Our pension products come out strong
Every year, we’re required to assess the performance of our pension products, to determine if they’re promoting the financial interests of our members. Our pension products include our Flexi Pension, Flexi Pension TTR and Commercial Rate Indexed Pension.
We’re pleased to report that, after thoroughly assessing our pension products for the year ending 30 June 2020, we can confidently state that they are promoting our members’ financial interests.
This is great news for you, giving you assurance that your super is in good hands.
How we shaped up
We assessed our pension products through two key areas (as prescribed by law): 1. How we compare on fees and returns (Comparison matters) and 2. Other member benefits (Assessment factors).
1. How we compare on fees and returns1
Using data from third party research agencies, we compared the performance of our pension investment options to the rest of the industry.2 The results showed that our members have benefited from both low fees and strong investment returns.
Our fees are some of the lowest
Where comparison data was available, it showed our pension investment options had some of the lowest fees in the industry.
| UniSuper investment option | Fee Ranking - $250,000 balance | Fee Ranking - $500,000 balance |
|---|---|---|
| Growth | 8 (out of 83) | 9 (out of 83) |
| Balanced | 1 (out of 91) | 2 (out of 91) |
| Conservative Balanced | 10 (out of 73) | 11 (out of 73) |
| Conservative | 17 (out of 89) | 18 (out of 89) |
Positive returns for our members
UniSuper was one of the top performing funds for the period ending 30 June 2020.
Despite the impact of COVID-19 on global markets, most of our members achieved positive returns for the year ending 30 June 2020. Our Balanced investment option provided a positive return - a stronger position compared to most other funds, and for the other options included in the SuperRatings industry survey, UniSuper consistently outperformed the average.
Graph 1: Investment performance - 1 year
This graphs shows UniSuper's 1 year Investment performance vs the SuperRatings median.* Source: SuperRatings Pty Ltd Pension Fund Crediting Rate Survey for the appropriate index - June 2020.
Graph 2: Investment performance - 3 years
This graph shows UniSuper's 3 year Investment performance vs the SuperRatings median.* Source: SuperRatings Pty Ltd Pension Fund Crediting Rate Survey for the appropriate index - June 2020.
For the year ending 30 June 2020, members in our pension products benefited from both industry-leading low fees and stronger investment performance.
Read more on the performance of all our investment options.
2. Other member benefits3
Our pension products were also reviewed based on all round value – the benefits of being a UniSuper member.
Profit-for-members
We're proud to be a profit-for-member fund. We don't pay our advisers commissions, and we don't pay shareholders dividends. In addition, we review our fees annually, across:
- different groups of members within the fund, to ensure our fees don’t favour any group, and
- the industry, to ensure our fees remain competitive.
We’re satisfied that we’ve met both goals.
Scale and efficiency
With over $90 billion of funds under management, you benefit from the scale of one of the largest super funds in Australia (5th largest by assets, as at 30 June 2020). Because of this, we’re able to provide services more efficiently, with one of the lowest operating costs in the industry. This means lower fees and greater value for members.
A range of options and services
With your membership comes:
- access to a great range of educational resources to help you manage your super, including online tools and calculators, videos, podcasts and webcasts
- an award-winning financial advice service - from general advice through to comprehensive personal advice, we can help you make the most of your money. We’re also on campus, bringing our services to you.
Investment strategy
We regularly review the investment strategy for our options to ensure the level of investment risk and the return target are appropriate. For the period ending 30 June 2020, we’ve determined they’re still appropriate for our members. Additionally, we can confirm that the investment objective for each of our options was met.
Responsible and sustainable investing
We’ve recently reached the milestone of $10 billion in funds under management across our three dedicated environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) investment options. As Australia’s largest super investor in ESG-themed investments, we play an important role in shaping how the companies we invest in respond to and address the threat of climate change.
We’re committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions in our investment portfolio by 2050, in alignment with the Paris Agreement.
We’re an award-winning fund
We’re known as one of Australia’s best super funds for our strong investment performance.* We’re proud to be consistently recognised as an award winning fund, including Chant West Best Fund: Advice Services 2020 and more recently, being awarded 2021 MySuper of the Year by SuperRatings.
1. Other investment options are available but have not been included due to more limited comparison data. Please refer to our investment performance for more information on the performance of all of our investment options.
2. The comparison of fees and returns do not apply to the Commercial Rate Indexed Pension product as it provides a lifetime income stream.
3. Although, in section 1, we were able to compare only some of our investment options with others in the industry because of data limitations, this section applies to all of our investment options.
* Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. This information is of a general nature only and includes general advice. It has been prepared without taking into account individual objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making any decision in relation to investing in UniSuper and/or your UniSuper membership you should consider your personal circumstances, the relevant product disclosure statement and whether to consult a licensed financial adviser.