Super funds post double-digit results

Jeff Bresnahan

Australian superannuation funds have returned to vogue for another year, with the majority of funds posting double-digit results for the 2006 calendar year.

According to the latest SuperRatings report, the median result for the year for balanced options was 13.6 per cent, after tax and fees. The report found December 2006 continued the momentum for the year with a median monthly return of 2.1 per cent, which was identical to the December 2005 figure.

Westscheme took line honours on the list of the top 10 performing funds with a result of 16.6 per cent. Telstra’s Super Corp Plus took second place with 16.3 per cent and Catholic Super Fund was third with 16.2 per cent. The remaining funds included MTAA Super with 16.0 per cent, AMP CustomSuper with 15.7 per cent, Asgard Employer Super with 15.5 per cent, AustralianSuper with 15.3 per cent, AustSafe Super Balanced with 15.3 per cent, AMIST with 14.9 per cent and Zurich I super, which rounded out the list with 14.7 per cent.

“For the third year running, Australian superannuants have seen a result that is around 10 per cent above the underlying inflation rate. This means that by doing nothing more than accepting the trustee’s investment strategy, the buying power (post inflation) of their money has increased by around 35 per cent,” said SuperRatings managing director Jeff Bresnahan.

“The better funds have achieved in excess of 40 per cent real returns over the same period. It is a far cry from 2002 when investors saw their superannuation lose over 8 per cent in real terms,” Bresnahan said.

The findings also discovered that the larger funds have appeared to outperform the smaller superannuation funds in recent times. For example, the median of the 50 largest balanced options over 5 years is 9.1 per cent per annum, against the all fund median of 8.7 per cent.

SuperRatings’ complete Fund Crediting Rate Survey covered over $280 billion worth of superannuation assets and monitors fund returns to over 13 million Australians through Australia’s major superannuation funds. The survey specifically excludes pooled superannuation trusts, as they are institutional based investment pools.