By: Steve Burnham
New research from Roy Morgan has found that in the six months to last November, overall satisfaction with the financial performance of superannuation was 58.4%, unchanged from October but down by 0.9% points over the year. However, only 18.5% of fund members said that they were “very satisfied”, down from 19% a year ago. Super funds’ financial performance satisfaction down over the year.
Industry funds retain the lead in satisfaction (59.2%) over retail funds (56.7%) but both have declined over the past 12 months, with industry funds down 1.2% points and retail funds down 1.4% points. Both score poorly in terms of the critically important “very satisfied” rating, at 17.7% for industry funds and 16% for retail funds.
SMSFs win again
Roy Morgan found that SMSFs have the highest satisfaction with 74.3% (down 1.7% points over the last year), followed by public-sector funds with 69.8% (up 1.8% points over the last year). Both of these type of funds have relatively high levels of “very satisfied” members: SMSFs are in the lead with 32.7%, while the public sector funds score 28.5%.
“These funds have had a clear lead over retail and industry funds for more than 10 years due mainly to the fact that their members have higher average balances, which are generally associated with higher satisfaction levels regardless of the fund type,” says Roy Morgan’s industry communications director, Norman Morris.
The researcher says the rapid improvement in SMSF satisfaction over recent months “is most likely to be a result of the generally upward trend in the ASX over this period and this group’s greater personal involvement and awareness in these market movements”.
SMSFs lead the pack
Source: Tax & Super Australia
