New data released by Chant West shows that industry superannuation funds easily outperformed their retail counterparts over the last decade:
As shown above, the top 10 best performing superannuation funds over the decade were all industry funds, easily beating the average return of 7.9% per annum.
The reason for retail funds’ underperformance likely relates to their exorbitant fees.
As illustrated clearly by the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into Australia’s $2.6 trillion superannuation industry, retail funds’ fees are well above not-for-profit funds:
Accordingly, retail funds have delivered significantly lower net returns on average:
The PC also found that reported fees in Australia are significantly higher than in many other OECD countries, due largely to gouging by retail super funds.
