Some superannuation fund members may enjoy double digit returns for 2009-10 financial year, but many will have to make do with returns in the high single digits, according to SuperRatings.
SuperRatings managing director Jeff Bresnahan said that while returns might have appeared to have been headed towards double digits, the recent slump in markets had served to dampen the good news.
He said super funds had lost almost 5 per cent in the last two months, with the result that the median return for balanced investment options would be in the order of 9.6 per cent.
The SuperRatings data pointed to a five-year median return of 3.7 per cent a year.
Bresnahan pointed to the fact that the volatility and consequent uncertainty created by the global financial crisis had prompted some people to go it alone with their superannuation, but claimed that the mainstream funds had demonstrated that diversified portfolios had succeeded in protecting members from catastrophic losses.
He said this could be compared to someone who had either gone it alone or taken advice to plunge into international shares at the beginning of the decade — something that would have seen a $100,000 investment shrink to just $76,606.
