Best super funds Australia

What's the best super fund in Australia?

When looking for the right super fund you need to look at a range of factors, not just the current year's returns.

Generally, to compare super funds, look at the following features:

• A history of high long-term returns (10-year returns)
• Low fees (aim for annual fees less than 1-1.5% of your super balance)
• An investment strategy that aligns with your age, risk tolerance, goals and personal values

There's no one super fund that is 'best' because we all want different things with our super. To help you narrow down your search, here are some of Finder's best super fund picks based on different features.

Here are our picks for the best super funds for July 2023:

• Best industry super fund: AustralianSuper - Pre-mixed, Balanced option
• Best ethical super fund: Australian Ethical Super Balanced Fund
• Best low-fee super fund: UniSuper Balanced
• Best life-stage or age-based super fund: Virgin Money Super - LifeStage Tracker
• Best-performing super fund: Hostplus Balanced
• Best fund for customer satisfaction: CareSuper Balanced

Best industry super fund
AustralianSuper - Balanced

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-4.74%

1 year performance

+4.96%

3 year performance

+8.78%

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 looked at the industry super funds in our database that are part of Industry Super Australia. We compared the default investment option offered by each, and did not compare any alternative investment options. Of the funds compared, we looked at the annual fees charged on a $50,000 balance as well as the past 1, 3, 5 and 10-year performance returns. More weighting was applied to the 5- and 10-year performance returns than to the 1- and 3-year returns.

Superfund	AustralianSuper - Balanced
Fees on $5k balance (p.a.)	$91.50
Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)	$447
Fees on $100k balance (p.a.)	$842

Best ethical super fund
Australian Ethical Super Balanced

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-8.5%

1 year performance

+3.89%

3 year performance

+7.74%

10 year performance

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• Fees
• How we choose

Australian Ethical seeks to invest in companies that have a positive impact on the planet, people and animals, such as renewable energy and healthcare while avoiding investments in coal, oil, tobacco and gambling.

This product is selected as part of Finder's annual Green Awards. This award looked at each fund's current environmental performance, environmental targets and reporting and accreditation. It also analysed the fund's sustainable investment approach and the environmental performance of its portfolio.

Superfund	Australian Ethical Super Balanced
Fees on $5k balance (p.a.)	$118.50
Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)	$573
Fees on $100k balance (p.a.)	$1,078

Best low-fee super fund
UniSuper Balanced

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-5.39%

1 year performance

+4.07%

3 year performance

+8.45%

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.

For this category, we looked at the default growth super funds in our database and filtered for the fund with the lowest annual fees based on a $50,000 balance. Single asset options and indexed options were excluded - we only looked at diversified, growth products.

Superfund	UniSuper Balanced
Fees on $5k balance (p.a.)	$120
Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)	$336
Fees on $100k balance (p.a.)	$576

Best life-stage or age-based super fund
Virgin Money Super - LifeStage Tracker

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-8.07%

1 year performance

+3.72%

3 year performance

N/A

10 year performance

• Info
• Fees
• How we choose

Virgin Money Super LifeStage Tracker is a lifestage super product, so your mix of investments will be continually readjusted in line with your age. This means you'll be invested in more growth assets while you're young, and more defensive assets as you near retirement.

For this category, we only considered super funds that offered a life-stage investment option as its default option. Of the funds compared, we looked at the annual fees charged on a $5,000, $50,000 and $100,000 balance as well as the past 1, 3 and 5-year performance returns.
We also looked at the number of different life stages the product offered. Funds that offered more life stages were ranked stronger than those with fewer life stages.

Superfund	Virgin Money Super - LifeStage Tracker
Fees on $5k balance (p.a.)	$86.85
Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)	$346.50
Fees on $100k balance (p.a.)	$635

Best-performing super fund
Hostplus Balanced

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-2.48%

1 year performance

+5.81%

3 year performance

+9.1%

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 looked at the default growth super funds in our database and compared the 10-year performance of each. If two funds had the same performance, preference was given to the fund with lower fees. We only looked at default growth options as this is where the majority of people have their super invested. We did not look at alternative investment options, such as high growth options, for this category. The investment period we used was the past 10 years up to June 2022.

Superfund	Hostplus Balanced
Fees on $5k balance (p.a.)	$165.57
Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)	$663.49
Fees on $100k balance (p.a.)	$1,216.74

Best fund for customer satisfaction
CareSuper Balanced

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-2%

1 year performance

+4.79%

3 year performance

+8.29%

10 year performance

• Info
• Fees
• How we choose

CareSuper was named best industry super fund in Finder’s Customer Satisfaction Awards 2022, with 95% of the members we surveyed saying they'd recommend the fund to a friend.

This award is part of our annual Finder Customer Satisfaction Awards. Consumers rated the fund they used based on customer service, performance, fees and overall experience and asked if they’d recommend the fund to a friend. The final score was calculated as an average of the 5 metrics scored.

Superfund	CareSuper Balanced
Fees on $5k balance (p.a.)	$125
Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)	$548
Fees on $100k balance (p.a.)	$1,018

Why it's important to make sure you're with a great super fund

Each year the regulator APRA analyses the market and identifies the worst super funds, which are underperforming for members. According to APRA data, in 2022 there were 350,000 fewer people in default super products with terrible investment performance compared to 2021, which is great news.

However, APRA data also shows that 800,000 people still have their super invested with an underperforming fund. If you haven't checked your fund in a few years, you could be one of them.

