Evidence-backed. Sourced from APRA, KPMG, Rainmaker and Super Members Council. General information only — not financial advice. Always verify current data with APRA or a licensed adviser before acting. Last updated: June 2026.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- APRA found “significant variance in administration fees” across super products — with platform trustee-directed products charging the highest fees in the system. [2]
- More than half of platform trustee-directed products failed APRA’s performance benchmark on investment returns — despite charging the highest fees. [2]
- A 0.5% higher fee can cost a typical full-time worker around $100,000 by retirement. [1]
- Average MySuper fees fell to 0.87% p.a. in 2024–25 — but personal and retirement platform products saw fee increases of up to 9%. [3]
- 1 in 2 Australians don’t know what they pay in annual super fees. [5]
- Switching to cash during the COVID-19 downturn could have left a member with $100K balance around $50,000 worse off over five years. [9]
Is Your Super Fund Ripping You Off? How to Tell if You Should Switch TODAY
By The Fine Print editorial team | Last updated: June 2026 | 11 min read | ⚠️ Not financial advice
Is your super fund ripping you off? For hundreds of thousands of Australians in 2026, the answer is a quiet but emphatic yes — and most of them don’t know it. They’re not victims of fraud. They’re stuck in high-fee, underperforming products that silently strip tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars from their retirement balance while the statements keep arriving and the years keep passing. APRA has been sounding the alarm for years. The question is whether you’re in one of those products — and if so, what you should do about it today.
This guide gives you three concrete tests to run on your fund right now, so you can know with confidence whether your fund is delivering value or quietly ripping you off.
📋 What’s in This Guide
How Super Funds Rip You Off (Without Breaking the Law)
Most Australians who are being ripped off by their super fund aren’t being defrauded. There are no stolen passwords or phantom withdrawals. The damage is done far more quietly — through fees that are too high for the returns delivered, investment options that consistently underperform their benchmarks, complex structures that make it almost impossible to know what you’re actually paying, and legacy products that were grandfathered years ago and have never been updated in your interest.
APRA’s November 2023 insights paper, built on the Your Future, Your Super performance-test data, found “significant variance in administration fees” across MySuper and choice products, with platform trustee-directed products having the highest fees in the system. [2] And crucially, more than half of those high-fee platform products also failed the performance benchmark — meaning members paid more and got less. [2] APRA concluded there is “considerable scope for fee reductions across the industry.” [2]
Total super fees across the system were estimated at $34 billion in 2024–25 (Rainmaker 2025 Benchmarking Report). [3] Not all of that is waste — but a significant portion of it is members in high-fee products who are getting no demonstrable benefit for the extra cost.
🔍 Test 1: Has Your Fund Failed APRA’s Performance Test?
Since 2021, APRA has run an annual performance test on MySuper products — and since 2023, on trustee-directed choice products too. The test compares each product’s net investment returns against a benchmark tailored to its investment mix. Products that fail must notify their members in writing. Products that fail two years in a row cannot accept new members and must warn existing ones to consider switching.
From 2024 onward, APRA has committed to publishing a “comprehensive transparency package” after each yearly test, covering investment returns, fees, and test metrics for every product in the system. [2] In May 2025, APRA also released updated Your Future, Your Super performance test FAQs, clarifying how benchmark administration fees and expenses are measured. [7]
💡 How to run Test 1 right now
- Go to apra.gov.au and search “Annual Superannuation Performance Test” — the results page lists every MySuper and trustee-directed product, and whether it passed or failed.
- Alternatively, use the ATO’s YourSuper comparison tool (via myGov → ATO → Super) — it compares MySuper products on fees and 7-year net returns side by side.
- If your product has failed the test, or sits in the bottom tier for net returns after fees, treat that as a red flag to switch.
- If it’s a platform trustee-directed product with above-average fees, ask yourself: what real benefit am I getting for this extra cost?
🔍 Test 2: Are Your Fees Above the Benchmark?
Fees matter more in super than almost anywhere else in your financial life — because they compound against you over decades. Research cited by Vanguard and the Productivity Commission shows a 0.5% higher fee can cost a typical full-time worker around $100,000 by retirement. [1] That’s before you account for any underperformance on top of the fees.
Here’s what benchmark looks like in 2024–25: Rainmaker’s Superannuation Benchmarking Report shows average MySuper fees fell to 0.87% p.a. for the sixth consecutive year. [3] Not-for-profit MySuper products average 0.85%, while retail MySuper averages 0.96%. [3] Meanwhile, personal and retirement platform products saw fee increases of 9% and 4.7% respectively — moving in the opposite direction to the rest of the market. [3]
How to calculate your true fee drag
Log into your fund’s member portal and find the “Fees and costs” summary for your specific investment option — not just the fund overall. Add up: the administration fee (both the percentage-based component and any flat dollar amount), the investment fee for your chosen option, and any advice or platform fees. Convert the flat dollar admin fee to a percentage of your balance to get a true all-in percentage. Compare that number against the 0.87% MySuper average. If you’re paying materially more, and your fund’s returns don’t justify it, that’s a fee drag problem. [10][1]
🔍 Test 3: Are You in a Legacy or Platform Product?
This is the least-discussed but most insidious way funds rip members off. Many Australians are in products they were defaulted into years ago — when they changed jobs, when their employer’s default fund changed, or when a financial adviser placed them in a platform product that suited the adviser’s remuneration more than the member’s retirement. When those relationships end, members are left in place with no automatic switch to a lower-fee option.
