A History of Strong Investment Returns

Most of us can’t touch our superannuation for a very long time, but when you do finally need it – after years of hard work – you want to make sure your super has performed to its optimum over the long term because it’s an investment that will determine your quality of life when you need it the most.

Listed below is a history for the past seven financial years showing our returns for each investment option. 

Financial Year Returns
Option	Account	2010-2011	2009-2010	2008-2009	2007-2008	2006-2007	2005-2006	2004-2005
Aggressive	Super	12.4%	11.6%	-12.1%	-12.2%	25.0%	17.7%	16.3%
	Pension	13.6%	13.4%	-13.8%	-13.3%	26.9%	19.4%	18.0%
Moderately aggressive	Super	11.4%	10.8%	-10.7%	-9.4%	22.6%	15.9%	15.0%
	Pension	12.6%	12.6%	-12.2%	-10.3%	24.4%	17.3%	16.9%
Balanced	Super	11.4%	8.6%	-9.9%	-6.4%	21.0%	15.3%	14.3%
	Pension	12.6%	10.1%	-11.4%	-7.1%	22.5%	17.1%	16.2%
Moderately conservative	Super	8.8%	9.0%	-6.0%	-3.9%	16.4%	11.3%	11.0%
	Pension	9.8%	10.4%	-6.8%	-4.6%	17.8%	13.0%	12.3%
Conservative	Super	7.4%	7.6%	-3.3%	2.3%	12.2%	8.8%	9.3%
	Pension	8.2%	8.5%	-3.6%	2.7%	13.3%	10.0%	10.6%
Australian shares	Super	16.7%	13.5%	-12.2%	-13.0%	30.7%	22.6%	26.3%
	Pension	17.8%	14.7%	-12.6%	-13.9%	31.9%	23.7%	27.8%
Overseas shares	Super	6.9%	8.7%	-10.0%	-19.1%	20.0%	12.9%	8.3%
	Pension	8.2%	11.6%	-13.0%	-22.1%	23.8%	14.7%	8.4%
Property	Super	12.5%	8.1%	-12.1%	7.0%	16.2%	12.4%	13.4%
	Pension	12.4%	9.1%	-13.4%	7.6%	15.4%	14.0%	13.4%
Fixed interest	Super	6.6%	4.8%	6.2%	0.3%	4.4%	3.0%	7.7%
	Pension	7.7%	5.5%	7.2%	0.3%	5.1%	3.7%	9.0%
Cash	Super	4.7%	3.6%	4.9%	5.9%	5.4%	4.7%	5.2%
	Pension	5.5%	4.1%	5.6%	6.8%	6.2%	5.4%	5.7%

The Long Term View

Superannuation is a long term investment because the majority of us can’t touch our super for quite a long time, so it is advisable to consider returns over the long term.

To help you take a long term view, below we have listed the 3 year, 5 year, and where applicable the 7 year and 10 year averages for each option.

		As at 30 June 2011
Option	Account	3yrs (pa)	5yrs (pa)	7yrs (pa)	10yrs (pa)
Aggressive	Super	3.35%	3.89%	7.40%	5.16%
	Pension	3.56%	4.15%	8.03%	n/a
Moderately aggressive	Super	3.31%	4.13%	7.16%	n/a
	Pension	3.66%	4.53%	7.90%	n/a
Balanced	Super	2.93%	4.32%	7.14%	5.96%
	Pension	3.19%	4.70%	7.93%	n/a
Moderately conservative	Super	3.69%	4.50%	6.32%	n/a
	Pension	4.16%	4.99%	7.08%	n/a
Conservative	Super	3.78%	5.11%	6.20%	n/a
	Pension	4.22%	5.77%	7.03%	n/a
Australian shares	Super	5.21%	5.77%	10.75%	n/a
	Pension	5.73%	6.15%	11.36%	n/a
Overseas shares	Super	1.51%	0.31%	3.12%	n/a
	Pension	2.35%	0.12%	n/a	n/a
Property	Super	2.23%	5.85%	n/a	n/a
	Pension	2.03%	6.13%	n/a	n/a
Fixed interest	Super	5.84%	4.41%	4.66%	n/a
	Pension	6.76%	5.08%	5.43%	n/a
Cash	Super	4.38%	4.89%	4.90%	4.84%
	Pension	5.06%	5.65%	5.61%	n/a