Benefits of a top-performing super fund

High returns will help your super balance grow bigger (and quicker!) than it would with lower returns.

However, performance isn't the only thing to think about when choosing a fund. You might decide the right fund for you is one that invests ethically, even though it may not be a top-performing fund.

How to pick the best super fund for you

There's no one super fund that is best for everyone (sorry!). Look for a fund with low fees and strong investment returns but also consider the following:

• Your age. If you're young (under 45), 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. Once you get into your 50s, you might want to gradually reduce your exposure to high-risk growth assets (although you don't need to).

• 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. If you're happy taking on more risk and it's not going to cause you anxiety, a high-growth option might be suited for you.

• Your investment preferences. There are specialty funds that suit investors with particular preferences. For example, 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.
• Your industry. There's no requirement to join a super fund that's dedicated to the particular industry you work in, but you might want to. for example, Cbus is the dedicated super fund for building and construction workers.

10 top-performing Australian super funds

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

Super fund	10-year return
Hostplus Balanced	9.1%
AustralianSuper Balanced	8.8%
Australian Retirement Trust Lifecycle Balanced	8.6%
Cbus MySuper	8.4%
UniSuper Balanced	8.4%
CareSuper Balanced	8.3%
HESTA Balanced Growth	8.1%
Legal Super MySuper Balanced	8.0%
Vision Super Balanced Growth	8.0%
Aware Super Growth	8.0%

The table above looks at growth super funds only using data from Chant West. Growth funds have 60-80% allocation to growth assets and are where the majority of Australians have their super invested.

Chant West senior investment research manager, Mano Mohankumar, said that even though super funds have seen a slight loss over the past year, it's important to look at the strong long-term returns. "Over the 30½ years since the introduction of compulsory super in July 1992, the median growth fund has delivered an annualised return of 7.8%, which is 1.7% p.a. ahead of the typical return objective of CPI +3.5% p.a."

"This [2022] was the first negative calendar year since 2011 and only the fifth in the full 30 years of compulsory super," Mohankumar said.

Find the best super fund for you

Investing in more growth assets means you'll have more of your super invested in Australian and international shares. Shares are one of the most volatile asset classes, meaning they rise and fall a lot, but they also tend to out-perform other assets in the long term. When you're young you have plenty of time for your super to recover after short-term market falls and the most to gain for long-term growth.

Alison Banney

What's the best super fund for my age group?

While you're young (under 45-50) it's generally recommended you have your super in a Growth or High-Growth fund. These funds have more exposure to growth assets including shares, private equity and property, and less exposure to defensive assets like cash.

Some top-performing High Growth super funds include:

• Aware Super High Growth
• AustralianSuper High Growth
• Cbus High Growth
• HESTA High Growth

When you're a bit older (50+) you could consider moving your super from a High Growth fund to a Balanced or Conservative fund, to reduce your exposure to shares as you get closer to retirement.

Some super funds offer a life-cycle or life-stage investment strategy. These products invest your super in a mix of asset classes in line with your age, and continually adjust your investments as you get older so you don't have to switch between options.

Some life-stage super funds include:

• Virgin Money Super Lifestage Tracker
• Australian Retirement Trust Lifecycle Balanced

Why you can trust Finder's super fund experts

We're free

Our comparison tables are completely free to use. We link you directly to the super fund's secure application page. Plus, you can access all of our research in our media room.

We're experts

We've researched and rated hundreds of super funds as part of our Finder Awards. We've published 50+ guides and our in-house experts regularly appear on Sunrise, 7News and SBS News.

We're independent

Unlike other comparison sites, we're not owned by a super fund company. That means our opinions are our own and you can compare nearly every super fund in Australia on Finder.

We're here to help

Since 2017, we've helped over 200,000 people find a super fund by comprehensively comparing funds. We'll never ask for your personal information. We're here to help you make a decision.

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Frequently asked questions

• Why did super funds perform poorly in 2022?

  2021 and 2022 were volatile years for the Australian and global share markets. In 2022, we saw significant falls in shares due to rising global inflation, weakening economies, the war in Ukraine and also ongoing supply issues after the covid pandemic. As super funds are major investors in shares, super fund performance was mostly negative in 2022. However, super funds have still performed strongly over the long term.

• What types of super funds can I choose from?

  There are two main types of super funds: industry super funds and retail super funds. Both funds invest your money in similar ways, however they are different in the way they're owned and managed. Industry super funds are independently run and owned by members, while retail funds are owned by major banks, insurance companies or other financial organisations. Industry super funds typically have lower fees.

• Should I change my super to an SMSF?

  SMSFs are generally only recommended if you've got a large super balance to invest, usually $200,000 or more. This is because SMSFs can be quite expensive to run and maintain, especially compared to a typical super fund. If you've got a large balance to invest, investment expertise and experience and an understanding of the legal framework it could be something worth looking into. But keep in mind there are a lot of legal requirements you need to keep up with, as well as annual fees and charges.

• How do I change super funds?

  Once you've found the new fund you want to join, complete the online application form to become a member. Throughout this process you can elect to have your previous super fund transfer your balance over into your new fund. Most of the work is done for you by your new fund. For a more detailed guide on how to do this, take a look at our article on how to change super funds in 4 steps.

• Can I have multiple super funds

  Yes, you can have multiple super funds, but it's not a good idea to do so. If you had more than 1 fund, you'd be paying multiple sets of fees which would eat into your retirement balance. If you've got more than 1 fund open in your name it's a good idea to consolidate them.