Best performing super funds: Growth category (61–80%)

In this article you can discover the top 10 performing Growth super funds over 1 year and 10 years. We recommend that you also read our explanatory article Introduction to SuperGuide’s top 10 performing super fund lists which can help you understand how to compare the different risk categories that super investment options sit within. 

What is a Growth investment option?

Investment options with a 61–80% allocation to growth assets are termed Growth by Chant West, a research company that has been analysing super fund performance for more than 20 years.

Growth investment options may appeal to people who want the high return opportunities of growth assets with the diversification of some defensive assets. 

Note: Investments such as shares, property, infrastructure and private equity are referred to as growth assets for their ability to produce strong returns over the long term, but they are more likely to experience volatility (and even negative returns) in shorter timeframes. Conversely, assets like cash and fixed interest are referred to as defensive assets for their ability to defend against volatility, but generally cannot produce high returns over long periods of time.  

How does a Growth investment option behave?

In the short term, investment options in the Growth risk category may experience more volatility than a Balanced-style investment, but less volatility than a High Growth-style investment.

In the long term, a Growth-style investment option will generally grow more than a Balanced-style investment option but not as much a High Growth-style investment option.

Top 10 Growth investment options (super funds): 1 year to December 2020

Super fund	Investment option	Return
Suncorp	Multi-Manager Growth	9.6%
Australian Ethical Super	Balanced	8.3%
Vision Super	Balanced Growth	6.2%
VicSuper	Growth (MySuper)	6.0%
UniSuper	Balanced	5.9%
AustralianSuper	Balanced	5.5%
Aware Super	Growth	5.5%
IOOF	MultiMix Balanced Growth	5.2%
Prime Super	MySuper	5.2%
Equip	Balanced Growth	5.1%

Source: Chant West. The top 10 is limited to Growth options with assets of $1 billion or more. Performance is shown net of investment fees and tax, and before administration and adviser commissions.

Super funds stood up to the plate in 2020, with the median Growth fund bouncing back from the pandemic panic of February/March to post positive a positive return of 3.7% for the year. (Median returns track the mid-point of all contenders in any one category and are good way to add context to what you’re looking at. You can see the median returns of all risk categories over a broad range of timeframes here).

As always, some funds stood out from the pack. The top performing Growth fund – Suncorp Multi-Manager Growth – posted an annual return of 9.6%, while all funds in the top 10 returned more than 5%.

Chant West senior investment manager Mano Mohankumar says: “If we take ourselves back to late March, the prospect of finishing the year up 3.7% would have been inconceivable. Back then, the world was in chaos, facing a frightening health crisis which saw most countries introduce some form of lockdown. Whole industries ground to a halt, countless jobs were lost and the global economy was heading rapidly into recession.

After falling 12% in February/March, the median Growth fund rallied to surge 15.5% over the remainder of the year.  Those who switched to cash or a more conservative investment option in March would have missed some or all of the recovery.

Mohankumar said 2020 highlighted the long-term nature of super and the importance of patience and diversification.

The better performing funds over the year were generally those that had lower allocations to international shares. Holding bonds rather than cash would have helped, as would a relatively low allocation to listed infrastructure and listed property.

Top 10 Growth investment options (super funds): 1 year returns for previous years

Below you can find the top 10 performing Growth investment options over 1 year for other time periods. Click the arrow to see each the top 10 for each time period, or continue reading to discover the top 10 performing Growth investment options over 10 years.

Playing the long game

It’s important to keep an eye on how your super is performing year to year (and interesting to see how other funds have performed) but, for most people, superannuation will be the longest-held investment in their lifetime, so their lens on super should reflect that.

Longer-term figures are more significant because they incorporate the ups and downs over that entire period and allow us to see which investment managers can consistently deliver superior performance, regardless of changing external conditions. 

Top 10 Growth investment options (super funds): 10 years to December 2020

Super fund	Investment option	Return (% per yr)
AustralianSuper	Balanced	9.0%
UniSuper	Balanced	9.0%
Cbus	Growth (Cbus MySuper)	8.9%
Hostplus	Balanced	8.8%
CareSuper	Balanced	8.5%
VicSuper	Growth (MySuper)	8.4%
Equip	Balanced Growth	8.4%
Aware Super	Growth	8.4%
Prime Super	MySuper	8.3%
QSuper	Balanced	8.3%

Source: Chant West. The top 10 is limited to Growth options with assets of $1 billion or more. Performance is shown net of investment fees and tax, and before administration and adviser commissions.

Again median figures can provide good context. In the 10-year period to December 2020, Growth investment options as a category delivered a median return of 7.8% per year. 

A small difference in performance makes a big difference over time

Although the difference between the top performer and the median may not seem that significant (1.1% per year), the difference builds up significantly over time due to compounding. We have developed the SuperGuide Super fees and returns calculator to help readers understand the difference the fees they pay and projected returns may make over time.

For example, a 25-year-old with $5,000 in super and earning $50,000 per year, paying 0.8% in fees and achieving 9.0% per year, could potentially retire at 67 with a super balance of approximately $681,159.

All other things being equal, achieving 7.8% instead would mean a super balance of approximately $497,633 – a difference of $183,526, or approximately 27% less.

Top 10 Growth investment options: 10 year returns for previous years

Below you can find the top 10 performing Growth investment options over 10 and 15 years for other time periods. Click the arrow to see each the top 10 for each time period.