Australia’s top 10 super funds in 2022-23 revealed by SuperRatings
Change your superannuation NOW: Australia’s top performing pension funds are revealed – so is yours on the list?
- Superfund balance up 9 percent in 2022-23
- But ESSSuper’s return increased by 13.3 percent
Australia’s best-performing super funds posted double-digit returns in the past financial year.
This marked a dramatic turnaround from calendar 2022, when the typical retirement savings fund declined.
Equity markets are recovering as inflation in the US and Australia eases from last year’s highs, giving investors hope that interest rates will soon stop rising.
The average balanced fund, with a mix of 60 to 76 percent of growth-oriented assets, grew nine percent in the year to June 30, new data from SuperRatings showed.
That’s a big change from 2022, when the equivalent growth-focused super-funds shrank 4.8 percent in the year to December 31, marking the worst annual performance since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Australia’s best-performing super funds posted double-digit returns in the past financial year (pictured young women at Sydney’s Royal Randwick Racecourse)
ESSSuper’s Accum Basic Growth product – the fund for aid workers and Victorian civil servants – had the best return of 13.3 percent in 2022-23.
Daniel Selioutine, the fund’s group director, said a recovering stock market and high bond yields – with government bond investors being compensated with higher annual returns – have helped.
“Our shorter-term performance is explained by our positioning in equities and bonds, but our dedicated investment team remains strongly focused on delivering longer-term investment results to members,” he said.
Of the top 10 in the SuperRatings table, six had double-digit returns, including Vision SS – Balanced Growth (up 11 percent), Brighter Super Accum – Balanced (up 10.6 percent), UniSuper Accum – Balanced (up 10.3 percent higher) and Equip MyFuture – Balanced Growth (up 10.1 percent) and Australian Retirement Trust – Super Savings – Balanced (up 10 percent).
The reporting period coincided with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured right with girlfriend Jodie Haydon) announcing in February that from 1 July 2025, the 0.5 per cent of Australians with more than $3 million in supergoods would pay a favorable tax rate of 30 per cent on their contributions – up from 15 percent now
The reporting period coincided with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s announcement in February that from 1 July 2025, the 0.5 per cent of Australians with more than $3 million in super good would pay a favorable tax rate of 30 per cent on their contributions – an increase of 15 percent now.
The federal government estimates that this will save the budget $2.3 billion a year in lost revenue as of July 2027.
The Australian stock market benchmark S&P/ASX200 ended 2022-23 9.7 percent stronger, with the result largely reflected in pension returns.
The past financial year coincided with the Reserve Bank of Australia raising interest rates in June for the 12th time in 13 months to an 11-year high of 4.1 per cent.
Inflation had eased to 5.6 percent in May, down from a 32-year high of 7.8 percent at the end of 2022, but still well above the RBA’s target of 2 to 3 percent.
Super yields have delivered an average annual return of 7.1 percent since 1992, when the mandatory employer pension plan began.
Mandatory premiums increased by half a percentage point to 11 percent on July 1 and will increase by 0.5 percentage points annually to 12 percent by July 2025.