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Retirement
Super fund stumble dims second strong year
After a seven-month streak of positive returns, superannuation funds have suddenly dropped the ball by reporting a loss in November, but unless you check your balance regularly – as most people don’t – chances are you’d never know. According to SuperRatings returns data for November, the median balanced option lost 0.5% last month while the median growth option was down 0.6%. Those funds with a capital stable option performed marginally better with smaller losses of 0.2%. Pension returns also fell over the month, with the median balanced pension option losing 0.5%. While the size of these losses shouldn’t have you reaching for the anti-depressants, all eyes will now be on whether this heralds lower return expectations heading into the New Year. November’s losses were an about-face from a month earlier, when the median balanced option had seen positive gains of 1.3%. While November losses were attributed to a pullback in Australian shares and listed property sectors, with the ASX200 losing 3.6% during the month, the 2026 outlook suggests the downturn could be short-lived.Accumulation returns to 30 November 2025Due to a resurgence in the materials/resources sector, analysts expect the S&P/ASX200 to achieve between
Retirement
Retirement comfort more than money - research
Some Australians felt comfortable in retirement even if they did not believe they had enough superannuation, according to new research. Research firm Investment Trends’ Head of Research, Julian Cappe, said planning early for retirement provided super fund members with more options or levers to pull. “If you need to build up your super balance, the best way to do that is have a high income,” Cappe told a media briefing on key insights from the new Brighter Super & Investment Trends 2025 Retirement Income Report. The report, based on a survey of 3,679 Australians aged 40 and above, including 1348 retirees, between August and September, detailed Australians’ preparedness, expectations and confidence as they approached and moved through retirement. Cappe said 94% of retirees with balances over A$750,000 (US$495,000) and less than 40% of those with less than $100,000 said they were living comfortably in retirement. But he said a small majority with between $100,000 and $500,000 also said they had a comfortable retirement. “What that tells us is that even without a large super balance, if you've taken appropriate steps to plan, to seek guidance and to prepare to have an income purchase retirement, you can feel just as
Retirement
Australian retirement income estimate hits record high
The benchmark for determining how much Australians need to live on in retirement has been updated, with the required incomes rising faster than inflation to record levels. The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) said Australian retirees may be planning a tighter Christmas as rising living costs pushed the price of a comfortable retirement to the highest level ever. The ASFA Retirement Standard for people aged 65 wanting a comfortable lifestyle was an income of $76,505 a year for a couple and $54,240 for a single person if they owned their own homes. ASFA said the budget rose 1.6% and 1.8% respectively in the September quarter and 3.5% and 3.6% over the year, outstripping the 1.3% and 3.2% increase in the consumer price index for the same periods. “This underscores that retirees are experiencing stronger price pressures than the general population because they spend more of their budget on essential items that have risen the most,” the peak body said in a media release. Cost increases in the September quarter included 1.3% for eating out and takeaways, 6.3% for rates, 9.0% for electricity prices, 5.2% for domestic holiday travel and accommodation and 9.3% for audio, visual, media and services.
Retirement
Avoiding common retiree financial pitfalls
A new report by the peak advocacy body for the country's profit-to-member superannuation funds, the Super Members Council (SMC) finds that most Australians could have more money to spend in their retirement if they just became a little more financially savvy. As well as highlighting shortcomings embedded within Australia's superannuation system, modelling within the SMC’s latest report, titled Retirement Revolution, Simpler Smarter Retirement, suggests a typical couple could miss out on $6,500 a year over the course of their retirement due to the complexities of the system. That means retirees could be up to $136,000 over 20 years, simply by steering clear of easily avoidable mistakes. Within its report, the peak super body also notes that around 700,000 Australians aged over 65 who were not working full-time still had their super sitting in taxed savings-phase super accounts, which had the impact of lowering their disposable income in retirement. Misha Schubert, CEO of the SMC, said the report also dispels a long-held myth that most Australian retirees - drawing down higher amounts from super than the minimum amounts required – understood their super. With around 64% of tax-free retirement account holders withdraw
Retirement
Australian super assets hit record $4.5 trillion
