Super Winners and Vanguard Annual Chart – August 2026 End of Month Update

Super Winners Financial Year 2026

Slack Investor has a deep love for the Superannuation system in Australia. A portion of your earnings goes into a savings fund that is tax-advantaged and managed by a designated Superannuation provider. Industry funds manage 40% of Super assets, SMSF’s 28%, Retail funds 23%, and Public Sector funds 8% (2025 data).

The nub of the superannuation contract is that you usually can’t access these funds till retirement age. Total Superannuation funds in Australia are a staggering $4.4 trillion (at the end of the March 2026 quarter) which makes it the 4th largest retirement savings system in the world.

Although Slack Investor would argue that Super fees are still way too high. It turns out that these providers are generally good at managing your money – and letting compound interest grow your savings. The median yearly performance for Growth-type Super funds (61%–80% of fund allocated to growth assets) is shown below. With the exception of the last few years before retirement, your Super should be exposed to growth assets and letting the compounding of earnings to do its work.

Slack Investor takes delight in the dominant sea of blue in these median returns for Super growth funds – but notes the word of caution from Chant West that these are extraordinary times for yearly performance.

The long-term return objective for growth funds is to beat inflation by 3.5% p.a., which translates to roughly 6% p.a. Four consecutive years above 9% is an outcome to be pleased about, not an expectation to set. _{– Chant West}

One -year results are well and good but Slack Investor is more genuinely impressed with long-term performance. Shown below are annualised returns over 10 years. If you have your Super with one of these providers – you have been doing pretty well.

Vanguard Financial Year 2026 Total Returns for major asset classes

Every August, Vanguard produces a summary brochure focusing on the last 30 years of finance data. It provides a lesson in diversification – as the top performing asset class for each year (green) is seldom the top performer the year after.

Vanguard Annual Chart 2026

This is Slack Investor’s favourite chart – a succinct demonstration of the benefits of long-term investing. The essence of successful investing is to be invested at least somewhere in appreciating assets – and then, let time do its work. Below is an extract from the Vanguard 2026 long-term investing chart. The numbers on the right are the results of investing $10,000 in the Index funds of the indicated asset classes for 30 years.

August 2026 – End of Month Update

Slack Investor is IN for Australian index shares, the US Index S&P 500 and the FTSE 100.

The S&P 500 (+3.0%) continues its progress. Slack Investor is pleased to go with the flow but remains nervous for the US markets. Some more moderate movement for the ASX 200 (+1.1%) and the FTSE 100 (-0.4%).

All Index pages and charts have been updated to reflect the monthly changes – (ASX Index, UK Index, US Index).