Core Insights - Legal Super has emerged as the best-performing growth superannuation option for the past financial year, achieving a 12.9% annual return [1] - Following closely is Vanguard with an 11.8% return, while Colonial First State and Australian Retirement Trust both recorded 11.2% [1] - The annual ranking was published by research firm Chant West, which defines "growth options" as superannuation products with 61% to 80% allocated to growth assets [1] Performance Summary - Legal Super MySuper Balanced: 12.9% [2] - Vanguard Super SaveSmart Growth: 11.8% [2] - Colonial First State FirstChoice Growth: 11.2% [2] - Australian Retirement Trust Balanced: 11.2% [2] - NGS Super Diversified (MySuper): 11.2% [2] - smartMonday Balanced Growth: 11.1% [2] - AMP Future Directions Balanced: 11.0% [2] - UniSuper Growth: 11.0% [2] - Aware Super Balanced: 10.9% [2] - Brighter Super My Super: 10.9% [2] Market Drivers - Legal Super's CEO, Luke Symons, attributes the fund's success to strong performance in the U.S. market, employing strategies such as risk-controlled portfolios and active allocation in mid-cap tech stocks [3] - The median return for growth superannuation options was 10.5%, an increase from 9.1% in the previous financial year [3] - Strong performances in both international and Australian stocks, which recorded returns of 13.7%, and double-digit returns from infrastructure investments contributed to overall market gains [3] Asset Allocation Insights - International stocks constitute the largest portion of growth superannuation portfolios, approximately 31%, with about 70% being unhedged investments [6] - The depreciation of the Australian dollar has significantly boosted returns, with unhedged international stock returns reaching 18.6% [6] - Non-listed property is expected to rebound in the 2024-25 financial year, with returns projected between 2% and 5% [6] Long-term Performance Outlook - Hostplus leads the balanced option category with an average annual return of 8.3%, followed by Australian Retirement Trust at 8.2% and AustralianSuper at 8.0% [7] - Despite a cumulative growth of over 30% in the past three years, this performance should not be considered the norm [7] - The long-term goal for growth superannuation is to outperform inflation by 3.5 percentage points, equating to an annual return of around 6% [7] - AMP's chief economist Shane Oliver suggests that after three consecutive years of 9-10% growth, returns may revert to a more sustainable range of 6-7%, especially given high stock market valuations [7]