The 5 best industry super funds: Top-performing funds

1 - 11 of 265

Name	Last 1 year performance (p.a.)	Last 3 year performance (p.a.)	Last 5 year performance (p.a.)	Last 10 year performance (p.a.)	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)
Aware Super High Growth Industry fundHigher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +10.29%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +6.3%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +8.08%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +8.71%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $497	Go to site More Info Compare
Australian Retirement Trust - High Growth Industry fundHigher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +10.61%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +8.35%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +8.88%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +9.22%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $542	Go to site More Info Compare
Equip MySuper Industry fund	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +8.76%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +5.38%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +6.26%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +7.16%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $467	Go to site Compare
Australian Retirement Trust - International Shares Index (unhedged) Finder AwardIndustry fundIndexed investmentHigher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +18.15%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +10.32%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +10.9%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +11.96%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $187	Go to site More Info Compare
Australian Retirement Trust - Conservative Balanced Pension Industry fundLifestage	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +6.33%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +5.15%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +5.5%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +6.14%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $507	Go to site More Info Compare
Australian Retirement Trust - Conservative Balanced Industry fund	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +8.83%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +6.78%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +7.34%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +8.05%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $507	Go to site More Info Compare
Australian Retirement Trust - High Growth Pension Industry fundLifestage	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +8.72%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +6.71%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +7.27%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +8.01%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $507	Go to site More Info Compare
Australian Retirement Trust - Conservative Balanced Industry fund	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +6.31%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +5.13%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +5.5%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +6.18%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $507	Go to site More Info Compare
Australian Retirement Trust - Conservative Industry fund	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +4.34%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +3.43%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +3.79%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +4.7%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $482	Go to site More Info Compare
Aware Super Conservative Balanced Industry fund	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +6.6%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +4.17%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +4.87%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +5.96%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $422	Go to site More Info Compare
Aware Super Balanced Industry fund	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +8.71%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +5.29%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +6.67%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +7.42%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $462	Go to site More Info Compare

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Showing 11 of 14 results

Unless indicated otherwise, the information in the table is based on data provided by SuperRatings Pty Limited ABN 95 100 192 283, a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR No.1309956) of Lonsec Research Pty Ltd ABN 11 151 658 561, Australian Financial Services Licence No. 421445.

*Past performance data and fee data is for the period ending Apr 2024

Providers

Australian Retirement Trust

More super funds in Australia

What is an industry super fund?

Industry super funds are not-for-profit super funds that are owned by the members of the fund. These funds give profits back to members in the form of lower fees, instead of paying profits to shareholders like many retail super funds do. Lower fees often mean higher investment returns over the long term, too.

Industry super funds aren't owned by a major bank or financial institution. Instead, they're owned by the members of the fund. Industry super funds are not-for-profit funds, as they don't exist to make a profit for a parent company or shareholders, but instead exist to benefit the members of the fund.

Benefits of joining an industry super fund:

A lot of members from a particular industry
Profits go back into the fund to benefit members, not shareholders
Low fees compared to some major retail funds
Strong long-term performance figures
They're not owned by a bank or financial institution
Large investments in Australian infrastructure (unlisted assets)

Who can join an industry super fund?

Many industry super funds were initially only available to workers in a certain industry, for example, hospitality or retail. However, today, most industry super funds are open for all Australians to join.

If you work in a particular industry your employer may have the associated industry super fund available as their default option for employees. However, you're in no way required to join your employers chosen fund or your industry fund and are free to join whichever super fund you wish.

Consider the following features when you're choosing an industry super fund.

The industry it's aligned to

Most funds are open to everyone to join, and you don't have to join the fund for your particular industry. however, you might like to. Some industry funds offer tailored perks and benefits to people who work in that industry, and often the fund will invest back into the industry when making investment decisions.

Past performance

When comparing performance, look for a fund with high long-term returns (the 10+ year returns) for the most accurate picture of how the fund has performed on average.

The fees

Look for low annual admin and investment fees. The more money you pay in fees the less you'll benefit from investment returns.

Insurance options

Does the fund offer tailored insurance options for your particular industry? For example, Cbus is the industry fund for construction workers and offers a range of insurance options to suit this line of work.

Investment strategy

Check the fund's investment strategy aligns with what you're looking for. For example does it invest ethically?

Here are our picks for the best industry super funds

Best returns: 1st place: Hostplus Balanced
Best returns: 2nd place: AustralianSuper - Balanced
Best returns: 3rd place: Australian Retirement Trust - Balanced
Best returns: 4th place: UniSuper - Balanced
Best returns: 5th place: Cbus Growth

Best returns: 3rd place
Australian Retirement Trust - Conservative Balanced

Go to site

+8.83%

1 year performance

+6.78%

3 year performance

+8.05%

10 year performance

Info
Fees
How we choose

Australian Retirement Trust, one of Australia's largest super funds with more than 2 million members. Its Balanced product invests your super in a mix of growth assets, and reduces your risk when you're near retirement.

