In this article you can discover the latest monthly performance for super funds over 5 investment options. We’re grateful to Chant West for providing the statistics in this article.
For annual and long-term super fund performance see the following SuperGuide articles:
- Super fund performance over 27 financial years (to June 2019)
- Super fund performance over 26 calendar years (to December 2018)
Investors could be forgiven for experiencing a feeling of whiplash. After just celebrating a record-breaking 10-year run of record returns in the year to June, super funds are bracing for turbulence.
While the median growth fund (61 to 80% growth assets) was up 1.4% in July, those gains have been wiped out in the first half of August.
The escalating trade war between the US and China and fears that the US could be heading for recession sent US shares tumbling 3% in one day on August 14. The following day about $60 billion of sharemarket value was was wiped off the Australian market.
Chant West senior investment manager, Mano Mohankumar says: “It’s at times like this that the benefits of diversification are most evident. Growth fund performance isn’t dependent on share markets alone.
“On average, growth funds have about 55% invested in listed shares and listed property so that leaves a substantial 45% allocated across a wide range of other sectors, including unlisted property and infrastructure as well as traditional defensive sectors like bonds and cash.
“This helps cushion the blow when there are market falls like those we’ve seen this month.
“So while Australian shares and hedged international shares are down 5.5% and 4.7% respectively in August so far, we estimate that the median growth fund is only down 2.2%.
“We estimate that Conservative funds (21 to 40% growth assets) are down only 0.4% over August to date,” he says.
For the month of July, returns ranged from 0.8% for the Conservative risk category to 1.9% for All Growth investment options.
But before you hit the panic button and shift out of your current super investment option into a more conservative option, it’s important to remember that super is a long-term investment. Over 5, 7, 10 and 15 years to July, all the traditional diversified risk categories in Chant West’s survey are ahead of their long-term return objectives.
As Mohankumar warns, by selling in a downturn you not only risk crystallising your losses but you also risk missing out on the subsequent rebound when markets recover.
So make sure you have selected the right investment option for your age and tolerance for risk and let time and compound returns do the heavy lifting.
The following table shows the super performance across various timeframes for five investment categories.
Super fund performance (Results to 31 July 2019)
Fund Category (% Growth Assets) | 1 mth (%) | 3 mths (%) | FYTD (%) | 1 yr (%) | 3 yrs (% pa) | 5 yrs (% pa) | 7 yrs (% pa) | 10 yrs (% pa) | 15 yrs (% pa) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Growth (96-100%) | 1.9 | 3.8 | 1.9 | 8.4 | 11.1 | 9.6 | 12.3 | 9.8 | 8.1 |
| High Growth (81-95%) | 1.6 | 3.5 | 1.6 | 7.7 | 9.8 | 9.0 | 11.1 | 9.3 | 7.7 |
| Growth (61-80%) | 1.4 | 3.0 | 1.4 | 7.2 | 8.4 | 8.0 | 9.7 | 8.4 | 7.3 |
| Balanced (41-60%) | 1.0 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 6.4 | 6.6 | 6.4 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 6.4 |
| Conservative (21-40%) | 0.8 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 5.8 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 5.8 |
Source: Chant West
If you’re interested in the monthly performance for super funds over 5 investment options going back to July 2015, see the SuperGuide monthly super fund performance Reckoner.
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?
Learn more about super investing in the following SuperGuide articles:
- Risk profiling and your investment choice
- Understanding the dynamics on which your super fund invests
- SMSF investment rules: What every trustee should know
- How to create an SMSF investment strategy (including examples)
- Super investing: How to choose a responsible investment option
- Super investing: Should you change your investment option?
- Super investing: How to change your investment option
- Super investing: Are you investing in infrastructure?
- Super investing: What are listed and unlisted investments?
- Super investing: What is your risk profile?
- How to choose an investment option for your pension
Learn more about investment performance over calendar years in the following SuperGuide articles:
- Best performing pension funds over 5 calendar years (to December 2018)
- Best performing super funds over 5 calendar years (to December 2018)
- Asset sector performance: Returns over 1 to 15 calendar years (to December 2018)
- Super fund performance over 26 calendar years (to December 2018)
- Best performing super funds over 15 calendar years
- Best performing super funds over 1 calendar year (to December 2018)
Learn more about investment performance over financial years in the following SuperGuide articles:
