What was the top-performing growth option in super in 2023?

With a return of 11.8 per cent, Mine Super has delivered the top-performing growth option in the last calendar year, according to Chant West analysis.

This was followed by Vision Super (11.7 per cent), IOOF Balanced Investor Trust (11.2 per cent), and Aware Super Balanced (11 per cent).

The fifth spot was taken out by TWUSUPER Balanced (MySuper) at 10.6 per cent – a fund that is interestingly in the process of merging with Mine Super to create Team Super, a $20 billion fund with some 150,000 members.

According to the data, the top 10 were rounded off with HESTA Balanced Growth (10.5 per cent), Brighter Super MySuper (10.4 per cent), UniSuper Balanced (10.3 per cent), Prime Super MySuper (10.3 per cent), and Australian Retirement Trust – Super Savings Balanced (10.2 per cent).

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“For inclusion in the top 10, investment options must have been in the growth category for the full year and where an investment option is not a fund’s main option in the growth category, it must also meet a minimum size requirement of $1 billion,” Chant West clarified.

Additionally, the performance shown was net of investment fees and tax and before administration fees.

Over a longer time horizon, the research house found Hostplus Balanced delivered the top-performing growth option over 10 years at 8.3 per cent.

This was followed by two of Australia’s largest super funds: AustralianSuper Balanced (8 per cent) and Australian Retirement Trust – Super Savings Balanced (7.9 per cent).

The other top-performing funds were:

• UniSuper Balanced (7.7 per cent)
• Cbus Growth (MySuper) (7.6 per cent)
• Vision Super Balanced Growth (7.5 per cent)
• CareSuper Balanced (7.5 per cent)
• HESTA Balanced Growth (7.4 per cent)
• Spirit Super Balanced (MySuper) (7.4 per cent)
• Australian Ethical Super Balanced (7.3 per cent)

Overall, Chant West also found super funds delivered a strong 2023 calendar year result, bolstered by strong international sharemarkets, particularly the tech sector.

The median growth fund (61–80 per cent in growth assets) was up 9.9 per cent while the balanced fund (41–60 per cent in growth assets) was up 8.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, the high growth fund (81–95 per cent in growth assets) saw double-digit returns of 11.4 per cent and the conservative fund (21–40 per cent in growth assets) delivered 6.2 per cent.

The 2023 calendar returns erased the entire 4.6 per cent loss from 2022 and represent the 11th positive return in the past 12 years.

Moreover, the research house highlighted returns were well ahead of the typical long-term returns objective of just over 6 per cent per annum.