Super fund performance: Monthly returns to April 2019

Chant West senior investment research manager Mano Mohankumar says: “With the cumulative return over the first 10 months of the 2019 financial year sitting at 5.2%, it’s increasing likely that growth funds will finish the year in the black for the tenth consecutive time. The return isn’t likely to match the 9% average return of the past nine years, but that strong run should be seen as the exception rather than the rule. With inflation running at about 1.5%, a return of about 5% would be broadly in line with the long-term return objective which is to beat inflation by 3.5%.

“The strong share market performance in April was on the back of encouraging economic data and ongoing dovishness from major central banks around the world which supported an appetite for riskier assets.

“While the results over the past four months have been positive, we caution members not to get carried away. In the past week we’ve seen the re-emergence of trade tensions between the US and China, prompting a retreat in global share markets so far in May. And while concerns about Brexit and the pace of global economic growth may have lessened, they are still lingering at the back of investors’ minds.”

The following table shows the super performance across various timeframes for five investment categories.

Super fund performance (Results to 31 March 2019)

Fund Category (% Growth Assets)	1 mth (%)	3 months (%)	FYTD (%)	1 Yr (%)	3 Yrs (% pa)	5 Yrs (% pa)	7 Yrs (% pa)	10 Yrs (% pa)	15 Yrs (% pa)
All Growth (96-100%)	2.7	7.9	5.9	8.3	11.4	9.5	11.2	10.6	8.0
High Growth (81-95%)	2.2	6.4	5.5	7.6	10.2	8.9	10.2	9.8	7.7
Growth (61-80%)	1.7	5.4	5.2	7.1	8.8	7.8	9.1	8.8	7.3
Balanced (41-60%)	1.3	4.0	4.6	5.9	6.9	6.4	7.3	7.4	6.3
Conservative (21-40%)	0.8	2.8	3.9	4.9	5.3	5.1	5.7	6.2	5.8

Source: Chant West

If you’re interested in the performance of lifecycle super funds (including their latest returns), see the SuperGuide article What are lifecycle super funds, and how do they perform?

The following table shows the month by month super performance for the five investment categories.

Super fund performance (July 2015 to 31 March 2019)

Risk Category	All Growth	High Growth	Growth	Balanced	Conservative
% Growth Assets	96-100	81-95	61-80	41-60	21-40
Apr-19	2.7	2.2	1.7	1.3	0.8
Mar-19	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.8
Feb-19	4	3.3	2.7	1.9	1.2
Jan-19	4	3.1	2.5	1.8	1.2
Dec-18	-2.2	-1.7	-1.1	-0.7	-0.2
Nov-18	-1	-0.8	-0.6	-0.3	-0.2
Oct-18	-5.3	-4	-3	-2	-1
Sep-18	-0.2	-0.1	0	0	0.1
Aug-18	1.6	1.4	1	0.8	0.5
Jul-18	1.6	1.3	1.1	0.8	0.5
Jun-18	1.6	1.4	1.2	1	0.7
May-18	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.3
Apr-18	2.7	2.2	1.7	1.2	0.7
Mar-18	-1.6	-1.2	-0.7	-0.5	-0.1
Feb-18	-0.4	-0.2	-0.2	-0.2	0
Jan-18	1	1	0.8	0.6	0.4
Dec-17	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.4	0.3
Nov-17	1.8	1.5	1.3	1	0.7
Oct-17	3.5	2.8	2.3	1.7	1.2
Sep-17	1.4	1.2	0.9	0.6	0.4
Aug-17	0.8	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.4
Jul-17	-0.1	0	0	0	0.1
Jun-17	-0.4	0	0	-0.1	0
May-17	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Apr-17	2.1	1.8	1.5	1.2	0.8
Mar-17	2.3	1.9	1.5	1.2	0.7
Feb-17	1.7	1.3	1.2	0.9	0.7
Jan-17	-0.5	-0.3	-0.1	0	0.1
Dec-16	3.2	2.8	2.3	1.7	1.1
Nov-16	2.2	1.6	1.1	0.7	0.2
Oct-16	-1.3	-0.9	-0.7	-0.6	-0.4
Sep-16	-0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Aug-16	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3
Jul-16	4.1	3.3	2.7	2	1.3
Jun-16	-2.2	-1.5	-1	-0.4	0.2
May-16	3.3	2.8	2.3	1.7	1.1
Apr-16	2	1.7	1.4	1	0.7
Mar-16	2.3	2.1	1.8	1.4	0.9
Feb-16	-1.2	-0.7	-0.4	-0.2	0
Jan-16	-4	-2.9	-2.3	-1.4	-0.6
Dec-15	0	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1
Nov-15	-0.5	-0.4	-0.3	-0.2	-0.1
Oct-15	4.9	4	3.2	2.2	1.4
Sep-15	-2.2	-1.4	-1.1	-0.8	-0.4
Aug-15	-2.2	-1.4	-1.1	-0.8	-0.4
Jul-15	3.7	2.9	2.3	1.8	1.2

