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Retirement
SUPER NATION: No rest for watchdogs in wake of collapses
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. Nobody could accuse the regulators of Australia’s A$4.3 trillion superannuation sector of being asleep at the wheel in the wake of the collapse of the Shield Master Fund and First Guardian Master Fund. In turns out the the prudential and corporate watchdogs were working right up until Christmas in taking action against those it sees as needing to be called to account over the A$1 billion (US$660 million) of losses that investors suffered. On 23 December the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) announced it had imposed additional licence conditions on Diversa Trustees Limited to address concerns relating to its investment governance frameworks and practices, including oversight of platform investment options made available to members. APRA did not specifically name Shield or First Guardian in its media release but it has previously has added conditions to the licences of Diversa and the other investment platform that offered Shield, Equity Trustees. The previous day Azzet had reported regulators had widened their action against
Retirement
Super funds return 9.1% in 2025
Australian superannuation funds generated a 9.1% return for median balanced options in the accumulation phase in 2025, according to SuperRatings estimates. This was more than the long-term average of 7.1%, the super research house said in a media release. Funds continued to strongly benefit from international share exposure as the key driver of performance although all asset classes were expected to have made a positive contribution, it said. The median balanced option, with 60-76% in growth assets, returned 0.35% in December but positive returns over nine months including the seven months to October added up with a handful of top performers expected to reach double digit returns for the year. “As the strong performance of equity markets continues to drive superannuation returns, funds with higher than average exposure to international equity have benefited in 2025, although we see funds focused on how to manage the ups and downs of the market, reflecting the uncertainties that exist in the market outlook generally,” Director Kirby Rappell said. He said “further anticipation” around artificial intelligence (AI) was expected in 2026 with risks around inflation in Australia and markets being driven by exuberance aroun
Retirement
SUPER NATION: Looking back on a taxing year
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. As the year rolls to an end, it is timely to review 2025 for the key events in Australia’s superannuation sector. Where do we start?Tax backflipAn obvious place is the tax on high account balances, first proposed in 2023 and changed significantly in October after a major backlash. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese decided the political impact of the controversial decision to tax unrealised capital gains was too much to endure, even for his Labor Government that had been returned to power in a landslide victory earlier in the year. The change, which lifts the tax rate on earnings on balances above $3 million (US$1.98 million) from 15% to 30%, will apply only to realised earnings, and the thresholders will be indexed to inflation to limit the number of people caught in the net. But, in an attempt to reduce the fiscal impact, which was estimated at $4.3 billion over the forward estimate period, the Government introduced a second large balance threshold with a 40% rate applied to earnings on balances over $10 million. As we wrote in this colum
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