2022 marks the tenth year that Stockspot has surveyed Australia's largest super funds for our annual Fat Cat fund report.
We report on the top performing superfunds by comparing over 500 multi-asset investment options offered by Australia's top 90 superfunds to find the best and worst superfunds. The funds were rated on how they performed after fees compared to other super options with similar risk over a five-year period.
Download the report nowto see how your background is developing or read a summary of our research.
Best backgrounds super 2022
Prêmios Gold Fit Cat Fund 2022 – Qantas Super
In 2022, Qantas Super won the Gold Fit Cat Fund Award for the best performing funds in five years for the second consecutive year. Qantas Super is a company pension plan that manages approximately $9 billion for its employees and has eight Fit Cat funds.
| QANTAS SUPER FIT CAT BACKGROUND OPTIONS |
| Qantas Super – Aggressive |
| Qantas Super – Glidepath: Decolagem |
| Qantas Super Growth |
| Qantas Super – Glidepath: Altitude |
| Qantas Super – Glidepath: Crucero |
| Qantas Super - Balanced |
| Qantas Super - Glidepath: Aim |
| Qantas Super – Conservative |
2022 Silver Fit Cat Fund Award: UniSuper and HESTA
The silver award goes to UniSuper and Health Employees Superannuation Trust Australia (HESTA). UniSuper is no stranger to the Stockspot Fit Cat Fund Awards, having won gold in both 2021 and 2020, while HESTA (an industry superfund dedicated to people in healthcare and community services) makes our list for the first time.
| UniSuper FIT CAT BACKGROUND OPTIONS |
| UniSuper – High growth |
| UniSuper – Balanced |
| UniSuper - Conservative Balanced |
| UniSuper – Conservative |
| HESTA FIT CAT FLOOR OPTIONS |
| HESTA - High growth |
| HESTA – Sustainable Growth |
| HESTA - Balanced growth |
| HESTA – Conservative |
2022 Bronze Fit Cat Fund Awards: Australian Super und IOOF
The bronze award is shared between AustralianSuper and IOOF. AustralianSuper is Australia's largest pension provider, managing $245 billion, with one in ten working Australians using AustralianSuper as their provider of choice. IOOF received the Bronze award for the second year in a row as its contemporary investment options fared much better than some of its legacy investment options.
| AustralianSuper FIT CAT BACKGROUND OPTIONS |
| AustralianSuper - High Growth |
| AustralianSuper - Conservatively balanced |
| AustralianSuper – Stabil |
| SUPER FIT IOOF CAT BOTTOM OPTIONS |
| IOOF - MultiMix balanced growth |
| IOOF - multiple series 50 |
| IOOF - multiple series 30 |
What do the three largest superfunds have in common? Bad reviews!
Despite different investment strategies, all funds had an investment ratio of around 1% or less.
Congratulations to the winners of the Fit Cat Fund 2022.
The worst superfunds of 2022
Last place: OnePath
Onepath topped our list of most fat cat funds with a total of nine underperforming options and has been in the fat cat fund category for ten consecutive years. Last year we again asked the IOOF (principal owners of OnePath and Fit Cat Bronze award winner 2022) to try to reduce their fees and improve their performance, but it seems that they prefer expensive fund options and members to the pool to bind. low performance for your own benefit.
| ONEPATH FAT CAT BACKGROUND OPTIONS |
| OnePath - OptiMix balance |
| OnePath: Managed Growth |
| OnePath - Active growth |
| OnePath: OptiMix growth |
| OnePath – OptiMix for high growth |
| OnePath – OptiMix Moderado |
| OnePath - Effective Tax Income |
| OnePath – OptiMix Conservador |
| OnePath - Balance |
Penultimate: First Colonial State (CFS)
CFS ranked second to bottom with five Fat Cat funds through its FirstChoice Wholesale Personal Super product and FirstChoice Employer Super product. CFS is one of the largest pension funds with assets of $90 billion and was recently partially sold by Commonwealth Bank to US private equity giant KKR.
| First Colonial State (CFS) FAT CAT HINTERGRUNDOPTIONEN |
| Colonial First State (CFS) – FirstChoice Employer Super – Etapa de vida 1965-69 |
| First Colonial Estate (CFS) – FirstChoice Moderado |
| Colonial First State (CFS) – FirstChoice Employer Super – Etapa de vida 1950-54 |
| Colonial First State (CFS) – FirstChoice Employer Super – Etapa de vida 1955-59 |
| First Colonial Estate (CFS) - Conservador FirstChoice |
Third from last: AMP and ClearView
The bronze prize for last place is split between two superfunds: AMP and ClearView. AMP is well accustomed to the Fat Cat fund list and had four funds on the list this year. AMP's stock price has fallen nearly 80% since the Fat Cat Funds report was first published in 2013, after going through five different CEOs and retiring billions of underperforming AMP products. While they've improved since last year's Silver Fat Cat award thanks to tweaking their old legacy product suite, they're still making up for some funds' underperformance.
A new addition to the Fat Cat list, ClearView is a private client superfund with over $2 billion in assets that also specializes in life insurance. Their investment opportunities in active and passive superfunds have not been met over the past five years, and they had four funds on the Fat Cat Funds list this year.
look at oursVideo vom AMP Fat Cat FundProduced in collaboration with The Chaser in 2016
| AMP FAT CAT HINTERGRUNDOPTIONEN |
| AMP - Cautious Index |
| AMP - Future Address Keeper |
| AMP - Conservative Index |
| AMP – Conservative |
| HINTERGRUNDOPTIONEN ClearView FAT CAT |
| ClearView - Dynamic Active IPS 90ClearView - Dynamic Active IPS 50 |
| ClearView - Dynamic Active IPS 30 |
| ClearView - Dynamic IPS Index 30 |
Would you like to compare your Super further?Read the full Fat Cats Fund 2022 report here.
Comparison of different categories of super funds
The superfunds analyzed by Stockspot go by many names: balanced, diversified, moderately conservative, modest and stable.
Investors should be careful to understand their fund's asset mix and not rely on how it's named.
Find out more about choosing the right Superfund.
Aggressively growing superfunds with the best and worst performers
Aggressive growth superfunds are funds with at least 80% growth assets such as stocks and real estate and are generally aimed at investors with a very long investment horizon as they can be very volatile in the short term.
The highest yielding aggressive growth superfunds had very few defensive assets such as bonds and cash. This helped them generate returns of 8-9% per year. for five years as growth assets have delivered strong returns in recent years despite the COVID-19 crisis and 2022.
It's worth noting that the equivalent Vanguard index fund has still outperformed 70% of high-growth funds over the past five years.
OnePath featured heavily on the Aggressive Fat Cat Fund's list with five of the top 10 worst-performing funds. Meanwhile, Qantas Super and some industry funds (e.g. UniSuper, Hostplus and AustralianSuper) have fallen out of most of the top 10 aggressive superfunds, largely due to their high exposure to illiquid and unlisted assets.
| 10 MAJOR FUNDS FOR AGGRESSIVE GROWTH | RETURN IN 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| 1 | MLC: Horizon 7 Accelerated Growth-Portfolio | 9,30% |
| 2 | Qantas Super – Aggressive | 8,60% |
| 3 | Qantas Super – Glidepath: Decolagem | 8,60% |
| 4 | Australian Pension Fund: Crescimento | 8,40% |
| 5 | UniSuper – High growth | 8,37% |
| 6 | HESTA - High growth | 8,32% |
| 7 | Hostplus – Stock Plus | 8,18% |
| 8 | Public Sector Pension Accumulation Plan (PSSap) – Aggressive | 8,03% |
| 9 | AustralianSuper - High Growth | 7,99% |
| 10 | Super Military - Aggressive | 7,98% |
| THE LOWER 10 AGGRESSIVE GROWTH FUNDS | RETURN IN 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| 1 | OnePath - OptiMix balance | 2,88% |
| 2 | OnePath: Managed Growth | 3,13% |
| 3 | OnePath - Active growth | 3,17% |
| 4 | Zürich – Managed Growth | 3,25% |
| 5 | OnePath: OptiMix growth | 3,51% |
| 6 | Energy Industries Retirement Scheme (EISS) - Balanced (MySuper) | 4,16% |
| 7 | Colonial First State (CFS) – FirstChoice Employer Super – Etapa de vida 1965-69 | 4,31% |
| 8 | Commonwealth Bank Group Super – Equilibrado (MySuper) | 4,46% |
| 9 | OnePath: high growth | 4,46% |
| 10 | ClearView - Dynamic Active IPS 90 | 4,57% |
Aggressive Growth Superfunds: Rate and Average Return
Inferior funds in this category generally had more cash and bonds, underperforming active managers, and higher fees. The average rate in this category was 2.1%, bringing performance down to 2.9-4.6% per year.
