What actually matters when picking a fund, and how to avoid quietly losing money to fees on accounts you've forgotten about.
It's tempting to pick a super fund the way people pick a bank — by name recognition or what a friend uses. A more useful comparison looks at a handful of concrete factors instead:
The old distinction — industry funds as not-for-profit and cheaper, retail funds as bank-owned and more expensive — is less clear-cut than it used to be. Many retail funds have become highly competitive on fees, and some industry funds have expanded well beyond their original member base. The category a fund falls into is less useful than actually comparing its specific fees, performance, and offering against alternatives.
Super fund fees typically show up in a few different forms, and it's worth knowing what each one means:
Even a seemingly small difference in fees compounds significantly over a multi-decade working life, because you're not just paying more — you're also losing the investment growth that money would have earned inside your account.
Most funds offer a spread of investment options, generally ranging from conservative (more bonds and cash, lower risk and lower expected long-term return) to balanced to growth or high growth (more shares and property, higher risk and higher expected long-term return). Younger members with decades until retirement are often better placed to ride out short-term volatility in a growth option, while people closer to retirement often shift toward more conservative options to reduce the risk of a market downturn shortly before they need the money.
Most super funds provide some default insurance cover automatically — commonly life insurance, total and permanent disability (TPD) cover, and sometimes income protection. This is convenient, but worth actively reviewing rather than ignoring:
If you've changed jobs multiple times, it's common to end up with more than one super account — often without realising it, since a new employer's default fund starts an account automatically unless you nominate an existing one. Multiple accounts generally mean paying multiple sets of fees and, until 16 months of inactivity kicks in, potentially multiple insurance premiums, for no real benefit. You can check for and consolidate lost or multiple super accounts through myGov, where all your super accounts linked to your tax file number are visible in one place.
Considering a fund switch or need help comparing your options?
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