Compare super funds byfees at your balance, returns after fees, your investment mix, index or active or the performance test.fees at your balance.returns after fees.your investment mix.index or active.the performance test.

Like for like: each fund’s option in the same investment mix, such as its MySuper default or a high growth option, on two figures. One is the fees a year at your balance, the other is APRA’s net return over 3, 5 and 10 years. Each option also carries its result in APRA’s yearly performance test. With your age, a lifecycle option is shown at the stage for your age.

It depends on the balance. Most funds charge an admin fee, often a flat dollar amount plus a percentage, and investment fees and costs as a percentage, so a flat fee weighs more on a small balance. APRA publishes each option’s total fees at $10,000, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000 and $250,000, and BankMate works out the fee at your balance from them. The Lowest fees leaderboard ranks MySuper options on $50,000.

On APRA’s net investment return, which is after investment fees and before admin fees, over the same period and for options with a similar mix. A high growth option will usually show a higher long-run return than a balanced one because it holds more shares, and it can also fall further in a bad year. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

Each year APRA tests every MySuper product and other diversified options whose investments the fund chooses, comparing returns after fees against a benchmark. An option that fails must tell its members, and one that fails two years in a row can’t take new members until it passes. BankMate shows each option’s latest result, and the leaderboards leave out options that failed or weren’t tested.

APRA regulates most super funds. Self-managed super funds are regulated by the ATO, and a few public sector schemes sit outside APRA’s oversight. The funds BankMate compares come from APRA’s own product data, so each of them is APRA-regulated.

BankMate’s Biggest funds leaderboard takes the 10 funds with the most assets in APRA’s data and ranks their MySuper options by 10-year return. Size alone says nothing about fees or returns, which differ between large funds too.

Yes. A balance can be rolled over to another fund, and an employer can be given the new fund’s details for future contributions. Before moving super, check what you’d give up: insurance cover inside your fund usually ends when you leave it, and some funds charge to exit.

From APRA’s Comprehensive Product Performance Package, the regulator’s dataset of returns and fees for MySuper and choice options, checked weekly for a new edition. APRA publishes nothing on single-sector shares options, so their fees and returns are read from each fund’s own documents.