In this guide
Most younger Australians never choose how their super is invested. Their fund chooses for them, and it does it in one of two ways.
- A single strategy default holds the same mix of investments for every member, whatever their age.
- A lifecycle default holds more in growth assets such as shares while you are young, then steps down as retirement gets closer.
When professional trustees design a default for a 25-year-old, the median lifecycle option holds 90% in growth assets. The median single strategy default holds 76%. Over the 10 years to June 2026, that difference was worth almost 1 percentage point a year in returns.
This matters because defaults are where most of the money is. At 30 June 2026, MySuper default products held $1,331 billion across 15.9 million member accounts, more than the $1,107 billion held in all self-managed super funds (SMSFs). About two-thirds of those accounts, 10.7 million, are in single strategy defaults.
Two ways to build a default
Of the 50 MySuper products reporting to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), 27 are single strategy. Each holds one mix for every member, so a 25-year-old and a 64-year-old in the same fund own exactly the same portfolio. On APRA’s measure, these defaults hold between 68.3% and 80.5% in growth assets, with a median of 76%.
The other 23 are lifecycle products. They set a member’s investment mix by age, or by year of birth, and reduce growth assets as members get older.
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What lifecycle funds hold for a 25-year-old
Lifecycle funds give their youngest members their highest growth allocation. The median for a 25-year-old is 90%, and the range runs from 77% at MLC to 95% at Russell Investments.
Twenty-two of the 23 lifecycle products give a 25-year-old more growth assets than the most growth-oriented single strategy default, which holds 80.5%. The exception is MLC.
Most hold that level for a long time. The median lifecycle option still has about 90% in growth assets at age 48, and only starts reducing it around 50. Some start earlier, such as smartMonday at 36 and Vanguard at 48.
Growth assets in MySuper defaults, ages 20 to 50
Median, highest and lowest strategic growth asset allocation across the 23 MySuper lifecycle products at each age, compared with the 27 single strategy MySuper products, which hold the same allocation at every age. The highest and lowest lines can belong to different products at different ages. QSuper Lifetime, which also sets its stages by account balance, is shown at its highest group. Source: APRA, Comprehensive Product Performance Package, MySuper products, 30 June 2026
The reasoning is about time. A 25-year-old has around 35 years before they can access their super, and decades of contributions still to come. A market fall now hits a small balance with plenty of time to recover. The same fall at 60 hits a much bigger balance with far less time, which is why every lifecycle product steps down as members age.
What the difference has been worth
APRA reports the return each option earned for a representative member with a $50,000 balance, after investment fees, administration fees, costs and tax.
Over the 10 years to 30 June 2026, the option a 25-year-old sat in returned a median of 8.33% a year in lifecycle products, against 7.45% in single strategy products. That is a gap of just under 0.9 percentage points a year.
Because super grows through contributions as well as returns, a gap like this compounds on a balance that keeps growing. Take a 25-year-old with $30,000 in super, earning $80,000 a year with pay rises of 3.5% a year and 12% employer contributions. If the same gap continued to age 45, they would have about $409,000 at the lifecycle median return and about $367,000 at the single strategy median, in today’s dollars. That is about $42,000, or 11%, more. Those 20 years matter because most lifecycle options don’t change their mix during them.
Projected super balance from age 25 to 45
Illustrative projection, not a forecast. Starts at age 25 with $30,000 in super and an $80,000 salary rising 3.5% a year, with 12% employer contributions less 15% contributions tax. Returns are held at the median 10-year net returns to 30 June 2026 for the option a 25-year-old held, 8.33% a year for lifecycle products and 7.45% for single strategy products, and balances are converted to today’s dollars using inflation of 2.5% a year. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Source: APRA, Comprehensive Product Performance Package, MySuper products, 30 June 2026. SuperGuide calculations
The returns are what happened over the past decade. The projection is arithmetic, not a forecast. Nobody can say what either design will return in future. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Higher growth means bigger falls
A portfolio with 90% in growth assets will fall further in a market downturn than one with 76%. The past decade included sharp falls but no long, sustained downturn, and a period that did could narrow the gap or reverse it.
The comparison is also between two medians, not two particular funds. Your fund’s option may sit well above or below either one.
Superannuation and retirement specialist Harry Chemay says the right option is the one that gives you the highest possible return while still letting you sleep at night. “If you’re in an option that’s keeping you up at night when you hear the evening news about financial markets, then chances are you may not be in the right super option.”
Some younger members prefer to take less risk than a lifecycle fund would give them, and that is a reasonable choice.
Check what your own default holds
Your option’s name won’t tell you its growth allocation. Funds label their options in very different ways, and an option called Balanced at one fund can hold more growth assets than one called Growth at another.
“Read the label, but understand the ingredients,” says Chemay.
Adding up the asset classes in your fund’s product disclosure statement won’t necessarily give you the same number as APRA either. APRA applies one definition of growth and defensive assets to every fund, so its figures can be compared across funds, while each fund reports in its own way.
Our MySuper guide lists all 50 products with APRA’s growth allocation at ages 25 and 60, and our lifecycle tool shows what each lifecycle option holds for your birth year.
What do lifecycle options hold at your age?
Enter your birth year to see every MySuper lifecycle option and the growth assets it holds for members your age.
Source: APRA, Comprehensive Product Performance Package, MySuper products, 30 June 2026. SuperGuide calculations
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