Ahead of the game to provide better financial services and performance for our members

Aware Super

The Australian Government has just announced plans for super funds to provide better customer standard levels and financial advice for all Australians.

Aware Super CEO Deanne Stewart welcomes the government initiative and says Aware Super is already leading the industry with super helpful financial support for its 1.1+ million members.

What these changes mean for all Australians

As a part of the ‘Delivering Better Financial Outcomes’ package, the Australian Government wants to introduce a new class of financial adviser.

The new adviser model will ensure more Australians have access to quality, affordable financial advice to make the most of their retirement.

Making financial advice more accessible and affordable is critical to meeting the growing need for retirement advice, with more than 300,000 Australians expected to retire each year over the next five years.

Aware Super leading the way

We know that when our members get help and advice, they feel more confident and are much more likely to take action that improves their retirement.

Introducing a new class of adviser, backed by a strong consumer protection framework, will unlock the ability for superannuation funds and other providers to deliver the help and guidance Australians need to confidently navigate their retirement.

Advice reforms are crucial to uplifting retirement outcomes for Australians.

And at Aware Super, our products and services are already leading the way to deliver the best retirement outcomes for our 1.1+ million members just like you.

Find your rhythm in retirement

Aware Super products can help you prepare for retirement, with tools like My Retirement Planner ^TM that helps to calculate your income in retirement. It works by taking into account your current super balance, current income, investment returns, assets, debts, property and time left in the workforce.

It can then provide an informed prediction of your income for retirement. If the figure isn’t quite where you want it to be, you can adjust elements to see how they change your outcome by making additional contributions, reviewing your investment strategy or taking a longer transition to retirement.

Aware Super also provides the Retirement Guide, available to download for all Australians. It’s full of tips and real-life stories on preparing for retirement and leading your best life after a long career in the workforce.

While retirement can sound like a dream after a long working life, it can also be daunting for many who worry about how much money they’ll have for retirement.

When we speak to our members, we often hear that approaching retirement can be scary because of not knowing how things are going to work. And then when we speak to them again a couple years after retiring, they generally find that everything is going better than expected.

We also find that people who plan and prepare for retirement, by talking to a financial adviser and getting their affairs in order, are more confident approaching retirement.

Performance that delivers more for members

A major contributor to how your super grows is based on investment performance, with investment returns making up around 50 per cent of your balance at the time of retirement. [1] Making sure they’re invested in the right strategy has a big impact at retirement. In fact, SuperRatings reported the Aware Super High Growth option, where the majority of our members are invested, ranked in the top 10 position over 1 year, with a return of 14.16%*.

We also introduced low-cost indexed options to offer members greater choice to decide what’s right for them. For our Balanced Indexed option, Aware Super ranked second for the year to 31 December 2024, with a return of 15.68%*, while the High Growth indexed option also provided strong performance of 18.11%*, ranking third.

The importance of long-term performance

The Aware Super investment team invests actively in a well-diversified portfolio of listed and unlisted assets. We understand that long-term performance is the main focus for super.

Over the 10-year period, Aware Super’s High Growth option is a top-10 performer with a return of 8.98%^ and that form continues over 15 years too. It’s the number 1 performer over 15 years, delivering an average annual return of 9.29% per annum*.

If you want to find your rhythm in retirement, whether it’s two or twenty years away, reach out to your Super fund to access the help, guidance and advice you need – and grow your confidence about your financial future.

1.This is based on superannuation balance projections for our typical member starting from age 21 at the start of FY25 projected to retirement age 67, invested in the Aware Super MySuper Life Cycle option. Investment returns are based on the Aware Super MySuper Life Cycle option, assumed to be CPI + 4% until age 55, reducing from CPI + 4% to CPI + 2.75% between the ages 55-65 (inclusive) and CPI + 2.75% from age 65 onwards. CPI is assumed to be 2.5% p.a. No admin fees and earnings tax are modelled as investment returns are assumed to be net of fees and tax. Results are based on today’s dollar deflated using Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE) at 3.5% p.a. This example is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to provide a forecast or guarantee on outcome. 

*Aware Super’s Balanced Indexed, High Growth Indexed and High Growth optionsover the stated period to 31 December 2024. SuperRatings Fund Crediting Rate Survey, December 2024. Based on the Balanced (60-76) Index,  Growth (77-90) Index and SR50 Growth (77-90) Index.  Returns are after tax and investment management expenses but before the deduction of administration fees. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.