The US Government’s announcement of tariffs is having a dramatic impact on investment markets. At a very high level, this is happening partly because investors and banks are changing their behaviours and buying/selling decisions based on what they think the tariffs will do to the companies and markets they’re invested in. The impact means that the Australian share market, and share markets right across the globe, have fallen since the tariffs were announced.
Superannuation is definitely impacted by this, given that almost all super funds are invested, at least partly, in shares.
Diverse investments
Most super members are invested in what are known as balanced funds, which give members to a wide range of different investments.
The ElectricSuper Balanced Growth option, where most ElectricSuper members are invested, is approximately half invested in shares (23% in Australian Shares and 28% in Overseas Shares*). The other half is in other assets, such as property, infrastructure, bonds and cash, which typically perform differently to the share market. The effect of this diversification helps to limit the impact of falls in share markets on super balances. See the latest performance figures on our Investment Performance page.
The long-term nature of super
Taking a snapshot view of the fall in share markets can be unnerving. However, the long-term nature of super means that you can look over a longer time period to get a broader picture of the impact.
For example, if you look over just a short 6-month period, the ASX 200 fell by 12.05% to 4 April 2025 (to 7,668 points). However, when you look over the longer term (5 years from 9 April 2020), it has increased more than 33% over that term. The ability to look over the history of shares helps to reassure that where a share market falls it will typically recover its losses over time. Just think back to the negative impact that Covid-29 had on the share market in 2020 and you can see that the market was able to bounce back from that low point and then continue to grow.
Stay the course?
If you can ‘stay the course’ in your investment option, history has shown that investment markets recover over time. They even generally go on to overtake their previous highs.
Time to get advice
If you are still uncertain about staying in your investment option, we recommend that you speak to a financial planner before making changes. You can speak to an adviser by contacting our Helpline on 1300 307 844. The advisers on the Helpline are free of charge to you.
If you make a change
If, after you’ve received advice, you are still keen to change your investment option, you can do this online in the secure area of the website (or by using a form if you are a defined benefit member). Any investment choice you make will take effect from the beginning of the next month, provided you return your form by 5pm on the last working day of the month. Your investment choice may take up to a month to show in your secure online member portal. This is due to the timing of our twice-monthly crediting rates.
* at 4 April 2025