Australian Retirement Trust is the first superannuation fund off the block to report its performance for FY23-24.
In a performance update, Australia’s second-largest superannuation fund shared the financial returns for its High Growth option, which sits in the SuperRatings SR50 Growth Index.
This option will become its default offering from 1 July 2024 for members under 50, the fund said, as the fund streamlines its choice investment options and introduces a new investment menu.
The High Growth option saw a return of 11.3 per cent over one year while the Balanced option returned 9.9 per cent.
ART chief investment officer, Ian Patrick, attributed the result to strong performance of global and domestic equities.
“Strong global and local equities have been the primary driver for our performance this year. We’ve seen robust and consistent outperformance across the board.
“After decades of low interest rates and a challenging outlook for long-term super returns, we now face an environment where the outlook is more constructive for delivering on real return targets for members. Of course nothing is certain, but there is some comfort to take from this.
“We believe in the power of financial advice and encourage Australians to seek advice before making changes to their investment decisions. For Australian Retirement Trust members, they can access advice as part of their membership.”
ART has over 2.3 million members and $280 billion in retirement savings, having been formed from the merger of QSuper and Sunsuper in February 2022 and has since completed smaller mergers with AvSuper and Commonwealth Bank Group Super.
Last month, research house Chant West said it estimates that the median growth fund return for FY24 is sitting at about 9 per cent thanks to resilient share markets.
Chant West senior investment research manager, Mano Mohankumar, said: “A final result close to 9 per cent would be an excellent outcome given all of the uncertainty around inflation, expectations of when the Fed will start cutting interest rates and ongoing geopolitical tensions.”
ART might be reporting that but most of their members are not in that option. Very convenient reporting ART compared to Aussie Super’s honesty about 8.5%.
Journalists should do their own research before believing a fund that wrote down their direct property assets as reported and disclosed.