SMSF members continue to report high levels of satisfaction with their fund, leading all other superannuation vehicles, as satisfaction among all members continues to increase, according to Roy Morgan.
The latest “Superannuation Satisfaction Report” from the research firm found there had been an increase in the level of satisfaction of members across all categories of super funds – SMSF, public sector, industry and retail funds, with the last one showing the largest increase of 6.4 percentage points landing at 69.3 per cent.
Despite this finding retail funds were still the lowest ranked superannuation vehicle behind industry funds (69.5 per cent), public sector funds (75 per cent) and SMSFs (77.7 per cent), which have repeatedly had strong support from members in past Roy Morgan reports.
Both SMSFs and public sector funds showed the smallest increase in satisfaction between May 2024 and May 2025 of 0.8 per cent but were coming off existing very high levels of satisfaction, at 76.9 per cent and 74.2 per cent respectively. Industry funds showed a 2 per cent increase in satisfaction levels, up from 67.5 per cent last year.
The findings are drawn from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of more than 23,500 consumers who held work based or personal superannuation. The analysis also found the overall level of satisfaction with the financial performance of super had increased 3.1 percentage points from May last year to now be 69.9 per cent in May 2025.
Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine noted member satisfaction levels had recovered from the post-COVID 19 low of 65 per cent seen in July 2023 and were more than 10 percentage points above the long-term average over the last 18 years of 59 per cent.
“The increase in customer satisfaction over the last two years has been powered by a record-setting ASX 200. The stock index closed at a record high of 8592.1 in mid-June, representing a significant increase of 1181.7 points, or 15.9 per cent, since closing at 7410.4 on July 31 2023,” Levine said.
“One factor likely to be driving the rapidly increasing satisfaction for retail funds over the last year compared to industry super funds is the higher investment exposure that retail funds tend to have to equities.
“The strong share-market returns over the last year will be having a bigger impact on the bottom line for retail funds than industry funds.”