We only look at Balanced industry super funds using data from Super Rating and available in our comparison table when filtering for 'Balanced'. Ethical or sustainable options have been excluded. Balanced funds in the table are those with an asset allocation between 61-80% towards growth assets.

When determining our 'Top Picks', we included the first 5 funds from this list. The performance data we looked at for this list was the 10-year returns for the period ending April 2024. We haven't considered other features of the funds (such as fees) when determining our Top Picks - it's based on performance alone. We have looked at all products in the market that we have data available for, including retail super funds and funds that have no commercial partnerships with Finder.

Superfund	Australian Retirement Trust - Conservative Balanced
Fees on $5k balance (p.a.)	$106.90
Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)	$507.40
Fees on $100k balance (p.a.)	$952.40

Best returns: 4th place
UniSuper - Balanced

More info

+7.66%

1 year performance

+5.09%

3 year performance

+7.81%

10 year performance

Info
Fees
How we choose

UniSuper is an industry super fund with more than 620,000 members. Its Balanced option invests in a mix of different asset classes and charges some of the lowest fees of all default super products.

We only look at Balanced industry super funds using data from Super Rating and available in our comparison table when filtering for 'Balanced'. Ethical or sustainable options have been excluded. Balanced funds in the table are those with an asset allocation between 61-80% towards growth assets.

When determining our 'Top Picks', we included the first 5 funds from this list. The performance data we looked at for this list was the 10-year returns for the period ending April 2024. We haven't considered other features of the funds (such as fees) when determining our Top Picks - it's based on performance alone. We have looked at all products in the market that we have data available for, including retail super funds and funds that have no commercial partnerships with Finder.

Superfund	UniSuper - Balanced
Fees on $5k balance (p.a.)	$121.50
Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)	$351
Fees on $100k balance (p.a.)	$606

Best returns: 1st place
Hostplus Balanced

More info

+7.77%

1 year performance

+6.68%

3 year performance

+8.37%

10 year performance

Info
Fees
How we choose

Hostplus is an award-winning industry super fund open to all Australians with a focus on the hospitality and retail sector. The Balanced fund invests your super in a broad range of assets and is designed for high long-term growth.

We only look at Balanced industry super funds using data from Super Rating and available in our comparison table when filtering for 'Balanced'. Ethical or sustainable options have been excluded. Balanced funds in the table are those with an asset allocation between 61-80% towards growth assets.

When determining our 'Top Picks', we included the first 5 funds from this list. The performance data we looked at for this list was the 10-year returns for the period ending April 2024. We haven't considered other features of the funds (such as fees) when determining our Top Picks - it's based on performance alone. We have looked at all products in the market that we have data available for, including retail super funds and funds that have no commercial partnerships with Finder.

Superfund	Hostplus Balanced
Fees on $5k balance (p.a.)	$157.87
Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)	$606.29
Fees on $100k balance (p.a.)	$1,104.54

Best returns: 2nd place
AustralianSuper - Balanced

More info

+6.99%

1 year performance

+5.13%

3 year performance

+8.04%

10 year performance

Info
Fees
How we choose

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 and is one of the best-performing funds over the long term.

We only look at Balanced industry super funds using data from Super Rating and available in our comparison table when filtering for 'Balanced'. Ethical or sustainable options have been excluded. Balanced funds in the table are those with an asset allocation between 61-80% towards growth assets.

When determining our 'Top Picks', we included the first 5 funds from this list. The performance data we looked at for this list was the 10-year returns for the period ending April 2024. We haven't considered other features of the funds (such as fees) when determining our Top Picks - it's based on performance alone. We have looked at all products in the market that we have data available for, including retail super funds and funds that have no commercial partnerships with Finder.

Superfund	AustralianSuper - Balanced
Fees on $5k balance (p.a.)	$85
Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)	$382
Fees on $100k balance (p.a.)	$712

Best returns: 5th place
Cbus Growth

More info

+7.6%

1 year performance

+4.96%

3 year performance

+7.75%

10 year performance

Info
Fees
How we choose

Cbus is a leading industry super fund for the building and construction industry, that’s open to all Australians. The Growth fund is a pre-mixed investment portfolio and an approved MySuper product.

We only look at Balanced industry super funds using data from Super Rating and available in our comparison table when filtering for 'Balanced'. Ethical or sustainable options have been excluded. Balanced funds in the table are those with an asset allocation between 61-80% towards growth assets.

When determining our 'Top Picks', we included the first 5 funds from this list. The performance data we looked at for this list was the 10-year returns for the period ending April 2024. We haven't considered other features of the funds (such as fees) when determining our Top Picks - it's based on performance alone. We have looked at all products in the market that we have data available for, including retail super funds and funds that have no commercial partnerships with Finder.

Superfund	Cbus Growth
Fees on $5k balance (p.a.)	$114
Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)	$438
Fees on $100k balance (p.a.)	$798

How well do industry super funds perform?

Industry super funds have, on average, performed better than retail super funds over the long term. Data analysed by Industry Super Australia found that industry funds have outperformed retail funds over the past 5, 10 and 20 years.

