Despite challenging economic conditions brought about by rising inflation and higher interest rates, our most popular investment options performed extremely well during the year, delivering competitive returns. 

Our Balanced MySuper option ended the financial year 9.34% higher, while our MySuper Growth option returned 11.53% over the same period. 

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These results confirm the benefit of portfolio diversification. While there were strong gains on local and overseas share markets, returns from other assets, notably property and diversified bonds and credit, were modest. 

The results also bring into focus the skills and expertise of our investment team, whose market knowledge and experience have enabled us to invest in high performing assets to help the Fund deliver competitive returns for members. 

Despite the current outlook for more economic uncertainty and talk of a potential recession, our experienced investment professionals’ sole focus remains to maximise returns to members while managing risk. 

Watch our Chief Investment Officer provide an update on markets.

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With TelstraSuper now open to everyone, I’m also delighted to report that our membership base is growing. While the Fund has a proud 33-year history as the corporate fund for the Telstra Group, three quarters of our members no longer have a link to a Telstra Group employer. These members have either chosen to stay with the Fund after they have left employment with the Telstra Group or have joined through another employer or as a personal member. We now accept super contributions from around 20,000 employers.

During the year to 30 June we grew our total membership and we look forward to welcoming many more new members to the Fund from workplaces and locations around Australia.

I’m also pleased to share that TelstraSuper has once again been named the Pension Fund of the Year in the 2023 Chant West Awards*. This is the second time running we’ve achieved this recognition and it follows on from our 2023 SuperRatings Pension of the Year award. You can read about all the recent TelstraSuper awards here. 

Enhancing our offering for members and employers

Over the last 12 months we’ve introduced several new initiatives and enhanced key products and services. These aim to cement our position as an industry leader and support the evolving needs of our members and employers. Here’s a few of the highlights from the past year. 

• TelstraSuper Income Protection insurance premiums decreased between 11.5% to 30% from 1 July 2023. We were also able to secure another three years of competitive rates for our Death and Total & Permanent Disablement (TPD) insurance cover. We’ve also introduced Vivo by MLC Life Insurance, an exclusive and holistic health, wellness and recovery program.
• We strengthened the help and guidance provided by TelstraSuper’s suite of online tools – including launching our new Guidance calculator “How long will your super last” that allows retirees to see the impact of difference scenarios on their super balance.
• We are continuously updating our innovative personalised SuperOnline platform. This is widely used, with 93% of members registered online, compared to an industry median of 59%.  Our members are also finding great value in our email communications, with our open rate almost double the industry average. 
• Members continue to benefit from our competitive administration fees, which from 1 July 2022 are the lowest in TelstraSuper’s history. As we grow our membership base, build our capabilities and become more efficient, we regularly review our fees and are pleased to pass on cost savings to members where we can. As a profit-to-members fund, TelstraSuper does not set its fees to make a profit – the Fund simply aims to pass on the cost of running the Fund to our members.
• We’ve also been making changes to our investment menu so it’s easier for members to tailor their investment strategy to their specific needs. This includes introducing a new Moderate investment option for our accumulation members and renaming our fixed interest option to Diversified Bonds and Credit to provide a clearer description of the assets in this option.  In a similar move, we streamlined the investment menu for our retired members.
• We launched our first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). Our RAP formalises our commitment to supporting reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and improving their superannuation and retirement outcomes. We have also pledged our support for a constitutionally enshrined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. 
• Another milestone for the Fund was the release of our second Climate Change report which provides updates on how we are managing climate-related risks and opportunities across our investment portfolio and the progress we are making in our journey to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. As a long-term investor managing around $25 billion of assets on behalf of our members, we believe that considering climate risk in our investment portfolio is consistent with our responsibility to provide a better financial future for our members. 
• Finally, it’s great to see that more members are taking advantage of the services offered by TelstraSuper Financial Planning – including using the new personal video call option. The Step it up advice team achieved their highest number of appointments and referrals since the team’s inception.

Another welcome development for members was the legislated increase in the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) from 10.5% to 11% on 1 July 2023, in accordance with the timetable to reach 12% SG in 2025. TelstraSuper has always strongly supported increasing the SG to 12% because it will help our members achieve a better financial outcome in retirement through higher super contributions during their working lives. 

We look forward to the next financial year and beyond. We’re here to support you every step of the way towards achieving a better retirement than you ever imagined.