Best long-term returns
Finder Award
AustralianSuper Balanced has the best 10 year returns of all default MySuper products to June 2021.
Best super funds
We've analysed the fees, performance and investment returns of 50+ super products to find you some of the best super funds in Australia for 2022.
Best ethical fund
Green Company
Australian Ethical Super is certified by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia.
Best industry fund
UniSuper Balanced has a combination of very low fees with high performance returns.
Best low-fee fund
QSuper Lifetime charges low fees across all life stages and balance tiers, plus no entry, exit or switching fees.
Best lifestage fund
Virgin Money Super LifeStage Tracker has 15 different lifestage options within it, plus low fees and high returns.
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Find the best super fund for you
*Past performance data is for the period ending June 2021 as is not an indicator of future performance.
Which is the best super fund in Australia?
There's no one super fund that is "best", and the best fund for you might not be the best for someone else. It really depends on what features are most important to you and what you're looking to achieve.
In general, a great super fund has the following features:
- Low fees
- A history of high long-term returns (10-year returns)
- An investment strategy that aligns with your risk tolerance, goals and personal values
- A range of insurance options
Best-performing super funds 2022
| Super fund | 10-year return (p.a. to June 2021) |
|---|---|
| AustralianSuper Balanced | 9.7% |
| Hostplus Balanced | 9.7% |
| Cbus MySuper | 9.6% |
| UniSuper Balanced | 9.5% |
| CareSuper Balanced | 9.1% |
| Sunsuper Balanced | 9.1% |
| VicSuper MySuper | 9.0% |
| Australian Ethical Super Balanced | 9.0% |
| Vision Super Balanced Growth | 9.0% |
| Aware Super Growth | 9.0% |
Super funds had a record year for the financial year ending in June 2021, delivering the best returns in more than 24 years. The median growth super fund returned 18% for the year ending 30 June 2021, according to Chant West. But it's important to look at the long-term performance returns of funds when comparing your options.
💬 Finder's super fund pick for long-term returns
The best-performing growth super fund over the last 10 years is AustralianSuper Balanced. The table above looks at growth super funds only (super funds with 61-80% allocation to growth assets), using data from Chant West.
"The typical long-term return objective for growth funds is to beat inflation by 3.5% p.a., which translates to about 5.5% to 6% p.a.," said Chant West senior investment research manager Mano Mohankumar.
"We now have data going back 29 years to July 1992, the start of compulsory super. Over that period, the annualised return is 8.2% and the annual CPI increase is 2.4%, giving a real return of 5.8% p.a.," he said. AustralianSuper Balanced, as well as the other top 10 funds in the table above, have greatly out-performed this average return all achieving more than 9% p.a. over 10 years.
AustralianSuper - Pre-mixed, Balanced option
AustralianSuper is an award-winning industry super fund and the largest super fund in Australia. The Balanced fund invests in a mix of different assets like shares, property and cash.Remember, past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance and is not a guarantee of future returns.
While it's not the only factor to consider, past investment performance is a key thing to look at when choosing a super fund. High returns will help your super balance grow bigger (and quicker!) than it would with lower returns. Investment performance is the result of a few different factors including the fees charged by the super fund (as fees eat into investment returns) and the fund's investment strategy. In theory, a high-growth super fund should deliver better returns over the long term than a balanced or conservative fund.
However, a high-growth fund also increases the chances of more volatile returns in the short term. For this reason, you can't declare one single super fund product as the best-performing fund as you wouldn't be comparing apples with apples.
Instead of looking at every single super fund investment option in the market, we've looked at the best-performing growth super funds. Growth funds are where the majority of Australians have their super invested. Growth funds are usually the default investment option when joining a super fund and are often the Balanced or MySuper products.
What's the best industry super fund?
Industry super funds are a popular choice for many Australians as they often have low fees and competitive long-term returns. There are 15 industry super funds in Australia, which you can learn more about in our industry super funds guide. But if you're already set on joining an industry super fund, here's our top pick.
💬 Finder's industry super fund pick
UniSuper is our top pick for industry super funds. It started as a fund for employees in the higher-education sector, but the fund is now open to anyone to join. Its default investment option, UniSuper Balanced, is consistently one of the top-performing growth super funds year after year.
It also has some of the lowest fees of all the industry super funds and has a range of different investment options to choose between, including an ethical option.
What's the best super fund for low fees?
You should always look at fees along with investment returns when choosing a super fund. This is because the fees you pay will impact the returns you get, as fees are deducted from returns. So lower fees mean higher returns! High investment returns are definitely a big plus, but future investment returns are never guaranteed. Fees, on the other hand, are fixed and are within your control. By opting for a fund with low fees, you know you won't be paying too much even when investment markets are volatile and returns are lower.
So, what is considered to be a low-fee fund? The general idea is annual fees of less than 1% of the balance you've got invested are considered to be relatively low. For example, if you had $100,000 invested, you should aim to keep your annual fees below $1,000.
If you're looking for a MySuper fund with low fees, here's our pick.
💬 Finder's super fund pick for low fees
QSuper's default investment product, QSuper Lifetime, is our top pick for a low-fee MySuper product. It charges consistently low fees across all life stages and balance tiers. Young members with a balance of $5,000 will pay less than $50 in fees for the full year.
As well as low fees, QSuper Lifetime has also delivered competitive investment returns for members over the long term (and its low fees have certainly helped keep returns high). In fact, leading super research firm Chant West named QSuper of its Best Fund: Investments 2020 award saying: "QSuper had a smaller allocation to equities and larger allocation to bonds, and it's helped them smooth the volatility of their investment performance in recent times. QSuper's investment model was designed to protect members in times just like this."
What about low-cost index super investment products?
You can pay even less in fees if you opt for an indexed investment option for your super. An indexed investment option invests in a mix of index funds (or exchange traded funds). An index fund tracks the performance of a whole index, for example the ASX200 or the NASDAQ, in a single trade. This is instead of buying each of the shares within the index individually, which could be hundreds of different trades.
Because index funds simply mirror an established index, they are often passively managed and are therefore much cheaper to invest in. However, you often won't have exposure to other asset classes like non-listed assets (for example infrastructure), alternative assets or fixed interest. For this reason, indexed super investment options are usually higher risk than the default growth or balanced options as they're less diversified.
Some of the best low-fee indexed super options include the following:
| Indexed super fund | Annual fees |
|---|---|
| Hostplus Indexed Balanced | 0.21% p.a. |
| AustralianSuper Indexed Diversified | 0.41% p.a. |
| Sunsuper Balanced Index | 0.47% p.a. |
What's the best ethical super fund?
Ethical means different things to different people. When looking for the best ethical super fund, make sure you look for a fund that invests your super in a way that aligns with your values. As well as making sure the fund invests ethically and responsibly, you still want to consider the fees and performance of the fund too.
💬 Finder's ethical super fund pick
Australian Ethical Super Balanced is our top pick for an ethical super fund. It is one of just a handful of super funds to be certified by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia and the winner of a Finder Green Award.
What's the best super fund for my age group?
Some super funds offer a life-cycle or life-stage investment strategy as their default option for members. These products invest your super in a mix of asset classes in line with your age. The purpose of this is to ensure you're always taking on an appropriate amount of risk for your age. For example, life-cycle investment products will have a higher allocation towards high-risk growth assets like shares while you're young and gradually decrease your exposure to shares as you get older. By the time you're ready to retire, your super will have a much greater allocation towards low-risk, defensive assets like cash and fixed interest in order to protect your nest egg from market volatility.
In comparison, a standard balanced or growth super investment option will invest in the same mix of asset classes for all members, regardless of your age.
If you like the idea of a super fund that invests your super in a mix of assets according to your age, here's our pick.
💬 Finder's super fund pick for life-stage or age-based investing
Virgin Money Super's default super product, LifeStage Tracker, is our top pick for a life-stage investment strategy. It offers 15 different life-stage investment allocations within one product, while many others only offered a few different life stages. If you invest your super with Virgin Money Super LifeStage Tracker, your investment allocation mix will be slightly readjusted every 5 years in line with your age.
As well as having lots of investment stages, Virgin Money Super LifeStage Tracker charges some of the lowest fees in the market and has impressive past investment returns.
Life-cycle super fund vs balanced super fund: which is best?
Life-stage super products are becoming increasingly common, particularly among retail super funds. However, the majority of Australians still have their super invested in a standard, pre-mixed growth or balanced fund. There are pros and cons of each, and which one you choose will depend on your personal preferences and risk tolerance. Benefits of life-cycle super products include the following:
- Your super is invested in line with your age bracket.
- Your super will have more exposure to high-growth assets while you're young than it would with a typical balanced or growth fund.
- Your super will have less exposure to risky growth assets as you near retirement, meaning it could be better protected from major market falls.
Some downsides to life-cycle super products include the following:
- There is the potential for more growth while you're young, but there's also the potential for a lot more volatility.
- Younger members could see their super experience large falls in value in the short term
- Life-stage funds can often be less diversified than balanced or growth funds
Super research firm Chant West says that the life-stage funds for older age brackets have generally underperformed against standard growth super funds, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
"The older cohorts (those born in the 1950s or earlier) are relatively less exposed to growth-orientated assets so you would expect them to underperform MySuper Growth funds over longer periods. Capital preservation is more important at those ages so, while they miss out on the full benefit in rising markets, older members in retail life-cycle options are better protected in the event of a market downturn, as was evident during the past year," said a Chant West investment manager.
