In this guide
For the second year running, super funds surpassed expectations in the calendar year to December 2024. Against a backdrop of challenging economic conditions and geopolitical tensions, with high market volatility, the median Growth fund returned 11.4%.
This followed the 9.9% return in 2023 and represents the 12th positive return in the past 13 years.
Chant West senior research manager, Mano Mohankumar says international shares were the main driver of the stellar 2024 result, led by the technology and financial sectors.
International shares returned 21.2% on a currency hedged basis, and a whopping 31.2% unhedged due to the weaker Aussie dollar (down from US68c to US62c over the year). Australian shares were also up a respectable 11.4%.
While shares stole the limelight, all other asset classes, except unlisted property, also delivered positive returns for the year. This ensured members in more conservative investment options also achieved solid returns, although those in options with higher allocations to shares did best in 2024.
Note: Growth funds have a 61–80% allocation to growth assets and are the investment option that most Australians are invested in.
Super fund performance: Calendar years (1993 to 2024)
The table and chart below show the annual calendar year performance of the median Growth fund over the 32 years since the introduction of compulsory super.
Growth funds typically aim to post no more than one negative return every five years, or no more than six in the 32 calendar years shown. As it happens, they have had only five negative years in the past 32.
| Calendar year | Return (%) |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 11.4% |
| 2023 | 9.9% |
| 2022 | -4.6% |
| 2021 | 13.4% |
| 2020 | 3.7% |
| 2019 | 14.7% |
| 2018 | 0.8% |
| 2017 | 10.8% |
| 2016 | 7.5% |
| 2015 | 5.7% |
| 2014 | 8.5% |
| 2013 | 17.2% |
| 2012 | 12.8% |
| 2011 | -1.9% |
| 2010 | 4.7% |
| 2009 | 15.1% |
| 2008 | -21.5% |
| 2007 | 8% |
| 2006 | 13.8% |
| 2005 | 14.3% |
| 2004 | 15.5% |
| 2003 | 9.2% |
| 2002 | -4.8% |
| 2001 | 4% |
| 2000 | 7.3% |
| 1999 | 10.2% |
| 1998 | 11% |
| 1997 | 14.9% |
| 1996 | 10.8% |
| 1995 | 16.1% |
| 1994 | -3.9% |
| 1993 | 23.9% |
Source: Chant West. Performance is shown net of investment fees and tax, and before administration and adviser commissions.
The following table shows the super performance across various timeframes for five investment categories as at the end of the last calendar year.
As you can see, all five traditional risk categories posted positive returns in 2024 and were overwhelmingly positive over periods of three to 15 years.
All risk categories have also met their long-term return objectives, which typically range from CPI (a measure of inflation) +1.75% per year for Conservative funds, to CPI +4.25% for All Growth funds. Over the past 32 years, the median Growth fund has returned 8% per year on average and the annual CPI increase is 2.6%, giving a real return of 5.4% – well above the typical return objective for Growth funds of CPI +3.5%.
Super fund performance (Calendar year results to 31 December 2024)
| Fund category (% growth assets) | 1 yr (%) | 3 yrs (% per yr) | 5 yrs (% per yr) | 7 yrs (% per yr) | 10 yrs (% per yr) | 15 yrs (% per yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Growth (96–100%) | 16.5 | 6.8 | 8.7 | 8.9 | 9.0 | 8.9 |
| High Growth (81–95%) | 13.8 | 6.2 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.5 | 8.5 |
| Growth (61–80%) | 11.4 | 5.2 | 6.6 | 6.9 | 7.2 | 7.6 |
| Balanced (41–60%) | 8.7 | 4.2 | 5.1 | 5.6 | 5.7 | 6.4 |
| Conservative (21–40%) | 6.3 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 5.1 |
Source: Chant West. Performance is shown net of investment fees and tax, and before administration and adviser commissions.
