Australia’s top performing super funds, led by not-for-profits, are on track to end the financial year on a high, with median balanced options delivering double digit returns.
Despite recent market weakness in June and Wall Street losses in May, the median balanced option has returned 10.3 per cent for the financial year to May. A soft June may be the only factor that prevents all top 10 funds returning double digits.
Nine of the top 10 performing funds are not-for-profit, with the top funds managing to exceed 12 per cent for the financial year to date. Rolling five-year returns are also holding above 10 per cent per annum.
Here are the top performing funds for the financial year to date to 31 May 2017
“Our outlook for the remainder of the calendar year 2017 is broadly positive, but we note markets are starting to look expensive,” said SuperRatings Chairman Jeff Bresnahan.
“Markets have had time to digest the immediate aftermath of elections in the UK and France, and hopefully this will relieve some of the political uncertainty we have experienced recently. Major central banks are either tightening or signalling the end of the easing cycle, so we will see if and when the RBA follows suit.”
Even longer-term returns for super continue to outperform most funds’ CPI targets, with the seven-year return sitting at 8.3 per cent per annum and the 10-year return at 4.9 per cent per annum, although that figure is still skewed by the Global Financial Crisis, which occurred almost 10 years ago.
Monthly returns over financial year to date to 31 May 2017
So, in a year that has seen interest rates cut and held low, superannuation changes that have affected many older Australians and indexation that saw around 330,000 Australians lose pension entitlements, it’s nice to see some positive returns for retirees.
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The early 2017 super fund return report
