Industry fund
Australian Retirement Trust
Australian Retirement Trust's Super Savings product offers an age-based default, actively managed and indexed investments, and both flexible retirement income and a lifetime pension pathway.
THE OVERVIEW
About Australian Retirement Trust
ART offers Super Savings and QSuper-branded accounts within the same fund. They should not be treated as interchangeable products: membership conditions, investments and insurance can differ.
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Who can join
Super Savings is ART's public offer product. Business, Corporate and QSuper accounts have their own conditions; identify your exact account before comparing prices or cover.
THE SUPERGURU VIEW
Our take
The strongest reason to examine Super Savings is the range of ways to invest without leaving the fund. It suits a comparison between an automatic age-based strategy and a deliberate index portfolio. Retirement choice is also useful, but the flexibility of an income account and the commitment involved in Lifetime Pension solve different problems.
Who might put it on their shortlist
- People who want their default investment mix to change with age.
- Members comparing active and indexed portfolios within one account.
- Retirees considering a combination of accessible savings and lifetime income.
What deserves a closer look
- An age-based strategy does not know about assets, debts or a partner's super outside the account.
- Unlisted Assets has different liquidity and valuation characteristics from a listed-share index option.
- Do not use QSuper statistics or employer-plan insurance terms as if they described a standard Super Savings account.
- Lifetime Pension payments can change and the purchase is permanent after cooling-off.
Based on the cited product features. These are general reasons to investigate the fund, not a personal recommendation. Supporting sources.
THE NUMBERS
Fees and investment returns
Use the product, investment option and employer plan on your statement. Lifecycle members need to choose the relevant stage. APRA's investment pathways may include closed options held by existing members.
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.
A CLOSER LOOK
Inside Australian Retirement Trust
Accounts and products
Super Savings public offer product. QSuper and employer-specific arrangements need separate comparison.
Super Savings Accumulation
Super Savings Retirement Income
Transition to Retirement Income
Lifetime Pension through QSuper
Investment choices
Super Savings Lifecycle Investment Strategy
The default Lifecycle strategy changes the investment mix with age. Members can instead select diversified active portfolios, diversified index portfolios, asset-class index options or an Unlisted Assets option. The index menu includes Australian shares and hedged and unhedged international shares, so the currency choice is explicit.
Insurance
Super Savings has an insurance guide and quotation tools. ART explicitly cautions that standard Super Savings insurance information may not apply to its Business or Corporate accounts. An employer plan's terms can therefore matter more than a generic fund description.
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Retirement income
A Retirement Income account lets eligible members set payments and make withdrawals. Lifetime Pension is a separate product offered through QSuper and pays income for life, with payments adjusted each year. The purchase becomes permanent after the cooling-off period, so it requires a different comparison from an ordinary account-based pension.
Advice and support
Use ART's product-specific support when comparing a Super Savings, QSuper or employer account, and ask for the scope and cost of any personal advice before engaging an adviser. This research does not verify a universal advice entitlement across all ART account types.
Fee details to check
Investment fees vary substantially between active portfolios, index options and Unlisted Assets. ART describes investment and transaction costs as estimates that can change each year. Add the administration charges for the exact account and any insurance rather than treating an investment-fee percentage as the total cost.
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Comparing investment performance
ART's accumulation option returns are net of investment fees, transaction costs and investment tax. Lifecycle is a strategy spread across age-dependent pools, not one return applicable to all ages. Pension returns and Super Savings versus QSuper returns require separate labels.
Select the same age or age cohort when comparing Lifecycle options.
Separate Super Savings from QSuper rather than counting them as unrelated funds or treating them as identical products.
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Former names and account history
Sunsuper: Merged with QSuper to form Australian Retirement Trust on 28 February 2022.
QSuper: Merged with Sunsuper in February 2022; QSuper remains a distinct account and investment offering within ART.
Qantas Super: Qantas Group Superannuation Plan completed its transfer to ART on 29 March 2025; heritage plan divisions remain relevant.
THE LEGAL FUND
Fund size in APRA's annual reporting
Australian Retirement Trust
At 30 June 2025. These are legal-fund totals, which can include several products and more than one account per person.
APRA annual fund-level statistics, June 2025. These older totals can differ substantially after mergers. Size is not a measure of suitability or investment quality.
Sources for Australian Retirement Trust
Checked 2026-09-11. Documents and product terms can change after this date.