APRA’s data show that trustee-directed platform products are the worst offenders in the system: highest fees, and more than half failing the performance benchmark. [2] Meanwhile, eight “mega funds” with more than $100 billion in assets now dominate the industry-fund space (KPMG Super Insights, May 2026) — and these larger, not-for-profit funds consistently deliver lower fees and better net returns than the legacy retail and platform products. [6]
The complexity of these platform products also makes it hard for members to understand what they’re paying. APRA and ASIC repeatedly highlight that fee disclosures, multiple investment menus, and embedded insurance structures make it difficult for members to know what they’re actually getting — and this opacity is exactly what allows the rip-off to continue. [2][4]
💡 Signs you might be in a legacy or platform product
- Your super is held on a platform (e.g. BT Wrap, Colonial First State, MLC, or similar) rather than directly with a fund.
- You’re paying a platform or administration fee on top of investment fees — multiple fee layers.
- You haven’t reviewed or chosen your super arrangement in the last three years.
- Your current fund is closed to new members — a common sign of a legacy product APRA has already flagged. [2]
- You can’t easily find your fund’s APRA performance test result on APRA’s website.
How to Switch — and How NOT to Switch
If your fund fails one or more of the three tests above, switching to a better option is likely worth the effort. But how you switch matters as much as whether you switch.
How to switch correctly
Choose a new fund or product that: passes APRA’s performance test, has low total fees (especially for a diversified balanced or growth option), and offers appropriate insurance at a fair price. Use the ATO’s YourSuper comparison tool to shortlist options, then compare them on Finder or SuperGuide to confirm their long-term net returns. Once you’ve chosen, use the new fund’s rollover process or myGov to consolidate your existing balance. Close old, high-fee, or failed products. [11][4]
The mistake that wipes out your gains: switching to cash
There’s one “switch” that almost always makes things worse: moving your super into a cash option because of market volatility or scary headlines. Super Members Council research found that switching to cash inside super during the COVID-19 downturn could have left a member with a $100,000 balance around $50,000 worse off over five years. [9] During the 2025 tariff-driven market volatility, switching to cash could have cost a typical member around $7,000 in a single year. [9]
The move that makes sense is from a bad fund to a better diversified fund — not from growth assets into cash. Every time you switch into cash due to short-term fear, you lock in losses and miss the recovery. The data on this is consistent across every market cycle.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if my super fund is ripping me off?
Run three tests: check APRA’s performance test results for your product; calculate your all-in fee percentage and compare it to the 0.87% MySuper average; and check whether you’re in a legacy or platform product. If you fail any of these tests, you have a signal worth acting on. [2][3][7]
What super fees are too high?
Above 1.0% p.a. all-in for a standard balanced or growth option is above the MySuper average. Above 1.5% p.a., the lifetime cost difference against a good low-fee fund typically exceeds $100,000. The MySuper average in 2024–25 was 0.87% p.a. [3]
What happens if my fund fails APRA’s performance test?
Your fund is legally required to notify you in writing. If it fails two years in a row, it must close to new members and issue a specific warning telling you to consider switching. You can also find the results yourself on APRA’s website and act without waiting for the letter. [7][2]
Should I switch to cash when markets fall?
No. This is the single most expensive mistake super members make in downturns. SMC research shows switching to cash at the COVID-19 trough could have left a $100K balance $50,000 worse off over five years. Switching to cash locks in losses; staying in a diversified fund captures the recovery. [9]
Will I lose my insurance if I switch funds?
Potentially. Before rolling over, check what insurance you currently hold inside super and whether your new fund will provide equivalent default cover. Most large industry funds offer automatic default insurance, but exclusions may apply for pre-existing conditions. If this is a concern, talk to your fund’s member services team or a licensed adviser before switching. [11]
⚖️ The Fine Print Verdict
Most Australians being ripped off by their super fund are not being stolen from — they’re simply stuck in a product that charges too much and delivers too little, while never doing the 30 minutes of research that would tell them so. APRA has published the performance test results. The fee data is available. The comparison tools exist. The rip-off only continues because most people never look.
👉 Go to APRA’s performance test page or the ATO’s YourSuper comparison tool today. Run all three tests above. If your fund fails even one of them, you have a clear signal — and switching to a better fund takes less than an hour.
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- Aptium / Vanguard / Productivity Commission — 0.5% fee = $100K impact, 2024. aptium.com.au
- APRA, “New insights on superannuation performance” (Your Future, Your Super performance test insights paper), November 2023. apra.gov.au
- Super Review / Rainmaker, “Superannuation fees fall sixth straight year” (2025 Benchmarking Report), 2025. superreview.com.au
- APRA, Annual Fund-Level Superannuation Statistics, 2025. apra.gov.au
- Super Members Council / ATO data on fee awareness, 2026.
- KPMG, “Super Insights — Super sector evolution, mergers and transformation on the horizon,” May 2026. kpmg.com/au
- APRA, “FAQ on Your Future, Your Super performance test” (updated including benchmark admin fees to March 2025), May 2025. apra.gov.au
- Motley Fool Australia, “8 Common Superannuation Mistakes Costing You a Fortune,” November 2025. fool.com.au
- Super Members Council, “Why switching your super into cash in a market downturn can make you poorer in the long run,” 2026. smcaustralia.com
- APRA, “Fees and costs,” 2025–26. apra.gov.au
- AustralianSuper, “Changing super funds,” June 2024. australiansuper.com
This article is general information only and does not constitute financial advice. Super fund performance, fees and regulatory requirements change regularly — always verify current data with APRA or a licensed financial adviser before acting. The Fine Print 🇦🇺 is not affiliated with any super fund.