I have been following the returns on my long term superannuation fund for a number of years, and I could never get the percentage return to match what was credited to my account. It was always difficult to accurately calculate because of fortnightly contributions but the credited amount was lower than expected. So I decided to move $200K to Australian Super and not add any more but just validate the returns over several years. I am happy to say they do seem to pay the percentages that are advertised.
The other fund who I will not mention, I am less confident on getting the advertised rate of return. It is an Industry Fund
So I researched a bit more and found on another Industry fund the words - This percentage is a comparison rate only. I am not sure what is actually paid after looking through the site.
As I have a couple of ETFs outside of Superannuation, thought I would go and check what they were claiming as returns and their one page description stated I made an average of 10% over the last 2 years. I went back and while there is a difference in dates of a couple of months between the reporting dates and my purchase dates, my calculation is I am making around 3% return per year calculating dividends and capital gain. There was a couple of months difference between reporting and purchase dates, but no great spike in share price. Somehow I am not getting the up to 7% per annum of the advertised rate.
This got me thinking what are the rules around the number advertised - is there a bit of creative accounting going on to lure in customers. Is there rules on crediting rates and any fees that are subtracted.
Also have noticed using the Chant West Superannuation comparison that there does seem to be a number of fees across funds with different names, but customers could easily be confused with the REAL return as well as fees deducted.
Has anyone else found potential discrepancies? I am not an accountant, but with an engineering background I always validate the facts as I see them.
