New report reveals best and worst super funds
Stockspot's 2021 super fund report lists UniSuper and AustralianSuper among best super funds for fees and returns, but which are the worst?
Investment platform Stockspot has released its annual super fund report, analysing 600+ Australian super funds in terms of their fees and performance returns. Each year, Stockspot names the best funds (it calls these "Fit Cat Funds") and also the worst funds (called "Fat Cat Funds") for each risk level and investment strategy.
For 2021, UniSuper, Qantas Super and AustralianSuper took out the Gold and Silver medals for best Fit Cat Funds. According to the report, it was the low fees charged by these funds that won them the top spots.
"Despite having different investment strategies, the one factor these funds all had in common was investment fees of around 1% or under," the report read.
At the other end of the scale, OnePath, AMP and MLC were named as the worst funds.
Best and worst "Aggressive" super funds
Aggressive super fund products are those with more than 80% asset allocation in growth assets like shares and property. Some of the best super funds in this category include MLC Horizon 7 Accelerated Growth Portfolio, UniSuper High Growth, Equipsuper Growth Plus and Hostplus Shares Plus.
Some of the worst super funds in the Aggressive category include OnePath OptiMix Balanced, Zurich Managed Growth, Commonwealth Bank Group Super Balanced (MySuper) and OnePath Managed Growth.
Stockspot said the worst funds in this category had much higher fees, which ate into their returns. "The bottom funds in this category typically had more cash and bonds, poor outperforming active managers, and higher fees. The average fee in this category was 2.3% which dragged performance down to 5.3%–7.6% p.a."
In comparison, the average fee for the top 10 Aggressive funds was 1.2%, and the the average 5-year return was 12.7% p.a.
Best and worst "Growth" super funds
While Aggressive funds have more than 80% asset allocation in growth assets, Growth funds have between 60%–80% invested in growth assets.
Some of the best super funds in this category include HESTA Sustainable Growth, AustralianSuper Balanced, UniSuper Sustainable Balanced, Fiducian Balanced and Aware Super Growth.
Some of the worst funds in the Growth category were AMP Capital Multi-Asset, OnePath OptiMix Moderate and EISS Conservative.
If you haven't checked your super in a while, it might be time to switch. Check out the best super funds over the last decade and our step-by-step guide on how to change super funds.