The value of Australian superannuation funds rose by 9.4% in the 12 months ended 30 September 2025 to a record A$4.47 trillion (US$2.88 trillion), according to data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). APRA was releasing its Quarterly Superannuation Performance publication for the September 2025 quarter, which showed the sector had assets of $4.4665 trillion at 30 September compared with $4.131 trillion at 30 June 2025 and $4.0823 trillion at 30 June 2024. The regulator said in a statement the increase in assets in the year ended 30 June was driven by an 11.4% rise in APRA-regulated assets to $3.15 trillion, with the next largest category, self-managed superannuation (SMSF) assets, rising 4.8% to $1.073 billion. Among the APRA-regulated assets, retail funds showed the most growth in assets in the September quarter, rising 4.2% to $883.7 billion, outpacing industry funds (3.6% to $1.62 billion), corporate funds (2.2% to $37.5 billion) and public sector (2.0% to $606.9 billion). But over 12 months, industry funds outpaced the others with growth of 13.7% compared with retail (12.0%), public sector (7.4%) and corporate (-21.2%). Total contributions increased by 12.7% to $215.6 billion in the year

Retirement
SUPER NATION: Private assets harder to swallow
Super Nation is a fortnightly column that examines, explains and analyses key issues in one of Australia's largest, fastest-growing and most important industries: superannuation. It was described as a ‘pig in a python’. This colourful phrase from UniSuper Chief Investment Officer John Pearce at a conference raised the spectre of superannuation funds reaching the limit of their exposure to unlisted assets as their membership ages and their need for liquidity increases. He was asked about how Australia’s fourth-largest super fund, with A$145 billion of assets, was changing the way it managed investments and liquidity. “If your retirees are moving into a conservative type of option strategy, well, we've been investing, in those strategies for decades, right? So we shouldn't be changing that,” he told the Australian Financial Review’s 2025 Super & Wealth Summit. “Clearly, there is an impact on liquidity, and we've got this pig in the python now where we've got more and more of the demographics coming through, so our capacity to take on more and more unlisted assets is going to come in question.” This dynamic was being exacerbated by the rise of investment platforms, which were winning more market share from the indus
Retirement
Cbus fined $23.5m over insurance claims failures
One of Australia’s largest superannuation funds has been fined $23.5 million (US$15.2 million) for unreasonable delays in processing insurance claims. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said United Super Pty Ltd, the trustee of the Construction and Building Unions Superannuation Fund (Cbus), had been ordered by the Federal Court to pay the penalty. Cbus, which manages $105 billion of assets for more than 925,000 members, had admitted that serious failures caused delays in processing the death benefits and total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance claims of more than 7,000 Australians. ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said Cbus's failures needlessly exacerbated the distress of people who were already in upsetting situations. “Thousands of Australians suffered real and avoidable harm because of long delays and systemic failures in the way Cbus handled important and sensitive insurance claims,” Court said in a media release. “When people were grieving the loss of a loved one or grappling with a life-altering injury, Cbus should have ensured timely and accurate decisions were made on their insurance claims. “Not only was Cbus aware of increased insurance claim volumes, but it was also put o
Retirement
Super funds shift from US to Chinese markets
Having driven the lion’s share of their asset growth over the last decade, Australian super funds are starting to water down their penchant for United States tech stocks in favour of higher allocations to listed equities in China that have been on a tear over the last year. However, super funds are by no means alone in their growing attraction to listed Chinese stocks, with the Shanghai Exchange Composite Index (SSE) – one of China’s three stock exchanges – rising to decade highs in August in the wake of global investors dumping U.S bonds. What’s also driving global investor diaspora out of the U.S. equities is the outperformance of Chinese equities at a ratio of two to one, which mirrors Beijing’s interventions to support the economy at the start of 2024. Bottom line is, with Chinese equities perceived to be offering better value than their U.S. counterparts, they are becoming increasingly hard for global investors to ignore. After seriously underperforming U.S, Asia, and Europe benchmarks over the past decade, fund managers in China are now hoping there’s sufficient upside in the current rally – bolstered by AI and Chinese government stimulus – for the SSE to potentially retrace November 2007 highs when it reached 5,
Retirement
Super returns solid in 2025 - Chant West
Superannuation funds have performed solidly, with median growth funds returning 7.8% so far in 2025, according to Chant West. The research, data and analytics provider said median growth funds (those with 61% to 80% in growth assets) delivered a return of 1.2% in October, which was the seventh positive month in a row. “While we’ve seen some share market jitters in November so far, Chant West estimates that with only 6 weeks of CY25 (calendar year 2025) remaining, the median growth fund return is still sitting at a solid 7.8%,” the firm said. Head of Superannuation Investment Research Mano Mohankumar said this would be a good outcome, particularly given the uncertain economic and geopolitical backdrop throughout the year, putting it ahead of the typical long-term return objective of 6%. “Super fund members should also remember that this year’s result follows two exceptional years, with returns of 9.9% in CY23 and 11.4% in CY24,” he said in a media release. The returns in October were: 1.6% for all growth funds (96%-100% in growth assets), 1.3% from high growth (81%-95%), 1.0% from balanced (41-60%) and 0.8% from conservative (21-40%). The drivers were returns from: developed international share markets of 2.6% and