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

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

What is a Growth investment option?

Investment options with a 61–80% allocation to growth assets are called Growth funds 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. 

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 return 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 2021

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 defied all expectations in the calendar  year to December 2021, with the median Growth fund continuing to rebound from the pandemic market crisis in early 2020 to deliver an annual return of 13.4%.

As always, some funds stood out from the pack. Hostplus was the top performing Growth fund in 2021, with a blistering annual return of 19.1%. But all funds in the top 10 returned 15% or more, with even the worst performing fund in the category returning a respectable 10%.

Chant West senior investment manager Mano Mohankumar says: “We said (a year ago) that 2021 may prove challenging, but funds have again exceeded expectations in delivering a 10^th consecutive positive return – and this time a substantial one at 13.4%.”

Investors who switched to cash or a more conservative investment option during periods of market turbulence throughout the COVID crisis, while Mohankumar says “Since the market low-point at March 2020, growth funds have surged an astonishing 31%, which now sees them sitting 16% higher than the pre-COVID peak”.

The top performing funds over the year had a relatively high allocation to Australian and international listed shares. Of the alternative asset sectors, private equity was the standout performer. Holding a relatively low allocation to cash and bonds would have also helped.

Below you can find the top 10 performing Growth investment options over one year for previous time periods. Click the arrow to see each the top 10 for each 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 superannuation is a long-term investment. For that reason, 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 consistently deliver superior performance, regardless of market conditions. 

While the top 10 funds over one year tend to change from year to year, over 10 years the same names crop up regularly. The table below shows the top 10 performing Growth options over 10 years.

Top 10 Growth investment options (super funds): 10 years to December 2021

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 2021, Growth investment options as a category delivered a median return of 9.4% 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 (1.3% per year), the difference builds up over time due to compounding interest. We have developed the SuperGuide Super fees and returns calculator to help readers understand the difference that fees 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 10.7% per year, could potentially retire at 67 with a super balance of approximately $1,138,665.

All other things being equal, achieving 9.4% instead would mean a super balance of approximately $796,041 – a difference of $342,624, or approximately 30% 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 previous time periods. Click the arrow to see each the top 10 for each period.