international shares, property, fixed interest and cash. Australian Ethical Super only offers two individual asset class options: Australian and New Zealand shares and International Shares.
Want to keep comparing?
If you're not yet convinced that either AustralianSuper or Australian Ethical Super is right for you, or you simply want to see how they compare to others in the market, you can compare super funds with our guide.
Alison Banney is the money editorial manager at Finder. She covers all areas of personal finance, and her areas of expertise are superannuation, banking and saving. She has written about finance for 10 years, having previously worked at Westpac and written for several other major banks and super funds.
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