SMSFs were the only superannuation vehicle to see an increased level of satisfaction from members in the year to the end of November 2023, reaching a peak last recorded 18 months prior, according to Roy Morgan.
In its latest “Superannuation Satisfaction Report” released yesterday, the research firm found while the overall level of satisfaction with super funds had increased in the latter half of 2023, SMSFs were the only fund sector to record an overall rise from November 2022 to November 2023.
“A standout performer over the past year has been self-managed funds, which have increased their customer satisfaction by 1.9 percentage points [from 73.9 per cent] to 75.8 per cent and is clearly the highest customer satisfaction of any of the four super fund categories,” the report stated.
“This is the highest level of customer satisfaction for self-managed funds for 18 months since May 2022.”
Industry funds recorded the next highest level of customer satisfaction at 68.2 per cent, but this represented a decline of 1.4 percentage points from November 2022 when that figure was 69.6 per cent.
Retail funds saw a fall of 2.7 percentage points in satisfaction levels from 61.6 per cent to 58.9 per cent over the 12-month period, which is the lowest level recorded by Roy Morgan since November 2020, while satisfaction with public sector funds fell by 3.2 percentage points from 73.9 per cent to 70.7 per cent.
Despite these individual sector changes, Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine said overall customer satisfaction with superannuation funds had improved from July to November 2023 with an increase of 0.9 percentage points to 65.9 per cent.
This figure was above the long-term average customer satisfaction of 58.2 per cent from 2007 to 2023 and was also higher than at any time prior to the pandemic years of 2021 and 20 22.
“However, despite the increase in recent months, overall customer satisfaction with superannuation funds remains down 6.1 percentage points from the record high of 72 per cent reached two years ago in January 2022,” Levine said.
“The drop in customer satisfaction from early 2022 has occurred as the ASX 200 experienced a period of volatility since mid-2021.
“The ASX 200 reached a high of 7628.9 on 13 August 2021 and fell by almost 1200 points when the index closed at 6433.4 on 20 June 2022. Since the middle of 2022, the ASX 200 has recovered and closed at 7087.3 at the end of November 2023.”
The report’s findings are based on the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, which received responses from 22,887 people aged 14 and above with work-based or personal superannuation.