Source: Chant West

The following tables show the same information but grouped by investment option and month of the year.

Super fund performance – All growth investment options

High growth investment options have 96-100% invested in growth assets

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
January	N/A	-4	-0.5	1	4
February	N/A	-1.2	1.7	-0.4	4
March	N/A	2.3	2.3	-1.6	0.8
April	N/A	2	2.1	2.7	2.7
May	N/A	3.3	0.5	0.5
June	N/A	-2.2	-0.4	1.6
July	3.7	4.1	-0.1	1.6
August	-2.2	0.3	0.8	1.6
September	-2.2	-0.2	1.4	-0.2
October	4.9	-1.3	3.5	-5.3
November	-0.5	2.2	1.8	-1
December	0	3.2	0.8	-2.2

Source: Chant West

Super fund performance – High Growth investment options

High growth investment options have 81-95% invested in growth assets

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
January	N/A	-2.9	-0.3	1	3.1
February	N/A	-0.7	1.3	-0.2	3.3
March	N/A	2.1	1.9	-1.2	0.8
April	N/A	1.7	1.8	2.2	2.2
May	N/A	2.8	0.5	0.5
June	N/A	-1.5	0	1.4
July	2.9	3.3	0	1.3
August	-1.4	0.4	0.7	1.4
September	-1.4	0.1	1.2	-0.1
October	4	-0.9	2.8	-4
November	-0.4	1.6	1.5	-0.8
December	0.2	2.8	0.7	-1.7

Source: Chant West

Super fund performance – Growth investment options

Growth investment options have 61-80% invested in growth assets

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
January	N/A	-2.3	-0.1	0.8	2.5
February	N/A	-0.4	1.2	-0.2	2.7
March	N/A	1.8	1.5	-0.7	0.8
April	N/A	1.4	1.5	1.7	1.7
May	N/A	2.3	0.5	0.4
June	N/A	-1	0	1.2
July	2.3	2.7	0	1.1
August	-1.1	0.3	0.6	1
September	-1.1	0.1	0.9	0
October	3.2	-0.7	2.3	-3
November	-0.3	1.1	1.3	-0.6
December	0.1	2.3	0.7	-1.1

Source: Chant West

Super fund performance – Balanced investment options

Balanced investment options have 41-60% invested in growth assets

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
January	N/A	-1.4	0	0.6	1.8
February	N/A	-0.2	0.9	-0.2	1.9
March	N/A	1.4	1.2	-0.5	0.9
April	N/A	1	1.2	1.2	1.3
May	N/A	1.7	0.5	0.3
June	N/A	-0.4	-0.1	1
July	1.8	2	0	0.8
August	-0.8	0.3	0.6	0.8
September	-0.8	0.1	0.6	0
October	2.2	-0.6	1.7	-2
November	-0.2	0.7	1	-0.3
December	0.1	1.7	0.4	-0.7

Source: Chant West

Super fund performance – Conservative investment options

Conservative investment options have 21-40% invested in growth assets

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
January	N/A	-0.6	0.1	0.4	1.2
February	N/A	0	0.7	0	1.2
March	N/A	0.9	0.7	-0.1	0.8
April	N/A	0.7	0.8	0.7	0.8
May	N/A	1.1	0.5	0.3
June	N/A	0.2	0	0.7
July	1.2	1.3	0.1	0.5
August	-0.4	0.3	0.4	0.5
September	-0.4	0.1	0.4	0.1
October	1.4	-0.4	1.2	-1
November	-0.1	0.2	0.7	-0.2
December	0.1	1.1	0.3	-0.2

Source: Chant West

Learn more about super investing in the following SuperGuide articles: 

Learn more about investment performance over calendar years in the following SuperGuide articles:

Learn more about investment performance over financial years in the following SuperGuide articles: