A Russell Investments and an Australian Ethical balanced superannuation funds have managed to return in the first quartile across every period to 31 October 2019, according to data.
FE Analytics found the Russell Diversified 50 Portfolio RPAP and the Australian Ethical Balanced Accumulation funds were the only two balanced super funds that had at least a 10-year track record returned in the first quartile over one, three, and six months, and one, three, five, and 10 years.
The Australian Ethical fund beat the Russell fund over every time period expect over the 10 years to 31 October, 2019 where it returned 6.8% on an annualised basis compared to 7.28% for the Russell fund.
The fund returned the best over the year to 31 October, 2019, at 14.7%.
According to its factsheet, the Australian Ethical fund has its largest allocation towards interest-bearing investments and cash at 30%, followed by Australian and New Zealand shares at 28%, international shares at 22%, and property and alternatives both at 10%.
Funds that returned in the top quartile across different time periods to 31 October 2019
Fund |
One month (%) |
Three months (%) |
Six months (%) |
One-year (%) |
Three-years (%) |
Five-years (%) |
10-years (%) |
Russell Diversified 50 Portfolio RPAP |
0.35
|
1.14 |
4.43 |
11.11 |
7.71 |
6.61 |
7.28 |
Australian Ethical Balanced Accumulation |
0.31 |
1.04 |
5.50 |
14.70 |
9.05 |
8.21 |
6.84 |
QSuper Balanced Option |
-0.06* (Q3) |
1.51 |
5.40 |
12.48 |
8.67 |
8.75 |
8.71 |
Source: FE Analytics
The Russell fund had 45% invested in fixed interest in cash, followed by 28.3% in international shares, 20.6% in Australian shares, and 6.2% in alternatives.
While the QSuper Balanced Option returned in the first quartile in every time period, it missed out over one-month returns at a loss of 0.06%, returning in the third quartile.
However, FE Analytics ratio data found that this fund was the best at capital preservation when it came to balanced funds as it had the lowest maximum drawdown figures and had low volatility.
The five funds that were placed in the fourth quartile across all time periods were ANZ OA Super MoneyForLife Index Moderate DEF, ANZ Personal Super Bond Balanced, OnePath DA Balanced Superannuation, OnePath PA Personal Super Onepath Balanced, and ANZ OA PersonalSuper Onepath Balanced.
However, all the funds managed to make a return in all periods except over one month, and three months for the ANZ OA Super MoneyForLife Index Moderate DEF fund.
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