Here you can clearly see the connection between commissions and returns.
| AVERAGE RATE (PA) | AVERAGE PROFITABILITY 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| Top 10 | 1,30% | 8,38% |
| lower 10 | 2,10% | 3,79% |
Top and worst performing growth superfunds
Growth superfunds are made up of between 60% and 80% growth assets like stocks and real estate, and are generally such aggressive growth fundsis aimed at younger investors with a long investment horizonas they can be very volatile in the short term.
Targets were sector funds such as HESTA and UniSuper, as well as Qantas' Corporate Super Plan.Top 10 Growth Superfunds.
The highest-yielding funds in this group had relatively small allocations (22.9%) to bonds and cash. This has allowed them to return 6.6-7.5% pa over five years, with the largest allocation to growth investing helping them enjoy a few good years of return.
It's worth noting that a single index fund has still outperformed 55% of all growth funds over the past five years.
| 10 TOP SUPER GROWTH FUNDS | RETURN IN 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| 1. | Qantas Super Growth | 7,50% |
| 2. | Qantas Super – Glidepath: Altitude | 7,50% |
| 3. | HESTA – Sustainable Growth | 7,03% |
| 4. | IOOF - MultiMix balanced growth | 6,93% |
| 5. | Qantas Super – Glidepath: Crucero | 6,80% |
| 6. | HESTA - Balanced growth | 6,75% |
| 7. | Super Energy - Balanced SRI | 6,72% |
| 8. | Brighter Super - Socially responsible | 6,72% |
| 9. | UniSuper – Balanced | 6,65% |
| 10 | Lutheran Super - Balanced Growth - MySuper | 6,60% |
| THE RECENT 10 SUPER GROWTH FUNDS | RETURN IN 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| 1. | Zurich – Balanced | 1,89% |
| 2. | OnePath – OptiMix Moderado | 1,96% |
| 3. | Energy Industries Retirement Scheme (EISS) - Konservativ | 2,31% |
| 4. | OnePath - Effective Tax Income | 2,38% |
| 5. | TAL Personal Retirement Plan - TAL Performance | 2,77% |
| 6. | Energy Industries Retirement Plan (EISS) – conservatively balanced | 3,18% |
| 7. | SmartMonday - MySuper - 65 years old | 3,30% |
| 8. | First Colonial Estate (CFS) – FirstChoice Moderado | 3,84% |
| 9. | Suncorp – Fondo Lifestage 1960 – 1964 | 3,91% |
| 10 | BT Super - 1940s life stage | 3,92% |
Super Growth Fund: Average Commission and Profitability
Retail superfunds like OnePath and Zurich were the worst-growing superfunds, as were thoseheavily publicizedPower Industries Retirement Plan (EISS). Mutual funds in this group typically had a higher allocation (33%) to cash and bonds and high fees averaging 1.5%. This reduced its performance to 1.9-3.9% per year.
| AVERAGE RATE (PA) | AVERAGE PROFITABILITY 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| Top 10 Growth Superfunds | 1,17% | 6,92% |
| The 10 Slowest Growing Superfunds | 1,47% | 2,95% |
Download the Fat Cat Funds ReportExplore Australia's top performing and underperforming super funds
The balanced superfunds with the best and worst results
Balanced Superfunds are funds with 40-60% growth assets such as stocks and real estateis generally aimed at investors in their 40s and 50s with a medium to long investment horizon.
The best in this group were 45% invested in fixed income and cash. This helped them generate returns of 4.5% to 6.1% per year. more than five years.
