In this guide
Managed funds, as the name suggests, are an investment structure where professional fund managers select and manage the fund’s investments on behalf of their investors.
Managed funds have long appealed to people who may not have the time, inclination or expertise to invest in certain asset classes on their own behalf. And as investors pool their money, managed funds also give them access to a wider range of investments than their financial resources might otherwise give them access to.
Traditionally, managed funds were ‘unlisted’, which meant units in the fund could only be purchased by applying to the fund. For a decade, many were also available through the ASX mFunds service, so units could be bought and sold through a broker. Increasingly, many are also being offered as exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Importantly, fund managers will deduct management fees (and often performance-based fees) from fund earnings before distributing income.
Today there are thousands of managed funds in Australia, although they are losing ground to ETFs. They are held by a range of investors, including super funds, insurance companies, SMSFs and personal investors. The size and maturity of the managed funds industry mean there is a wide variety of investment strategies on offer.
Some managed funds invest in a single asset class, such as shares or fixed interest, a geographical area such as Asia, or emerging markets. Others focus on a strategy, such as high-yield shares or a theme such as sustainability. So-called multisector funds invest across multiple asset classes.
Some fund managers actively select and trade investments to try and beat the market, while passive or index funds aim to track a particular market or market index. Generally, the higher the degree of active management, the higher the fees.
How are SMSFs using managed funds?
It is often claimed that SMSFs are not as diversified as large super funds, with too much focus on Australian shares and cash and not enough exposure to international markets. But that view fails to recognise indirect investment by SMSFs via managed funds.
At first glance, the latest figures from Class as at 30 June 2026 show just 10.8% of SMSFs hold direct international shares. But dig a little deeper and 30.2% of SMSFs hold investments in traditional managed funds (representing 13.3% of total SMSF assets) and 35.5% have money in ETFs.
Looking through the 20 most popular managed funds to the assets they actually hold shows where that money goes. International equities are the largest underlying exposure, and once international fixed interest is added, close to half of the money in the top 20 is invested offshore.
| Underlying exposure | % of the top 20 managed fund holdings |
|---|---|
| International equities | 37.6% |
| Australian fixed interest | 22.9% |
| Australian equities | 15.1% |
| International fixed interest | 12.2% |
| Other | 6.1% |
| Direct property | 2.8% |
| Cash | 2.7% |
| Listed property | 0.6% |
Source: Class. Data as at 30 June 2026, derived from 198,898 SMSFs that use Class software.
The offshore tilt has eased a little. International equities made up 37.6% of the top 20 by underlying exposure, down from 42.8% a year earlier.
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Find out moreThe 20 most popular managed funds invested in by SMSFs
The top 20 list of managed funds is ranked by the percentage of SMSFs that hold these funds, rather than the value of those assets as a percentage of total SMSF managed fund investments, although both figures are provided in our table.
The Janus Henderson Tactical Income Fund again topped the list, held by 8.3% of SMSFs with managed funds, up from 8.0%.
Bentham Global Income Fund climbed from fourth to second on 7.1%, pushing Partners Group Global Value Wholesale to third and PIMCO Global Bond Fund to fourth. Those two ranked second and third a year earlier.
As a sign of the continuing preference for index funds, the top three managed funds by value were again all Vanguard index funds: its Wholesale International Shares Index Fund on 1.7% of SMSF managed fund investments, the Australian Shares Index Fund on 1.5% and the International Shares Index Fund (Hedged) on 1.3%. Together they accounted for 4.5%, up from 4.0%. Vanguard also had four funds in the top 20 by popularity.
Among income funds, the La Trobe Australian Credit Fund moved from seventh to fourth by value, lifting its share from 0.8% to 1.0%.
| Rank | Security code | Fund | % of funds with managed funds that hold this security | % of total SMSF managed fund investments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IOF0145AU | Janus Henderson Tactical Income Fund | 8.3% | 0.9% |
| 2 | CSA0038AU | Bentham Global Income Fund | 7.1% | 0.5% |
| 3 | ETL0276AU | Partners Group Global Value Wholesale | 6.9% | 0.8% |
| 4 | ETL0018AU | PIMCO Global Bond Fund – Wholesale Class | 6.9% | 0.7% |
| 5 | LAZ0014AU | Lazard Global Listed Infrastructure Active ETF | 5.8% | 0.5% |
| 6 | VAN0003AU | Vanguard Wholesale International Shares Index Fund | 5.8% | 1.5% |
| 7 | VAN0002AU | Vanguard Australian Shares Index Fund | 5.5% | 1.4% |
| 8 | VAN0004AU | Vanguard Australian Property Securities Index Fund | 5.4% | 0.3% |
| 9 | EVO2608AU | Metrics Direct Income Fund | 5.2% | 0.6% |
| 10 | OMF3725AU | Realm Short Term Income Fund – Ordinary Units | 4.9% | 0.5% |
| 11 | LTC0002AU | La Trobe Australian Credit Fund – 12 Month Term Account | 4.8% | 0.9% |
| 12 | VAN0105AU | Vanguard International Shares Index Fund (Hedged) | 4.8% | 1.2% |
| 13 | OMF5868AU | Realm Strategic Income Fund Enduring Units | 4.7% | 0.6% |
| 14 | WHT0015AU | Resolution Capital Global Property Securities Fund (Managed Fund) | 4.4% | 0.3% |
| 15 | MAQ0277AU | Macquarie Income Opportunities Fund | 4.3% | 0.4% |
| 16 | AUS0112AU | Aus Unity Healthcare Property Wholesale | 4.2% | 0.4% |
| 17 | MAQ0464AU | Arrowstreet Global Equity Fund | 4.2% | 0.6% |
| 18 | WHT1465AU | Plato Global Alpha Fund | 4.1% | 0.4% |
| 19 | AUS0035AU | Talaria Global Equity Fund Complex ETF | 3.9% | 0.3% |
| 20 | PLA0002AU | Platinum International Fund | 3.8% | 0.4% |
| Total (Percentage that these 20 securities make up of total SMSF investments in managed funds) | 13.3% | |||
Source: Class. Data as at 30 June 2026, derived from 198,898 SMSFs that use Class software.
Concentration among the largest managed fund holdings barely moved. The 20 largest holdings by value accounted for 14.8% of SMSF managed fund investments, against 14.7% a year earlier. That is far less concentrated than ETFs, where the top 20 hold close to half of all SMSF money.
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