Superannuation satisfaction reaches a new high – Public Sector members are the most satisfied and Retail Fund members the least
New data from Roy Morgan shows satisfaction with superannuation funds now at a record high 67.6%. People belonging to Public Sector Superannuation Funds, set up for employees of federal and state governments and their related entities, are Australia’s most satisfied superannuation fund members. They are followed by those with Self Managed Super Funds, then Industry Funds and finally Retail funds, with members of the Major Retail funds operated by the Big 4 banks the least satisfied of all.
New data from Roy Morgan shows satisfaction with superannuation funds now at a record high 67.6%. People belonging to Public Sector Superannuation Funds, set up for employees of federal and state governments and their related entities, are Australia’s most satisfied superannuation fund members. They are followed by those with Self Managed Super Funds, then Industry Funds and finally Retail funds, with members of the Major Retail funds operated by the Big 4 banks the least satisfied of all.
Public Sector Fund members’ average satisfaction rating for the financial performance of their funds in the six months to January 2021 was 75.7%. Self-Managed Super Fund satisfaction was just behind, on 75.6%. Industry Fund members’ satisfaction over the period was 67.5%, while 63.1% of Retail Fund members felt satisfied with their funds’ performance and for members of Major Retail Funds run by the Big 4 banks, ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac, the satisfaction rating was 61.4%.
These latest findings come from the newly released report ‘Superannuation Satisfaction: Satisfaction with Financial Performance of Superannuation in Australia’. The report’s data is drawn from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey and involved interviewing more than 15,000 superannuation fund members.
Industry and Retail Funds are the two fund types which are open to anyone to join. The report also shows individual fund performance within these two categories.
Among Industry Funds, the top performer was Catholic Super, with a high satisfaction rating of 78.5% — albeit from a smaller base than many other funds. It was narrowly ahead of Cbus (78.2%), followed by Tasplan (76.5%; also a smaller base) and UniSuper (76.4%). Rounding out the top five was CARE Super (72.5%). AustralianSuper, the nation’s largest fund by number of accounts and second only to the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation in terms of assets, came in sixth on 69.5%.
Among Retail Funds, the top performer was Macquarie, with a satisfaction rating of 72.9% (from a smaller base than many of the other funds in the report). It was followed in the top five by OnePath (69.8%), Mercer (66.9%), MLC (64.4%) and Colonial First State (63.9%).
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says 2020 was a year when many Australians began to focus on their superannuation in a way they might not have done before.
“The initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial markets was a fall in stock valuations. Because shares make up a significant part of many superannuation fund investments, a lot of individual super fund balances dropped as a result. The impact on satisfaction with superannuation funds was clear – and immediate.
“Then, in response to the overall economic impact of the pandemic, the Federal Government allowed Australians who were experiencing financial hardship (in specified ways) to withdraw up to $20,000 of their superannuation in total, in two tranches, before and after July 2020.
“Together these factors focused people’s attention on their superannuation, and their funds’ performance, to a degree that’s unusual, especially for those who are nowhere near retirement. And Australians have never been more satisfied.
“It’s not surprising to see Public Sector Fund members the most satisfied — some members have the security of now phased-out defined benefit funds, while others receive more than the legally required minimum 9.5% employer contribution. As for Self Managed Super Funds, well you’d hope their members were satisfied with performance since they are the ones making the investment decisions!”
Customer Satisfaction by Fund Type 2007-2021
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), Base: Australians aged 14+ with Work Based or Personal Superannuation for the 6 months to January 2021, n = 15,602. Satisfaction with the financial performance of superannuation products is based on respondents who answered ‘Very Satisfied’ or ‘Fairly Satisfied’.
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
