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AustralianSuper vs Hostplus: Which super fund is right for you?
AustralianSuper and Hostplus are two of the biggest super funds, with more than 4 million members combined. Compare these popular industry funds side-by-side.
AustralianSuper and Hostplus are two of the biggest industry super funds in Australia, with almost 3.5 million members between them. AustralianSuper is dedicated to no specific industry, however it's the biggest super fund in the country. Hostplus is aligned to the hospitality, tourism, sport and recreation sectors. Both super funds are open to all Australians to join.
AustralianSuper vs Hostplus
Let's dive in and compare the super funds side by side, so you can see which one might be right for you.
This is AustralianSuper's default investment option. 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 among other assets. Investment allocation is the same for all members in the Balanced fund, regardless of age. It's an authorised MySuper product.
Hostplus Balanced is the default investment option offered by Hostplus, and it's the one that the majority of members are in. Similar to AustralianSuper Balanced, this is a diversified investment portfolio with a strong focus on Australian and international shares, private equity and infrastructure among other assets. Investment allocation is the same for all members in the Balanced fund, regardless of age. It's an authorised MySuper product.
Performance for default option
Past performance of AustralianSuper Balanced:
10 years: 8.18% p.a.
5 years: 7.76% p.a.
3 years: 6.44% p.a.
Past performance of Hostplus Balanced:
10 years: 8.35% p.a.
5 years: 7.75% p.a.
3 years: 7.63% p.a.
Fees for default option
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 Hostplus Balanced:
$5,000 balance: $157.87 in fees
$50,000 balance: $606.29in fees
$100,000 balance: $1,104.54 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 (Hostplus Balanced), you can choose to invest your super in one of the following pre-made investment options instead:
Hostplus Life
Shares Plus
Indexed Balanced
Socially Responsible Investment Balanced
Conservative Balanced
Capital Stable
High Growth
Defensive
Indexed High Growth
Indexed Defensive
Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) High Growth
Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) 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
Australian Shares - Indexed
International Shares
International Shares - Indexed
International Shares (Hedged) - Indexed
International Shares - Emerging Markets
Diversified Fixed Interest
Diversified Fixed Interest - Indexed
Cash
Ethical investment
The AustralianSuper Socially Aware option doesn't invest in Australian or international companies that directly own coal and fossil fuel reserves, produce tobacco or those which have single-gender boards. AustralianSuper lists all its fund holdings on its website.
If you had $50,000 invested in AustraliaSuper Socially Aware you'd pay annual fees of $397.
The Hostplus Socially Responsible Investment Balanced option invests in companies that "contribute to a socially and environmentally sustainable world". Hostplus lists all the holdings in this investment option on its website, and also lists the companies that it actively excludes (these are largely controversial weapon manufacturers and tobacco companies).
If you had $50,000 invested in Hostplus Socially Responsible Investment Balanced you'd pay annual fees of $310.00.
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 store.
The Hostplus mobile app has a 3.9 star rating from users in the Google Play store, and a 4.5 star rating in the Apple store.
Both funds are popular industry super funds, with AustralianSuper the larger of the two having significantly more members and more funds under management than Hostplus.
The two default MySuper options are AustralianSuper Balanced and Hostplus Balanced. These two products are very similar; both are authorised MySuper products, both are pre-mixed, diversified funds and both have exposure to unlisted assets (like infrastructure).
How do their fees and performance figures compare?
Looking at the default options, Hostplus has delivered slightly better returns over the past 3, 5 and 10 year periods. The difference in these figures is only minor and both funds are top-performing funds compared to others in the market.
In terms of fees, AustralianSuper Balanced charges lower fees than Hostplus Balanced. So if you're looking at both these default options, you'd be paying more with Hostplus. This becomes increasingly apparent the larger your balance is: with a balance of $100,000 the fees charged by Hostplus Balanced are almost double that of AustralianSuper Balanced.
However, Hostplus does offer several low-fee indexed investment options (more on this below).
How do the additional investment options compare?
Hostplus offers more investment options to choose between than AustralianSuper. Hostplus offers eleven additional pre-mixed options, while AustralianSuper offers five. Hostplus also offers a pre-mixed lifecycle product, Hostplus Life, which invests your super in line with your age. The idea with this option is that Hostplus will invest less of your super in risky assets (like shares) as you get closer to retirement, to protect your wealth. AustralianSuper doesn't offer any lifecycle investment options.
