Most super funds are still leaving retirees in the dark

Three years after being told they must do better, too many Australian super funds are still failing members at the moment that matters most — retirement.

That is the blunt message from Australia’s two financial regulators, ASIC and APRA, which released a joint report in late November 2025 confirming what many retirees have long suspected: their fund knows how to grow money but often struggles to explain how to spend it.

The report — REP 826, the second pulse check on progress since the retirement income covenant took effect on July 1, 2022 — surveyed 39 of Australia’s biggest super funds, covering around 95 per cent of all retirement-phase assets in the country.

The covenant requires funds to have a strategy that helps members do three things in retirement: generate a sustainable income, protect against the risk of outliving their savings, and keep flexible access to their money.

Three years on, the gap between the funds doing this well and those just going through the motions is getting wider, not narrower.

The numbers tell a worrying story

Almost all funds — 97 per cent — say they have worked harder to understand their members since the previous check. Yet only 15 per cent rate that understanding above “good”.

Nine in 10 funds have rolled out new support for members. But only 28 per cent have tailored that support to specific groups of people, and only 36 per cent of those improvements are aimed at members already in retirement.

Perhaps the most striking finding: one in five funds — 21 per cent — provides no information, guidance or advice whatsoever on how to draw an income from super beyond the bare legal minimum withdrawal rate.

In plain terms, if you ask your fund “how much should I be taking each year?”, there is roughly a one-in-five chance you will get nothing useful back.

Why this matters to Australians over 60

For most Australians over 60, the critical question about super is not how well it is invested. It is how much you can take out, how often, and in what order — so your money lasts as long as you do.

ASIC’s own Moneysmart research, cited in the report, found only one in three Australians on the cusp of retirement feel confident they will be financially comfortable once they stop working.

That is not because people are bad at saving. It is because so many funds still send generic communications and leave the harder questions unanswered.

Australia’s super system now holds more than $4.3 trillion in assets. Over 1.5 million member accounts are already in the retirement phase, holding about $575 billion combined. The stakes could hardly be higher.

What better-performing funds are doing differently

The report also highlights what better-performing funds are really doing.

Leading funds segment members by more than just age and account balance. They offer drawdown guidance that goes beyond the legislated minimum. They measure whether members are actually retiring with adequate income. And they refer members to specialist help for things like aged care, estate planning and the Age Pension.

That last point is important. For many Australians over 60, the Age Pension, savings, the family home and super all need to be considered together. Funds that treat super in isolation are not giving members the full picture.

Questions worth asking your super fund

If you are approaching retirement or already in it, consider asking your fund two simple questions.

What does your retirement income strategy say about people in my situation? And what guidance do you offer on drawdown beyond the legal minimum?

If the answers are vague or generic, that is useful information too. It may be time to seek independent advice that looks at your full financial picture — super, the Age Pension, savings and any home equity — rather than just one piece of it.

The regulator has now said out loud what many retirees already knew. The confusion many people feel about retirement income is not simply a personal failing. It is a system-wide gap that too many funds have been too slow to close.

Readers wanting to explore indicative figures based on their own circumstances can also use the Money at 60 home equity calculator.