My return is different to your return.

Generally – no two returns in superannuation are the same.

What I mean by that is sometimes people see on the TV that Superfund XYZ has an investment option that has performed 8% for the year. Now, you might be in the same super fund as your neighbour/family/friend – invested exactly the same – but what is happening in each fund is different. Your neighbour might be self employed and made a one-off contribution to the fund once markets dropped during the year – this means that they might have purchased “investments” in the super fund at a cheaper price than yourself if you had your employer making regular contributions throughout the year effectively purchasing “investments” within the same fund as your neighbour but at different times.

The returns generally quoted are if you held the same investment from 1st of July to 30th of June in the financial year – they don’t account for any individual withdrawals you may have made (i.e. if you retired and took money out) and also don’t account for any contributions you had made. The reason your return can differ is because anytime you make a withdrawal or contribution, you are effectively purchasing or selling investments within your fund. This then has an impact to your overall return.

While it can be a good indication of your overall return for the financial year – it is important to remember and consider what has actually happened with your individual account, as the return could be better or worse individual to you.