Members of self-managed super funds were the most satisfied in the six months to March 2017, with an average satisfaction level of 76.2 per cent, the Roy Morgan Research survey shows. This marks an increase in satisfaction levels of 2.6 per cent over the last year.

Satisfaction in retail funds improved by 3 per cent, bringing satisfaction with retail funds to 60 per cent for the six months to March.

By contrast, industry super funds saw their satisfaction levels decline by 3.1 per cent over the year, putting the average satisfaction level for these funds over the six months to March down to 57.3 per cent. It’s the second consecutive month that retail funds have beaten their industry peers, a feat that hasn’t been seen since 2003 when the survey began.

Roy Morgan did, however, note that when looking at satisfaction levels among members with a super balance of more than $700,000, these figures were noticeably different.

“In the all-important high-value market with balances over $700,000, industry funds lead with 85.3 per cent satisfaction, compared to 76.1 per cent for retail funds,” the company said.

“This is the segment where competition is greatest from self-managed super funds, which have shown a decline in satisfaction of 2.5 percentage points over the last year to 75.9 per cent.”