Increased satisfaction with industry super fund performance
Satisfaction with the financial performance of industry funds higher than that of retail funds for the third month in a row.
As of November 2017, overall satisfaction levels for the financial performance of industry superannuation funds was sitting at 59.2%, slightly higher than that of retail funds which was at 57.5%. This is the third consecutive month that industry super funds have recorded higher satisfaction levels than the retail funds, according to new Roy Morgan research. Prior to this, retail funds were in the lead for seven months.
The data shows that the higher their superannuation balance, the more satisfied members are with the industry super fund's financial performance. Just over half (55.2%) of those with balances between $5000 and $99,999 are satisfied with the financial performance of their industry fund, increasing to 66.4% for those with balances between $100,000 and $249,000 and 75.3% for those with balances between $250,000 and $699,999.
The only balance bracket that saw retail funds satisfaction levels higher than that of industry funds was balances under $5000. For balances under this amount, 55.3% of members were satisfied with the financial performance of their retail fund, compared to just 46.3% for industry funds. Interesting to note that for larger balances above $700,000 it's self-managed super fund members that are the most satisfied with their fund's financial performance, as seen in the graph below.
Which super funds topped the list?
Out of the 15 largest super funds, QSuper recorded the highest satisfaction level for November 2017, with 70% of its members satisfied with its financial performance. Next up is industry fund Cbus on 67.4%, followed by Unisuper on 66.4% and First State Super on 64.6%. Of the retail funds, Colonial First State topped the list with 61.2% of its members satisfied with its financial performance.
Surprisingly, popular industry fund Hostplus saw its satisfaction levels drop by 3.7% from November 2016, placing the fund at 13th out of the largest 15 funds.
Industry Communications Director at Roy Morgan, Norman Morris, reminds super fund members not to be too concerned about their fund's performance over the short term. “It is important for super fund members not to be influenced by short term fluctuations in performance across funds, for what is a very long term investment. We have seen over the years that these movements are often reversed, making the chasing of short term winners rather precarious.”
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