Finder's comparison table shows that of the top-10 performing Balanced funds for the past decade, all 10 are industry super funds. These are listed below.

Best industry super funds

The table below shows the top 10 Balanced industry super funds based on 10-year return, per annum to December 2022.

Super fund	10-year return
Hostplus Balanced	9.1%
AustralianSuper Balanced	8.78%
Australian Retirement Trust Balanced Balanced	8.56%
UniSuper Balanced	8.45%
Cbus MySuper	8.42%
CareSuper Balanced	8.29%
HESTA Balanced Growth	8.07%
Legal Super MySuper Balanced	8.04%
Vision Super Balanced Growth	8.01%
Aware Super Growth	7.98%

Methodology

The table above looks at only Balanced industry super funds using data from Super Rating and available in our comparison table when filtering for 'Balanced'. Ethical or sustainable options have been excluded. Balanced funds in the table are those with an asset allocation between 61-80% towards growth assets.

When determining our 'Top Picks', we included the first 5 funds from this list. The performance data we looked at for this list was the 10-year returns for the period ending April 2024. We haven't considered other features of the funds (such as fees) when determining our Top Picks - it's based on performance alone. We have looked at all products in the market that we have data available for, including retail super funds and funds that have no commercial partnerships with Finder.

Do industry super funds have low fees?

The fees charged by industry super funds vary, and will depend on the investment option that you're in.

5 Balanced industry super funds with the lowest fees

Super fund	Fees p.a. on $50k balance
UniSuper Balanced	$351
QSuper Balanced	$390
Vision Super Balanced Growth	$393
Rest Super - Core Strategy	$433
AustralianSuper Balanced	$382

How to switch to an industry super fund

Follow these steps to switch to an industry super fund:

1. Pick an industry super fund.

You can use the comparison table above to compare the fees and performance figures for all industry super funds.

2. Join the fund.

Complete the online membership application form for the fund you've chosen. Make sure to have details like your Tax File Number and your employer's details handy, as well as ID like a driver's license or passport.

3. Close your previous fund (if you have one).

There will be an option to consolidate your super in the application form. Just provide your membership number/s from your old fund, and the new fund you're switching to will take care of the rest.

4. Tell your employer.

Give your new membership number and account details to your employer so that they can pay your super guarantee payments directly into the new fund.

I recently switched super funds to a better performing fund. One thing that helped me out in selecting the right fund was selecting 3-5 funds which had great long term performance with low fees. The final deciding factor which helped me choose the right fund was how my values and risk tolerance aligned with the fund. In the end I chose a fund that had a strong track record of growth and low fees.

— Raj Lal, super funds publisher

Frequently asked questions

Industry Super Australia is an advocacy body representing the needs and interests of industry super funds. It's also a research body which commissions consumer research projects on the superannuation sector at large, with a focus on industry funds and their benefits to Australians. Industry Super Australia actively campaigns for Australian workers to join an industry super fund as opposed to a retail fund, often citing data that industry funds on average perform better than retire funds.
The main difference between industry and retail funds is with their ownership structure. Industry funds exist solely for the purpose of superannuation and all profits are distributed back nto the fund, which ultimately benefits members. Retail funds are usually owned by large banks or other financial companies that offer a rage of finance products, not just superannuation. Profits from retail funds go to shareholders other parts of the business, as well as to members.
Another interesting point of difference between these two types of funds is that industry super funds have significant investments in unlisted assets. This mainly includes Australian infrastructure like roads, bridges, airports and public transport.

Why you can trust Finder's super fund experts

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You compare more. Our comparison tools bring you more super funds from across the market.

Ryan is the founder and CEO at Tribeca Financial, a financial advice firm that listens, learns and then gets you on track. He's an accomplished financial advisor and financial wellbeing coach with over 15 years of experience.

Thank you for your feedback!

To make sure you get accurate and helpful information, this guide has been reviewed by Ryan Watson, a member of Finder's Editorial Review Board.

Written by

Alison Banney

Editor

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. See full bio

Alison's expertise

Alison has written 652 Finder guides across topics including:

Superannuation
Savings accounts, bank accounts and term deposits
Budgeting and money-saving hacks
Managing the cost of living

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4 Responses

MikeOctober 23, 2018

What super fund will accept KiwiSaver?

Finder

JhezelynOctober 23, 2018Finder

Hello Mike,

Thank you for your comment.

According to the super guide, there are only 3 Australian super funds that accept transfers from KiwiSaver accounts to Australian super accounts. These are WA Super, FIRST Super and Energy Super.

Should you wish to have real-time answers to your questions, try our chat box on the lower right corner of our page.

Regards,
Jhezelyn

KevinApril 21, 2018

what retail or industry funds accept QROPS 55 from the UK new members KC?

Finder

JeniApril 22, 2018Finder

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for your inquiry.

Please see this guide to check the recognised overseas pension schemes notification list for the full list of retail and industry funds in Australia that accept QROPS.

Please note that you will need to check that the scheme you are transferring to on or after that date meets the new requirements.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,
Jeni

Best industry super funds