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Retail members ahead on contributions
Members of retail funds are more likely to make additional contributions than their counterparts in industry funds, according to new research released by Roy Morgan.
The research, released this week, has served to confirm that irrespective of investment performance, retail funds boast members with higher account balances while Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs) outstrip even the retail funds in terms of member profiles.
Analysing the various industry and retail funds, the Roy Morgan research said that of the major funds REST Super had the youngest average age of their membership, at 32.9 and suggested this was "indicative of Industry funds, which generally have a lower average age of their membership Base".
"The younger age of their membership base explains their lower personal incomes and account balances compared to other types of funds," it said.
"Compared to Industry funds, Retail fund members are more likely on average to make additional contributions and Retail funds also have a much high proportion of members with over $100,000 in superannuation and are more likely to have a degree or diploma."
As would be expected, it is SMSFs that clearly have the most upmarket member profiles, with an average balance of over $683,200, which is over four times the average of the best retail fund (Mercer $144,200).
The research report noted that the highest rated brand on the latest Roy Morgan Research Consumer Brand Rankings Table, December 2014 was Westpac Group with an average ranking of 4.9 out of 20. It said Westpac/BT was ranked strongly on the use of financial planners and effective customer acquisition but that in second place (average ranking 5.4), was Unisuper, which was mainly due to the calibre of its members, those with above average superannuation balances and contributions to superannuation.
The highest ranked Industry funds were Unisuper and Catholic Super. Catholic Super in particular exhibited very strong results for satisfaction of performance and also contributions beyond the compulsory level.
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