Super returns crumble as inflation unleashes wild market ride

Duncan Hughes and Emma Rapaport

Updated Oct 14, 2022 – 5.51pm, first published at 5.27pm

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Super fund returns are falling deeper into the red as traditional diversification strategies fail, and a worsening inflation picture keeps the pressure on global central banks to push through aggressive interest rate increases.

Returns for the average balanced super fund slipped to an average loss of nearly 5 per cent, with the worst performer losing 11 per cent during the past 12 months to the end of August, according to analysis by research group Rainmaker. This compares to 2020-2021 record returns of about 15 per cent.

Duncan Hughes was a reporter at The Australian Financial Review

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.