Investment market update

Strong headway after some challenging conditions

With Cbus Super celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, we’re pleased to reflect on the strong long term investment outcomes we’ve generated for our members. Our Growth (MySuper) investment option has delivered an average annual return of 8.87%¹ since its inception in 1984 and 7.73%¹ p.a. delivered over the last 10 years. This option is ranked as one of the top performing super funds over 10, 15 and 20 years².

Investment markets are rarely smooth sailing, and this year was no different. While we faced into some strong headwinds in the early part of the financial year, when conditions did eventually turn, we made strong headway, returning close to our 40-year average.

Share markets led the way

Led by share markets returns both in Australia and overseas, positive returns from our global credit and infrastructure assets also contributed meaningfully to our 1-year result.

Short term returns from the property asset class remain challenging and have been impacted by a few factors, including rising interest rates, which has resulted in property values falling across most of the sector. Despite these market pressures, a focus on high-quality assets with long term leases has held our property portfolio in good stead relative to our peers.

Short term ups and downs are considered a normal part of investing, and rarely unique to Cbus. More importantly, our portfolios are well diversified and are designed to withstand them.

Focusing on the long term

For members who watch their super closely, it’s common to see periods of short-term volatility in your returns. Over the last 12 months, these ups and downs were largely attributed to ongoing inflation concerns – the rising costs of living and global events like the conflict in the Middle East. With 40 years of super experience now behind us, we’ve seen plenty of events like these before, and together, we’ve gotten through them.

In addition to our healthy one-year return, our long-term performance also remains strong, which is a testament to the hard work of our investment team and the foundations we have built over the last 40 years.

¹ As at 30 June 2024. The Growth (MySuper) investment option return is based on the crediting rate, which is the return minus investment fees, taxes, and until 31 January 2020, the percentage-based administration fee. Excludes fees and costs that are deducted directly from members’ accounts. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

² Our Growth (MySuper) investment option obtained top quartile performance ranking over 10, 15, 20 year time periods from the SuperRatings FCRS SR50 Balanced (60-76) Index, for the period ending 30 June 2024. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.