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 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 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 June 2021

Super fund	Investment option	Return
Mine Super	Growth	22.6%
Colonial First State FirstChoice	Growth	21.7%
VISSF	Balanced	21.6%
Hostplus	Balanced	21.3%
MLC	Horizon 4	20.8%
Sunsuper	Balanced	20.7%
AustralianSuper	Balanced	20.5%
REI Super	Balanced (MySuper)	20.0%
TelstraSuper	Balanced	19.9%
BT	Active Balanced	19.7%

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 financial year to June 2021, with the median Growth fund bouncing back from the pandemic market crisis in early 2020 to deliver a return of 18%.

As always, some funds stood out from the pack. Mine Super was the top performing Growth fund in 2020-21, with a blistering annual return of 22.6%. But all funds in the top 10 returned more than 19%, with even the worst performing fund in the category returning a respectable 13%.

Chant West senior investment manager Mano Mohankumar says: “An 18% return would have been inconceivable a year ago and represents a welcome reward for fund members who held their nerve and remained patient through the depths of the COVID-induced crisis.”

Investors who switched to cash or a more conservative investment option in March last year would have missed some or all of the recovery, while Mohankumar says “the experience over the past two years highlights the resilience and robustness of super funds’ portfolios”.

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 1 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 June 2021

Super fund	Investment option	Return (% per yr)
AustralianSuper	Balanced	9.7%
Hostplus	Balanced	9.7%
Cbus	Growth (Cbus MySuper)	9.6%
UniSuper	Balanced	9.5%
CareSuper	Balanced	9.1%
Sunsuper	Balanced	9.1%
VicSuper	Growth (MySuper)	9.0%
Australian Ethical Super	Balanced	9.0%
Vision Super	Balanced Growth	9.0%
Aware Super	Growth	9.0%

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 June 2021, Growth investment options as a category delivered a median return of 8.6% 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 9.7% per year, could potentially retire at 67 with a super balance of approximately $863,585.

All other things being equal, achieving 8.6% instead would mean a super balance of approximately $643,056 – a difference of $220,529, or approximately 26% 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.