What about the worst super funds?
The regulator APRA released a report on 31 August 2021 revealing the worst-performing super funds for 2021. These funds have all failed the performance test set out by the regulator and must inform members by late September of this. These funds will be given 1 year to deliver better returns and, if they fail this performance test again, they'll need to move members into another fund that has performed better.
"Trustees of the 13 products that failed the test now face an important choice: they can urgently make the improvements needed to ensure they pass next year's test or start planning to transfer their members to a fund that can deliver better outcomes for them," said the regulator.
Here's a list of the worst-performing MySuper funds.
13 worst-performing super funds 2021
- AMG Super - MySuper
- ASGARD Independence Plan Division Two - Employee MySuper
- Australian Catholic Superannuation - LifetimeOne
- AvSuper - Growth (MySuper)
- BOC Gases Superannuation Fund - MySuper
- Christian Super - MyEthical Super
- Colonial First State - FirstChoice Superannuation Trust
- Commonwealth Bank Group Super - Accumulate Plus Balanced
- Energy Industries Superannuation Scheme - Balanced MySuper
- Labour Union Co-Operative Retirement Fund - MySuper Balanced
- Maritime Super - MySuper
- BT Super - MySuper
- The Victorian Independent Schools Superannuation Fund - Balanced
How to pick the best super fund for you
There's no one super fund that is best for everyone (sorry!), so when comparing your options, you should consider what's the most important for you. Look for a fund with low fees and strong investment returns but also consider the following when looking for the right super fund:
- Your age. If you're young, you might want a super fund that has a bit more exposure to high-growth assets like shares and property. These assets offer higher capital growth over the long term so are best for members with a long timeframe.
- Your risk tolerance. Regardless of your age, you should invest your super in a fund that aligns with your personal risk tolerance. If having the majority of your super invested in high-risk assets like shares is going to keep you awake at night, you might want to consider a balanced fund instead of a high-growth fund.
- Your investment preferences. There are specialty funds that suit investors with particular preferences. For example, Superestate focuses on investing in residential properties in major capital cities, while Spaceship has a strong preference for international technology stocks.
- Your personal values. If you don't want your super to be invested in industries like coal, fossil fuels, animal cruelty or ammunition manufacturing, you might want to consider an ethical super fund.
Methodology
We rely on our proprietary algorithm to get our top super fund picks. Developed by Finder's data scientists and superannuation experts, our algorithm calculates hundreds of different data points to rank Australian super funds against a set of criteria.
The algorithm we've developed works behind the scenes to do the hard work for you when comparing super funds.
The super fund products we compare
Our algorithm compares the default product offered by more than 50 superannuation funds including retail, member-owned and industry super funds. Most of these are MySuper products and can be either a pre-mixed balanced/growth portfolio option or a life-stage/life-cycle investment option (more on how we treat life-stage options below).
Our algorithm does not look at every superannuation product available in the market. We have excluded the additional super investment products offered by funds outside of their default product. For example, we didn't look at the high-growth, conservative, indexed or ethical investment options offered by the funds (unless it was the default option). We also didn't look at individual asset class options.
The reason we've narrowed down our comparison to the default super products is because these are where the majority of Australians have their super invested. Sticking with these funds means our algorithm can compare "apples with apples" and offer a more accurate, useful and fair side-by-side comparison for you.
The performance, fees and investment data for these products are supplied to Finder by leading super research group Chant West.
How do we choose our super fund "top picks"?
Our superannuation experts select a range of criteria that should be considered for each category. Not only do we select which features should be considered for each category, but we also decide how much weight each different feature should be given towards the super product's overall rank for each category. This is because, depending on the category, some features are more important than others.
Our data scientists then created an algorithm to calculate each super product's rank for each different category, taking into account the various data points and the weighting of those data points. The super product that ranks number one in a certain category is our top pick for that category.
Here's how we treat life-stage investment products.
Some super funds offer one pre-mixed portfolio as the default MySuper product to all members, regardless of their age. Other super funds offer a life-stage investment option as the default MySuper product, which means the investment product will be different depending on your age.
To calculate one single rank for a life-stage product that might have 10+ different life stages within it, we split the product up into 3 key age groups. We recorded the data points (for example the fees and performance) for members aged 20, 43 and 66. Then, the algorithm takes an average score of these 3 life stages and arrives at a final rank for the life-stage super product.
Our superannuation specialists selected these 3 ages so we can get an accurate average rank of the life-stage product for the largest variety of members. Each key age group is considered: young members just joining the workforce, middle-age members with established super balances who are still building their retirement wealth and, lastly, pre-retirees who are protecting their super balance.
By splitting the life-stage product into key age groups, the algorithm can more accurately compare these products against the single balanced or growth products offered by other funds.
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