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According to a recent Mozo survey^, more than 40% of Australians are either not very confident or not confident at all that they'll have enough super for a comfortable retirement. Only 8% feel very confident, which shows there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
The chart to the left breaks down how people are feeling about their super. In later sections, we’ll dive into the details on performance, fees, and how often people engage with their super - to show where you can make changes that could help boost your confidence.
Let’s start with performance. They say, "what gets measured gets managed," so checking your super fund’s performance is key to ensuring you're on the right track.What we found through our survey was shocking. A significant portion of Australians rarely check their super fund’s performance, with more than a third (35%) reviewing it no more than every two years - and way too many having never checked it at all!
While it's encouraging that a majority of Aussies do check their super performance at least once a year, it’s clear that many others could be missing opportunities to optimise their returns.
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Since many Aussies don’t actively manage their super, the government introduced MySuper as a low-fee, regulated default for employees who don’t choose an option when starting a new job.
This is particularly important because, according to APRA, nearly 70% of all existing super accounts held by Aussies under the age of 65 fall into the MySuper category, with numbers growing as each new generation enters the workforce.
The remaining 30% includes “Choice” options, which offer a wider selection of investment strategies, and Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSFs) for those who prefer to manage every aspect themselves.
We’ll cover Choice options in more detail later, but SMSFs are outside the scope of this analysis as they’re less relevant to most Australians and aren’t covered in the same detail by APRA data this analysis is based on.
To understand how super fund performance impacts your balance, it helps to start with Choice investment options—the “original” super categories offering a broad range of strategies, from Conservative to High Growth. MySuper, which we’ll explore later, was developed as a regulated, low-fee option inspired by the more balanced and even some of the growth Choice strategies.
In our 2025 Mozo Experts Choice Awards for Superannuation, we identified 23 top-performing Choice options that delivered above-average returns, even after fees. Each falls into a specific category—Choice Conservative, Balanced, Growth, or High Growth—based on how heavily they’re slanted toward growth assets like stocks. High Growth options allocate over 90% to growth assets, Growth options over 70%, Balanced options over 50%, and Conservative options 50% or less.
The top performers delivered significantly higher returns compared to other funds. The findings here are based on a $100k balance, with similar patterns across $50k and $250k balances.
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Here’s the chart again, this time with MySuper included. While MySuper products sometimes resemble balanced or growth strategies, they’re designed to follow specific regulations and some may even adjust allocations based on a member’s age or life stage, making direct comparisons with Choice options less straightforward. Nonetheless, we’ve included MySuper here for context.
In terms of performance, MySuper generally sits between the balanced and growth categories. Interestingly, the gap between top performers and the rest is smaller for MySuper than for Choice options, suggesting it’s meeting its role as a regulated, low-fee option for those who may not actively manage their super (though we hope you’ll take a closer look, given what you know now!).
The differences highlighted above can make a real impact on those actual dollars in your account. Using the performance stats above, we calculated how much extra you’d have after 5 years across each investment category, again using a $100,000 starting balance.
To keep things simple, we didn’t factor in ongoing deposits. With a $100,000 balance, a top performing fund could have added anywhere from $6,299 to nearly $16,000 to your account over the 5 years analysed, depending on the investment category.
And while not displayed below, with a $50,000 balance, a top performing fund could have added anywhere from $2,953 to nearly $8,000, while a $250,000 balance could have added between $16,145 and to more than a whopping $40,000!
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As we’ve discovered, super fund performance can differ significantly - regardless of balance or strategy. Yet, almost 60% of Australians rarely or never compare their funds, potentially missing out on better-performing options.
It’s therefore clear that more Australians could benefit from comparing their super funds. And our goal is to help you do exactly that.
If you’re interested in exploring the top performing individual super funds and investment options, you can find those in our inaugural 2025 Mozo Experts Choice Awards for Superannuation.
We also have a separate category for low fee investment options, which are the investment products that offer the lowest fees but still meet a minimum performance threshold.
Or head directly over to our super comparison hub where we offer detailed reviews of some of our favourite funds.
For data related to the Mozo Experts Choice Awards for Superannuation, Mozo experts compared the performance and fee structures of 397 different investment options offered by 53 different super funds from the APRA Quarterly Superannuation Product Statistics dataset effective 31 March 2024. You can find our methodology here.
^Mozo commissioned a nationally representative survey of 2,129 Australians aged 18 years and over, with information collected between 19 July and 5 August 2024 via Researchify.
* Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
If you're uncertain about your options, unsure if you're on track, or need clarity on your superannuation position, consider speaking with a financial adviser.