member outcomes assessment

The majority¹ of HESTA’s accumulation members are invested in the MySuper Balanced Growth option which continued to perform strongly and achieved net returns better than the median for MySuper products for the 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 year periods².

Net returns for our Choice (Accumulation) product investment options also ranked better than the median, except for Cash and Term Deposits, Diversified Bonds and International Shares investment choices.

Net returns for our Choice (income stream) options³ ranked better than the median for comparable Choice (income stream) products, except for the Balanced Growth, Sustainable Growth, Cash and Term Deposits, Diversified Bonds, International Shares and Australian Shares.

¹ At 1 July 2023, 89% of HESTA’s members invested in HESTA’s MySuper product.

² Returns (after fees and costs) are calculated on the annualised investment return (after tax and investment fees) over the specified period to 30 June 2023. Excludes insurance fees (for the avoidance of doubt).

³ Excludes TTR

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

HESTA sets long-term investment objectives for all Ready-Made options that reflect the objective of achieving a positive real return (a return which provides a premium over the rate of inflation). Your Choice options have investment objectives based on asset class indices where appropriate.

HESTA adopts a long-term asset allocation for each option that focusses on building a diversified portfolio of investments across and within asset classes. Because financial conditions change over time we actively adjust asset allocations and positions to improve probabilities of achieving the investment objectives. Our asset allocation process also considers a variety of risk factors and options’ sensitivity to different stressed market conditions, both historical and forward looking. 

The Fund invests in strategies managed by our internal teams as well as by external managers and uses its size to deliver economies of scale.

Our assessment found that our investment strategy remains appropriate.

HESTA aims to provide insurance benefits on a cost-effective basis that is accessible and inclusive for the unique needs of our members in accumulation products.

Most HESTA insured members hold default cover (across HESTA, HESTA Personal and HESTA Corporate Super products), our default design is intended to provide members with a minimum level of cover.

Our analysis found that for members in our accumulation products, our insurance strategy remains appropriate and insurance fees do not inappropriately erode retirement incomes. 

Fees are charged to HESTA members on a cost recovery basis reflecting HESTA’s position as a not-for-profit fund. We aim to keep our fees competitive to maximise retirement outcomes for our members.

Our assessment concluded that our administrative and investment fees are below those charged by comparable products with a comparable risk profile for most of our investment options.

Our assessment found that HESTA’s options, benefits, and facilities were well utilised by members and the range of services we offer members are similar to our peers. We considered the fees and costs for these options, benefits and facilities is appropriate and compares favourably to comparable funds.

We are a specialist fund with more than a million members¹, and we use our scale and size to deliver value to all our members. We assessed that our scale does not disadvantage members in our products when compared against most funds in the market.

¹ As at 1 July 2023