In this guide
Pension fund returns rebounded strongly in April, with the median Growth fund (61–80% in growth assets) up 2.7% over the month and 6% over the financial year to date.
Despite ongoing market volatility due to the mixed signals coming out of the Middle East and the Trump administration, all pension fund risk categories were positive in April.
Chant West head of superannuation investment research Mano Mohankumar says the April share market rally was driven by a tenuous ceasefire in the Middle East and solid corporate earnings in the US.
Developed market shares soared 9% hedged but a more modest 4.4% unhedged due to the strong Aussie dollar. Emerging market shares did even better, up 9.4% unhedged, while the Australian market brought up the rear with a still solid 2.3% gain.
Bond markets are fighting headwinds from stubbornly high inflation and rising interest rates, with Australian and international bonds up just 0.1% and 0.3% respectively in April.
“The experience over the past two months is a timely reminder that super is a long-term game. Members who panicked in March and switched to cash or a lower-risk diversified option not only turned paper losses into real ones, but also missed out on the subsequent market rebound,” says Mohankumar.
The table below shows median pension fund performance across various timeframes for five investment categories to the end of April 2026.
Pension fund performance (results to 30 April 2026)
| Risk category (% growth assets) | 1 mth (%) | 3 mths (%) | FYTD (%) | 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%) | 4.3 | 0.0 | 8.0 | 16.1 | 13.2 | 9.2 | 10.0 | 10.8 | 10.6 |
| High Growth (81–95%) | 3.3 | 0.1 | 6.9 | 13.1 | 11.2 | 8.6 | 9.2 | 9.9 | 9.6 |
| Growth (61–80%) | 2.7 | 0.4 | 6.6 | 11.5 | 9.7 | 7.2 | 7.8 | 8.4 | 8.6 |
| Balanced (41–60%) | 2.1 | 0.4 | 5.3 | 9.1 | 8.0 | 6.1 | 6.3 | 6.8 | 7.1 |
| Conservative (21–40%) | 1.4 | 0.4 | 4.0 | 6.3 | 6.0 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 5.0 | 5.6 |
Source: Chant West. Performance is shown net of investment fees and tax, before administration fees and adviser commissions.
Tax-free returns
Despite holding the same underlying investments, pension fund returns tend to be roughly 10–15% higher than returns for the same category in accumulation phase over the long run. The difference is due largely to tax, as investment earnings are not taxed in retirement phase.
For example, over the last 15 years to April 30, pension Growth funds returned 8.6% per year, on average, while the accumulation equivalent returned 7.7% – a difference of almost 1%.
Conversely, when returns are negative, as they were in March, pension funds typically generate slightly bigger losses in the short term than accumulation funds in the same category. For example, in March, the median return for pension Growth funds was -3.5%, compared with -3.2% for the accumulation equivalent.
Mohankumar says this is because accumulation funds get a deferred tax benefit when returns are negative.
Although people tend to be more risk averse as they get older, he says most retirees are still invested in their pension fund’s Growth option, where most accumulation members are also invested. For example, he says that in large industry funds, such as AustralianSuper and UniSuper, most pension fund members are in the Balanced option (with an investment mix that aligns with Chant West’s Growth category). Even so, he says a meaningful number would also be invested in the next risk category down, in line with Chant West’s Balanced category with 41–60% growth assets.
Retirees in retail pension funds (and some industry pension funds) are most likely to be invested in a Lifecycle investment option with a conservative investment mix. Lifecycle funds automatically shift members into a lower-risk investment mix as they age.
Over the long term, though, the advantage of holding a meaningful level of growth assets is clear.
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