The CoreData/Conexus Financial Best Possible Retirement research has uncovered a gap in member satisfaction between small funds and large funds, and between industry funds and retail funds. But the message for all funds, irrespective of scale or lineage, is that members want and need more support not only as they move into retirement, but also after they’re in it.

Retail funds hold an overall satisfaction score of 56.2 versus 50.1 for industry funds and 54.1 for public sector funds. Small funds score 62.2, versus 51.7 for large funds.

The overall satisfaction score is a composite of members’ responses across four categories: confidence and comfort; financial discipline; retirement living; and a measure that splits between a retirement preparedness score assessed among pre-retirees, and a separate retirement satisfaction score assessed among retirees.

The overall index in the 2026 Best Possible Retirement study has fallen since 2023, from 52.4 to 50.6 in 2026, and the retirement control component fell furthest of any measure this year, down 5.5 points to 41.5. 

A fund’s ranking reflects behaviour and sentiment across a member’s financial life, not how they rate a single interaction with the fund. And, as super funds crow about their FY26 returns, the research is a timely reminder that for retirees, at least, there’s a great deal more to satisfaction than investment performance.

Even though retail funds have stolen a march on industry funds, the highest individual satisfaction scores sit with industry funds. UniSuper leads on 63.2, down 0.7 of a point on last year, and NGS Super follows on 62.0. Both sit comfortably ahead of Colonial First State on 53.1.

The nation’s largest fund, AustralianSuper, scores 52.2, up 1.2 points, and Australian Retirement Trust scores 51.6, down 1.0. Aware Super and AMP Super’s Signature Super both sit on 51.0, though Aware Super fell 2.1 points from last year’s results.

REST, on 48.9, posted the single biggest gain of any fund in the study, up 7.0 points. Hostplus, on 47.6, fell 4.2 points, and HESTA, on 46.2, gained 2.3 points.

The satisfaction gap between industry and retail funds changes when the score is split by stage of membership. Alana Devitt, research consultant at CoreData, says that “it’s actually with the retirees where the main difference is”.

Members of industry funds score 47.3 for how members feel about retirement preparedness, compared to a score of 50.6 per cent for retail funds. 

The gap expands in retirement, with industry funds scoring 54.4 compared to 60.1 for retail funds. The factors that drive differences in satisfaction are clearly amplified after members retire.

What goes on beneath

Industry funds improved 0.5 of a point and small funds improved 1.9, while retail funds fell 1.9 and public sector funds fell 2.6. Large funds fell 0.7 points. 

Industry and small funds are gaining ground even though they still trail on the underlying number; retail and public sector funds are losing ground even though they remain ahead.

Devitt says the retiree-stage gap comes down to infrastructure built for a different stage of a member’s life.

Devitt says marketing budgets also matter because they keep members aware of what their fund actually offers, on an ongoing basis rather than only at the point of retirement. 

The research finds that awareness of a fund’s own products and services is one of the leading complaints among retirees six or more years after the stop working, ahead even of complaints about fees or charges.

Fund size follows a similar pattern to fund type. Devitt says UniSuper – a large, industry fund – is one moving against the overall pattern.

“They have an excellent funnel for their retirees in retirement, and they do so many different initiatives and campaigns,” Devitt says.

“They’ve run campaigns like RetireMentors and the Never Too Late Show that keep retirement front of mind for members and show real stories of what life after work can actually look like.” 

Advice as a driver

The research shows that access to financial advice drives a measurable improvement in retirement preparedness.

UniSuper’s chief marketing and growth officer, Dani Murrie, says “personalised support, a strong product offering and access to quality financial advice can make a real difference” to members in retirement.

“Advice is the key to empowering the incoming wave of retirees, and it can be the difference between an acceptable retirement and a truly great one,” Murrie said in a statement.

The research shows that a fund can build a top-scoring member experience regardless of size, suggesting service design rather than scale is the main success factor. 

Digital self-service and proactive contact both cost money to build, but neither requires a minimum number of members to justify the investment. A large fund can build the same infrastructure a retail fund uses, and a small fund can run the same kind of program large fund does, if it chooses to. 

The funds most likely to arrest the slide in member satisfaction are those that close the gap the research has pinpointed, between preparing members for retirement and continuing to serve them well, once they get there.

Conexus Financial is the publisher of Retirement Magazine.