However, a single Vanguard index fund has outperformed an impressive 66% of blended funds over the past five years. Surprisingly, one of our 2020 fit cats, QSuper, has been at the bottom of the fat cat list for the balanced category for two years running.
| TOP 10 SUPER BALANCED FUNDS | RETURN IN 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| 1. | Qantas Super - Balanced | 6,10% |
| 2. | Qantas Super - Glidepath: Aim | 6,10% |
| 3. | AustralianSuper - Conservatively balanced | 5,51% |
| 4. | IOOF - multiple series 50 | 4,85% |
| 5. | Super active - conservatively balanced | 4,78% |
| 6. | Public Sector Pension Accumulation Plan (PSSap) – Earnings-based | 4,69% |
| 7. | UniSuper - Conservative Balanced | 4,65% |
| 8. | Super Spirit - Moderate | 4,60% |
| 9. | Australian Catholic Superannuation - Conservative | 4,57% |
| 10 | HESTA – Conservative | 4,53% |
| TOP 10 BALANCED SUPER FUNDS | RETURN IN 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| 1. | Zurich – stable capital | 0,59% |
| 2. | OnePath – OptiMix Conservador | 1,13% |
| 3. | ClearView - Dynamic Active IPS 50 | 2,05% |
| 4. | SmartMonday – MySuper – from 75 years | 2,10% |
| 5. | OnePath - Balance | 2,10% |
| 6. | QSuper – Lifetime Sustain 2 | 2,16% |
| 7. | MLC - Inflation Plus - Conservative Portfolio | 2,20% |
| 8. | Colonial First State (CFS) – FirstChoice Employer Super – Etapa de vida 1950-54 | 2,24% |
| 9. | Colonial First State (CFS) – FirstChoice Employer Super – Etapa de vida 1955-59 | 2,25% |
| 10 | AMP - Cautious Index | 2,26% |
Balanced superfunds: average fees and returns
Mutual funds like Onepath, CFS, and AMP were the worst performers among balanced superfunds. The lowest funds in this group typically had a 52% allocation to defensive assets such as bonds and cash. This, coupled with its underperforming assets, reduced its yield to 0.6-2.3% per year.
| AVERAGE RATE (PA) | AVERAGE PROFITABILITY 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| The 10 best balanced super funds | 0,80% | 5,04% |
| The 10 most balanced super funds | 0,75% | 1,91% |
Moderate super fund with the best and worst performance
Moderate superfunds are funds with 20-40% growth assets, such as stocks and real estate, and are generally sought afterolder investors with a short to medium investment horizonsince they are relatively stable in the short term.
Sector funds made up nearly half of Fit Cat's top 10 funds.
The best performing funds in this group had a 64% allocation to bonds and cash. This helped them generate returns of 3.1% to 4.56% per year. more than five years.
The worst-performing funds in this group tended to have slightly higher allocations to cash and bonds, and higher fees. This has reduced its performance to 0.9-2.2% per year, particularly on mutual funds like AMP and ClearView.
| TOP 10 MODERATE SUPER FONDS (FAT CAT FONDS) | RETURN IN 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| 1. | Qantas Super – Conservative | 4,50% |
| 2. | AustralianSuper – Stabil | 3,99% |
| 3. | IOOF - multiple series 30 | 3,67% |
| 4. | UniSuper – Conservative | 3,59% |
| 5. | Spirit Super – Restaurator | 3,50% |
| 6. | NESS Super - Stabil | 3,44% |
| 7. | Fiducian Super - stable equity fund | 3,43% |
| 8. | legalsuper – conservative | 3,30% |
| 9. | ANZ Staff Super - Careful | 3,30% |
| 10 | Perpetual WealthFocus - Diversified Real Return | 3,10% |
| THE 10 UNDERBALANCED SUPER FUNDS (FAT CAT FUNDS) | RETURN IN 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| 1. | TAL Personal Retirement Plan - Capital Protegido TAL | 0,87% |
| 2. | ClearView - Dynamic Active IPS 30 | 1,35% |
| 3. | ClearView - Dynamic IPS Index 30 | 1,78% |
| 4. | AMP - Future Address Keeper | 1,79% |
| 5. | BT Super - 1940s life stage | 1,88% |
| 6. | Ethical Australian - Conservative | 1,90% |
| 7. | AMP - Conservative Index | 1,94% |
| 8. | SmartMonday - MySuper - Moderate - Score | 2,10% |
| 9. | AMP – Conservative | 2,14% |
| 10 | First Colonial Estate (CFS) - Conservador FirstChoice | 2,17% |
Super Moderate Funds: Commissions and Profitability
Due to the lower returns of modest super funds, older Australians and retirees should be even more interest rate sensitive in lower risk super strategies.
