superguru
MenuClose menu

Expand vs OneAnswer (OnePath)

Compare what each fund offers, then choose investment options to put their published costs and returns side by side.

By SuperGuru Group · Research checked 11 September 2026 · Historical APRA figures to 30 June 2026

Expand

Retail platform

Expand is a super and pension platform with Essential and Extra product tiers. Its value depends on the investment menu and services a member actually uses.

Membership

Use the Essential or Extra PDS and target market determination. The platform is commonly used with advice, and an application requires an investment choice; Essential allows a cash holding while a member decides on a longer-term strategy.

OneAnswer (OnePath)

Retail super and pension range

OneAnswer has a current Frontier super and pension range alongside older closed products. Investment choice is central to Frontier, and its current insurance arrangements differ from older descriptions.

Membership

Frontier accepts applications from people receiving its PDS in Australia, including applications submitted by a financial adviser. The usual minimum initial Personal Super investment is $2,000, or $1,000 with a Regular Investment Plan. Older OneAnswer Personal Super and pension products are closed to new members.

Compare fees and investment returns

Choose the actual investment pathway for each account. For lifecycle products, select the named stage relevant to you. No stage is selected automatically.

Choose an investment option to see the figures

The costs and returns belong to the selected product, option or lifecycle stage.

Source: APRA Comprehensive Product Performance Package 2026, published 28 August 2026. Fees reflect the reporting year to 30 June 2026, are net of tax, use standard arrangements and exclude member-activity fees. Dollar figures are rounded. They are not a current quote. Check the latest PDS for changes, insurance premiums and any separately charged advice.

Returns are annualised historical results. Different return bases, risk levels and periods cannot be treated as interchangeable. MySuper net returns use a $50,000 representative balance even when you change the fee balance. A lifecycle stage return does not track a person moving between stages. Missing figures mean not reported, not zero. Past returns do not predict future returns. Read our method and APRA's definitions.

How the products differ

Expand and OneAnswer (OnePath): product features and conditions
What to compareExpandOneAnswer (OnePath)
Membership and access

Use the Essential or Extra PDS and target market determination. The platform is commonly used with advice, and an application requires an investment choice; Essential allows a cash holding while a member decides on a longer-term strategy.

Sources2

Frontier accepts applications from people receiving its PDS in Australia, including applications submitted by a financial adviser. The usual minimum initial Personal Super investment is $2,000, or $1,000 with a Regular Investment Plan. Older OneAnswer Personal Super and pension products are closed to new members.

Sources124
Accounts and products

Expand Essential and Extra in IOOF Portfolio Service Superannuation Fund; not MLC MasterKey.

Expand Essential Super and Pension

Expand Extra Super and Pension

Retirement Boost

Sources1234567

OneAnswer Frontier Personal Super and Pension, with separate notes for closed OneAnswer Personal Super and pension accounts. ANZ Smart Choice and Grow Wrap are outside this profile's numerical scope.

OneAnswer Frontier Personal Super

OneAnswer Frontier Pension

OneAnswer Frontier transition-to-retirement pension

Closed OneAnswer Personal Super, Allocated Pension and Term Allocated Pension accounts

Sources14
Investment choices

Member-selected investments; not a single platform-wide MySuper default.

Essential combines a menu of managed funds and model portfolios with Essential+, which adds selected ETFs and term deposits. Extra offers a much broader selection of managed funds, model portfolios and listed investments. Investments across menus can carry different administration charges.

Sources1234

Frontier requires the applicant to select investment options. The trustee will not choose one and cannot proceed with an application that lacks a selection. ANZ Smart Choice MySuper figures reported under the same historical legal fund are not OneAnswer defaults.

The range includes diversified and single-sector managed funds, OneAnswer index funds, MultiSeries portfolios combining active and passive investments, and ANZ Term Deposits. Auto-rebalancing and dollar-cost-averaging facilities can help administer a chosen mix, but they cannot be used together and do not apply to term deposits. Check the current investment guide and product notices for closures or strategy changes.

Sources126
Insurance

Expand advertises group and retail insurance options. The policy, underwriting and cost depend on the cover arranged; the platform's investment features do not establish that a member is insured.

Sources1

The current Additional Information Guide says insurance is not available directly through Frontier Personal Super. A separate risk-only super insurance product may be payable using the Frontier account, with advice about the arrangement. An October 2025 notice removed OneCare Super references from the new-member documents. Existing members should check their actual policy and account, especially where an older OneAnswer product still holds group cover.

Sources245
Retirement income

Both tiers have pension products. Retirement Boost adds a separate lifetime-income proposition with its own eligibility and access rules. It should be compared with other lifetime products rather than treated as an ordinary account-based pension.

Sources125

Frontier Pension offers an account-based pension and a transition-to-retirement pension. The initial pension minimum is $20,000. Payment choices include monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annual intervals. An existing Term Allocated Pension is a different product with its own payment and withdrawal restrictions; it should not be treated as an ordinary Frontier pension.

Sources24
Advice and support

An advised arrangement needs two assessments: whether the adviser service is useful and whether the platform is an appropriate way to implement it. Ask for the full ongoing cost and the consequences of ending the advice relationship.

