Investment fees
All superannuation funds incur investment fees to cover the costs of investing and managing investments for their members. In line with our profit-for-members philosophy, Sunsuper does not profit from investment fees.
Investment costs can be divided into four broad areas:
1. Costs incurred by Sunsuper to
administer the investments - this includes the cost of custody,
consulting, legal, taxation, compliance
and Sunsuper’s internal costs
of implementing, managing and
monitoring investments.
2. Costs of external investment
management - being investment fees
paid by Sunsuper to investment managers directly appointed by us and investment
costs of the investment products in which
Sunsuper directly invests.
Typically, the investment costs of
the investment products are deducted
from the product earnings. If members
invested directly in the investment
products, these investment costs would be incurred by members.
With over $13 billion in assets, we
are able to negotiate exceptionally
competitive investment fees and costs.
3. Underlying costs of external
investment management - being
investment costs incurred by investment
managers or investment products in
appointing underlying investment
managers or investing in underlying
investment products. The amount of
these costs is often difficult to know,
or properly assess.
4. Transaction related costs - these
costs include items such as brokerage
and stamp duty.
We report the investment fees in two components, the base fee and the performance fee. The base fee is charged as a percentage on the money placed with the investment manager, regardless of the performance. The performance fee is paid when the investment manager outperforms a set return objective.
The estimated base and performance fees shown in each of the investment options include:
• All costs incurred by Sunsuper to
internally administer the investments
(item 1 above),
• All costs of external investment
management (item 2 above),
• Underlying costs of external investment
management where the underlying
investments are Australian shares,
International shares, property, fixed
interest or cash (part of item 3 above).
The estimated base and performance
fees shown in the investment optionss do not include:
• Underlying costs of external
investment management where the
underlying investments are alternative
investment products including private equity funds, hedge funds,
infrastructure funds and opportunistic
property funds (part of item 3 above),
• Transaction related costs (item 4 above).
The table below shows the estimated fees for 2008/2009, as well as the latest buy/sell spreads for each investment option.
Sunsuper diversified options |
Estimated base fee % |
Estimated performance fee % |
Buy/sell spread % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunsuper Growth | 0.65% p.a. | 0% to 0.24% p.a. | Nil |
| Sunsuper Balanced | 0.55% p.a. | 0% to 0.24% p.a. | Nil |
| Sunsuper Conservative | 0.36% p.a. | 0% to 0.20% p.a. | Nil |
| Sunsuper Moderate | 0.45% p.a. | 0% to 0.21% p.a. | Nil |
External manager diversified options |
Estimated base fee % |
Estimated performance fee % |
Buy/sell spread % |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMP Capital Multi-Manager Growth | 0.70% p.a. | 0% to 0.23% p.a. | 0.50% |
| AMP Capital Multi-Manager Balanced | 0.70% p.a. | 0% to 0.21% p.a. | 0.44% |
| AMP Capital Responsible Investment Leaders Balanced | 0.65% p.a. | 0% to 0.05% p.a. | 0.44% |
| QIC Growth | 0.60% p.a. | 0% to 0.15% | 0.23% |
| SSgA Passive Balanced | 0.16% p.a. | N/A | 0.30% |
Sunsuper single asset class options |
Estimated base fee % |
Estimated performance fee % |
Buy/sell spread % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunsuper All Shares | 0.46% p.a. | 0% to 0.16% p.a. | Nil |
| Sunsuper Australian Shares | 0.35% p.a. | 0% to 0.15% p.a. | Nil |
| Sunsuper International Shares - hedged | 0.57% p.a. | 0% to 0.17% p.a. | Nil |
| Sunsuper International Shares - unhedged | 0.57% p.a. | 0% to 0.17% p.a. | Nil |
| Sunsuper Property | 0.87% p.a. | 0% to 0.05% p.a. | Nil |
| Sunsuper Fixed Interest | 0.32% p.a. | 0% to 0.10% p.a. | Nil |
| Sunsuper Capital Guaranteed | 0.65% p.a. | 0% to 0.20% p.a. | Nil |
External manager single asset class options |
Estimated base fee % |
Estimated performance fee % |
Buy/sell spread % |
|---|---|---|---|
| QIC High Growth | 0.66% p.a. | 0% to 0.15% p.a. | 0.37% |
| AMP Capital Equity Fund | 0.60% p.a. | N/A | 0.50% |
| Maple-Brown Abbott Australian Shares | 0.42% p.a. | N/A | 0.50% |
| SSgA Australian Equities Index | 0.15% p.a. | N/A | 0.20% |
| Lazard Global Opportunities - hedged | up to 1.00% p.a. | 0% to 1.50% p.a. | 0.60% |
| Lazard Global Opportunities - unhedged | up to 1.00% p.a. | 0% to 1.50% p.a. | 0.60% |
| QIC International Equities - unhedged | 0.65% p.a. | 0% to 0.15% p.a. | 0.35% |
| AMP Capital Multi-Manager Emerging Markets | 0.99% p.a. | 0% to 0.15% p.a. | 0.80% |
| SSgA Global Index Plus - hedged | 0.25% p.a. | N/A | 0.55% |
| SSgA Global Index Plus - unhedged | 0.25% p.a. | N/A | 0.55% |
| SSgA Australian Listed Property Index | 0.15% p.a. | N/A | 0.20% |
| SSgA Global Fixed Income Index | 0.15% p.a. | N/A | 0.12% |
| SSgA Australian Cash | 0.15% p.a. | N/A | Nil |
The fees in the table above are our best estimates of the investment fees for 2008/2009, based on recent experience and our current expectations for ongoing investment costs. Performance fees are difficult to predict because the level of outperformance by the managers is difficult to predict. The performance fee may exceed the estimated ranges if managers produce exceptional performance.
We monitor the ongoing investment costs and for each investment option the investment fees deducted will not be more than the actual investment costs incurred but may differ from our estimates, for example, due to changes in the investment manager mix or investment manager fees.
Each year we will let you know in the Annual Report what the estimated fees for the upcoming year are. We will also let you know what the actual base fee and performace fee has been for the previous financial year.
