Lowest-Cost Balanced Super Funds Best Green Super Funds

GOLD WINNER HOSTPLUS

Hard-to-beat fees help boost the returns from a diversified index-tracking strategy

The Hostplus Indexed Balanced option, with low-cost passive investments, wins for the seventh consecutive year.

Hostplus’s low fees are hard to beat with a 0.05% annual investment management fee as well as a weekly admin cost of $1.50.

The Indexed Balanced option is diversified across Australian (32%) and international (43%) equities, fixed income (15%) and cash (10%). The fund managers are IFM Investors (Australian and international equities), BlackRock (fixed income) and Citi (cash).

Over the past year the fund increased its asset allocation to international shares by 3% at the expense of Australian equities. The index strategy means that returns track the performance of each asset class. The fund doesn’t invest in any of the unlisted assets, such as direct property, infrastructure or private equity, that feature in its non-indexed balanced option.

An index strategy has put AustralianSuper’s Indexed Diversified option in second place. It holds 33% of the fund’s assets in Australian shares, 36% in international shares, 18% in fixed interest and 13% in cash. The total fee is 0.16% and it, too, charges $1.50 a week for admin.