Compare the prices of the best and worst performing moderate superfunds:
| AVERAGE RATE (PA) | AVERAGE PROFITABILITY 5 YEARS (P.A.) | |
| Top 10 | 0,80% | 3,58% |
| lower 10 | 0,86% | 1,79% |
Industry Superfunds Performance vs. Retail
Industrial funds (and public sector funds) continue to outperform retail funds. The reason for this is due to:
- Lower Fees - Sector funds have almost 40% lower fees than the average retail fund. Non-profit means they are not for profit, but that doesn't mean they are all "low cost".
- Asset Allocation – Sector funds tend to have a higher allocation to unlisted assets such as real estate, infrastructure and private equity, which have posted strong returns recently.
Big retail funds OnePath, CFS, and AMP dominated the fat cat funds, with most of the bottom 10 funds being retail funds. The common theme is that these funds charge above average fees.
The worst-performing funds in this group also tended to have higher cash and bonus allocations and higher fees.
Read more aboutIndustry Superfund Comparison
Pension comparison: our analysis
Many bond funds do not index
Stockspot's model portfolios have outperformed ~95% of superfunds for five yearsvanguardIndex fund options outperformed approximately 60% of total funds after fees and taxes. This is mainly due to the combined effect of lower interest rates.
In addition, pension managers can easily access low-cost index funds, although many choose not to. We believe this is because there are still major conflicts of interest in the industry.
Superfunds prefer to pay themselves -- their large teams of fund managers, analysts, and money advisors -- despite demonstrably adding no value to superfund investment returns.
Bigger superfunds don't fare any better
Superfund members do not always enjoy the benefits of joining larger funds. In many cases, as funds increase, there are additional costs, resulting in higher fees per member. This is due to the cost of legacy management systems and active investments.
There are larger funds that are fat cat funds and typically range from $20 billion to $50 billion. The top-performing funds are typically between $5 billion and $20 billion, or more than $50 billion.
We anticipate further industry consolidation and merger as we have seen SunSuper and QSuper (in the Australian Retirement Trust), Hostplus, Maritime and Statewide and the recent announcements of Mercy Super and HESTA. DiscoverHere's how to choose the right Superfund.
Compare your retirement savings to investing with Stockspot
The table below compares the average performance of super funds in the growth, balanced and moderate growth strategies.
The more conservative the portfolio, the harder it is to outperform an index fund's portfolio.
| SUPERFUND 5 YEAR AVERAGE RETURN (P.A.) | STOCKSPOT 5 YEAR PROFITABILITY AFTER FEES AND TAX (P.A.) | GENERAL STOCKSPOT PERFORMANCE | |
| growth | 5,1% | 6.6% (Topaz) 5,8% (Esmeralda) | 7% superior |
| Balanced | 3,5% | 5.1% (turquoise) 4.7% (Sapphire) | 4% superior |
| Moderate | 2,7% | 4,0 % (Amethyst) | 7% superior |
If you are not satisfied with your pension, you have several options:
- He canChange your super backgroundBecause there are some super funds that offer super index options with low fees and consistent returns.
- If you're ready to invest beyond your retirement,Low-Cost Indexingit's another way for Aussies to generate consistent returns.
If you want to compare your pension, check out our annual pension comparison, the Fat Cat Fund Report.
Compare now
You may also like…
The Fat Cat Funds Report 2022: How and Why We Compare Superfunds Stockspot's Fat Cat Report compares Australia's worst and best superfunds. We tell you why and how we created our annual comparison superguide.
How to Choose a Superfund Our top tips for choosing a superfund with the highest likelihood of good returns.
The Best Retirement Funds for Your 20's and 30's Tips on choosing the best retirement fund for your growth in your 20's and 30's and avoid losing more than $200,000 of your hard-earned retirement.
-
Marc Jocum
InvestmentmanagerMarc previously worked for Morgan Stanley, AMP and KPMG. He holds a Bachelor of Business (Finance/Accounting) from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 1.