Hostplus is also well-known for its Indexed Balanced investment option, thanks to the Barefoot Investor declaring it's his chosen super fund. This is an incredibly low-fee option which charges around $103 p.a. on a $50,000 balance. It's so cheap because it invests your super in a mix of index funds (also known as exchange-traded funds) which simply track an index or market. So if low fees are your top priority, the Indexed Balanced fund offered by HostPlus is one of the lowest-fee options available for your super.
AustralianSuper's Indexed Diversified option also charges low fees at around $230 p.a. on a $50,000 balance, however it's not as low as Hostplus.
If you want to be more hands-on with your super and design your own portfolio, you've got more choice with Hostplus than with AustralianSuper. Hostplus offers nine individual asset class options while AustralianSuper only offers five. The main difference is that Hostplus offers International Shares (Indexed) and International Shares Hedged (Indexed) as single asset classes that you're able to invest in.
If you're unsure how these different options work with your super fund, here's a guide on superannuation investment options and how to choose between them.
How do the ethical investment options compare?
Both AustralianSuper Socially Aware and Hostplus Socially Responsible Investment Balanced avoid investments in fossil fuels, tobacco and gambling among many other harmful industries. Both fund are very transparent with their investments; both list their total fund holdings on their websites for you to see exactly which companies they invest in. Hostplus also lists the companies that it actively does not invest in.
These two ethical investment options have delivered very similar returns over the past three-year period, with Hostplus Socially Responsible Investment Balanced performing slightly better. However, Hostplus again charges higher fees for its ethical investment option than AustralianSuper does.
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.
Want to keep comparing?
If you're not yet convinced that either AustralianSuper or Hostplus 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. Additionally if you're looking to be kept up to date on the most recent changes to super, then have a read of our super funds news page.
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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I’m 64, have $500,000 in AustralianSuper Balanced Fund. I was with Hostplus previously. I’m thinking of swopping back to Hostplus as returns are better BUT I’m wondering which is the better fund for retirement living side of things?
Hi Linda,
We aren’t licensed to offer you any personal advice. When it comes to making decisions about your retirement planning, I’d recommend speaking to a financial adviser who can offer you personal advice.
Thanks, Alison.
Does Australian super have inbuilt insurances with it when u sign up?. The policy I have now is really good, but becoming unaffordable. Hoping to change funds and insurance
Hi Daniel,
AustralianSuper does offer it. If you’re eligible, they will provide you insurance cover when you join. And you can request to change your insurance cover whenever you want.
Hi Dan,
We don’t have the calculated fees for $600,000 and for pension account. However we have $500K for a balance fund which is $5,642.74 and for $300K conservative balanced it is $2,229.74.
Hi Rob, this would depend on a number of factors including which fund your with and how your money is invested. We suggest asking your fund directly about this to get the most accurate information.
Just been researching your comparison website.
I’m currently with Spirit.In your view,are they performing as well as most of the top performing Industry Funds at the momen
Hi Owen, you can see Spirit Super’s performance figures here for its individual investment options: https://spiritsuper.com.au/investments/Our-Performance
You can use this to compare with the other funds you’re looking at.
Thanks.
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I’m 64, have $500,000 in AustralianSuper Balanced Fund. I was with Hostplus previously. I’m thinking of swopping back to Hostplus as returns are better BUT I’m wondering which is the better fund for retirement living side of things?
Hi Linda,
We aren’t licensed to offer you any personal advice. When it comes to making decisions about your retirement planning, I’d recommend speaking to a financial adviser who can offer you personal advice.
Thanks, Alison.
Does Australian super have inbuilt insurances with it when u sign up?. The policy I have now is really good, but becoming unaffordable. Hoping to change funds and insurance
Hi Daniel,
AustralianSuper does offer it. If you’re eligible, they will provide you insurance cover when you join. And you can request to change your insurance cover whenever you want.
Thanks
Raj
Can you tell me how much annual fees for Host Plus on $600,000 in Balanced fund? $300,000 in Conservative Balanced? $300,000 in Pension?
Hi Dan,
We don’t have the calculated fees for $600,000 and for pension account. However we have $500K for a balance fund which is $5,642.74 and for $300K conservative balanced it is $2,229.74.
Thanks
Raj
How much in total fees should i expect to pay on $850000 superannuation in retirement.
Hi Rob, this would depend on a number of factors including which fund your with and how your money is invested. We suggest asking your fund directly about this to get the most accurate information.
Just been researching your comparison website.
I’m currently with Spirit.In your view,are they performing as well as most of the top performing Industry Funds at the momen
Hi Owen, you can see Spirit Super’s performance figures here for its individual investment options: https://spiritsuper.com.au/investments/Our-Performance
You can use this to compare with the other funds you’re looking at.
Thanks.