This comes following recent news of AustralianSuper recording a -2.73 per cent return on its balanced option over the financial year, as well as the median balanced super fund dropping down 3.3 per cent to the lowest it’s been since the GFC.
Australian Retirement Trust’s chief investment officer, Ian Patrick, said despite world events such as the war in Ukraine causing substantial market volatility in the second half of the financial year, rising interest rates and inflationary pressures, that “this is still a good outcome”, due to the estimates by industry commentators indicating that the average balanced fund would return around -3.0 per cent for the financial year.
“Reflecting on the financial year, the June quarter delivered particularly poor performance for share market investments,” Mr Patrick said.
Mr Patrick added that “it has been a challenging year with share market conditions remaining volatile”. However, they have been able to “weather the storm better than most” with their diversified portfolios, with their Super Savings and QSuper Balanced options being among the best performing products of the financial year.
“As a profit-for-members fund, our investment team has remained focused on delivering the best outcomes for our two million-plus members in this tough market environment,” he said.
He reiterated that “super is the longest-term investment any of us will ever have,” further stating that while it’s “natural for members to worry” during market downturns with low returns, the Super Savings Balanced option produced a 20.7 per cent return in the previous financial year.
“Also, with challenges comes opportunities and the compensation for tolerating short-term market volatility is generally higher long-term returns, and our Super Savings and QSuper account Balanced option returns remain strong over the long term,” Mr Patrick said.
The Super Savings Balanced option is a continuation of Sunsuper’s Balanced option, which returned 9.0 per cent per annum, while the QSuper account Balanced option returned 7.8 per cent pa over ten years to 30 June 2022, both performing well above their long-term return objectives.
“We know that every crisis, every downturn, and every recession comes to an end, bar none. Before they end, they often provide opportunities for investment managers to acquire quality assets at attractive prices. That is the focus of Australian Retirement Trust and our investment managers,” Mr Patrick added.
