Every month, we publish the performance figures for the investment options available in our super accounts and income accounts. This is so you can see how our different investment options have performed over time, and keep track of your super.
But unless you’re an expert, it can be difficult to understand all the different tables and what they mean: numbers are all well and good, but how do you know what a good return actually looks like?
Put simply, a return is the money made on an investment over a particular period of time, or how much you get back on top of what you put in. An investor will generally put money into an investment because they expect some kind of return; that’s where we get the term ‘return on investment’ from.
But the amount of return, or the timeframe for getting a particular return, depends on the type of investment you make.
For example, an investor providing an early-stage tech startup with ‘angel funding’ will know not to expect a return for several years – until the startup ‘exits’ through a public listing on a stock exchange or is acquired by another company.
If a startup makes it to this stage, the return could be huge – but about 90% don’t. In fact, a high percentage of startups fail before making it anywhere near exit stage. Most angel investors actually invest in these types of companies knowing that there’s a good chance that they may not get anything back. What’s more, they know they’ll lose the capital they first invested, too.
Of course, expectations are different when it comes to super.
As with many things in life, a ‘good return’ from your super looks different for every member. But here are a couple of factors to keep in mind when you think about how your super is performing:
For most of us, going through the global financial crisis just a couple of months after taking on the role of inaugural Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of a super fund would likely be considered a case of particularly bad timing. Not so for Andrew Spence, who believes his joining Qantas Super as the fund’s first CIO in July 2008 came at the perfect time.
At Qantas Super, we focus on being well diversified by building portfolios with investments that complement each other. That means your super is invested across over 5,000 investments such as shares, property, infrastructure, timberland, agriculture, a variety of bonds, and cash. Take a look at a couple of the things we’ve invested in.
According to independent research house SuperRatings, each of our tailored investment options – Aggressive, Growth, Balanced, Conservative, and Cash – was ranked in the top quartile for their respective categories for the September 2021 quarter, with Aggressive ranked 1st.
If you need help with making a decision about your super, you can get simple advice over the phone or face to face. It’s included as a part of your membership so there’s no extra cost.