Sources1234567

The product is designed to support an investment portfolio chosen with a financial adviser. An Adviser Service Fee is negotiated separately. Ask for the services and their cost in writing, including what happens to the investment strategy if ongoing advice ends.

Sources23
Fee details to check

Add platform administration, account charges, underlying investment fees, transaction or brokerage costs, insurance and any adviser fee. Essential+ has a higher administration rate on the first part of the balance than the ordinary Essential menu. A low fee quoted for one menu is not a price for every portfolio.

Sources34

The December 2025 fee guide lists a $135.29 annual Member Fee for Personal Super and TTR accounts below the qualifying $50,000 balance, equivalent to $115 after the stated tax benefit. The ordinary pension Member Fee is $115. ANZ Term Deposits and ANZ Cash Advantage have special exclusions, and eligible linked Frontier accounts can request a waiver. A waived Member Fee does not remove investment costs: the selected fund's Ongoing Fee, other investment and transaction costs, any levies or expense recoveries, and advice still need to be included. Some June 2026 APRA externally directed OneAnswer rows contain zero total-cost entries at higher balances that conflict with the fee guide. Those entries should not be interpreted as a free investment account.

Sources37
Comparing investment performance

There is no single meaningful Expand investment return. Measure the chosen portfolio after all applicable costs. The performance test covers only eligible trustee-directed investments, so a result for one option does not describe every investment on the platform.

State Essential versus Extra and the menu used.

Keep option-specific performance-test outcomes attached to the relevant option IDs.

Sources67

Use the exact Frontier investment option, dates and return basis. The legal fund's historical reporting also includes other brands, so its overall result is not a OneAnswer portfolio return. Some options are trustee-directed and receive performance-test results; other externally directed options have no result in the package. An absent test result does not mean a pass or failure.

Only OneAnswer Frontier Personal Super pathways are matched to this profile's APRA table.

June 2026 figures retain Retirement Portfolio Service ABN 61808189263. They must not be relabelled as current ANZ Smart Choice data after a later transfer.

The OneAnswer Investment Portfolio is an investment product outside super and is excluded from this comparison.

Sources7

THE SUPERGURU VIEW

Our take on Expand

Editorial assessment

Expand makes most sense to investigate when a person needs its investment or retirement features and can explain why. A broad platform can be useful with a carefully chosen portfolio, but it also creates several layers of fees to compare. The product tier and menu selection should be visible in any price comparison.

Who might put it on their shortlist

  • People using an adviser to implement a portfolio that needs a broad investment menu.
  • Members comparing direct listed investments, managed portfolios and retirement features within one platform.
  • Families checking whether available fee arrangements change the total cost.

What deserves a closer look

  • Expand's 28 August 2026 notice says MLC MultiActive High Growth (MLC0397AU) and MLC MultiActive Geared (MLC0449AU) failed the 2026 performance test within the covered Expand products. Both remained open to new members because this was their first failure.
  • That notice concerns specified investment options, not a failure of every Expand investment or the whole platform.
  • Portfolio complexity, cash holdings, brokerage and advice fees can materially change the cost.
  • Lifetime products have access and beneficiary terms that require separate assessment.
  • Members transferred from Grow Wrap, Voyage or PortfolioOne should use their Expand welcome documents and fee schedule. June 2026 figures for those former products describe the pre-transfer account.

Sources67

Based on the cited product features. These are general reasons to investigate the fund, not a personal recommendation. Supporting sources.

THE SUPERGURU VIEW

Our take on OneAnswer (OnePath)

Editorial assessment

OneAnswer is most useful to assess with the account name and investment list already in front of you. Frontier can accommodate an advised portfolio or a simpler index holding, but there is no default allocation to make that decision for you. For an existing member, the practical questions are what the full account costs, how insurance is arranged, and whether an older product has features a transfer would surrender.

Who might put it on their shortlist

  • People who want to choose managed investments within a super account, with a clear plan for their asset allocation.
  • Existing OneAnswer members comparing their exact legacy or Frontier terms before making a change.
  • Eligible members who want a pension offering connected to the Frontier investment range.

What deserves a closer look

  • Confirm the full product name. Frontier, older OneAnswer accounts, ANZ Smart Choice and Grow Wrap are not interchangeable.
  • A Member Fee waiver affects one charge; it does not establish a zero total cost.
  • Direct insurance is not part of the current Frontier offer. Confirm any separate insurance arrangement before moving an existing balance.
  • Current product updates can change a fund's name, strategy or availability; a saved investment list may be stale.

Sources356

Based on the cited product features. These are general reasons to investigate the fund, not a personal recommendation. Supporting sources.

Before choosing between Expand and OneAnswer (OnePath)

Use the membership rules to establish which accounts are available to you. Then compare the total price of the investment option and cover you need. A lower fee or higher historical return alone does not tell you which fund is suitable.

Ask both funds to confirm insurance acceptance, exclusions, waiting periods and whether cover would change when you leave your employer. Obtain advice before giving up a defined benefit or an insurance policy you may not be able to replace. ASIC Moneysmart explains the comparison checks.

Read the full Expand profile · Read the full OneAnswer (OnePath) profile · Choose another comparison