The 5 best-performing high-octane super options (and the simple switch that could leave you 35% richer)

Livewire’s recent reporting on how different types of super funds have performed has generated huge interest from readers.

So far, we’ve looked at:

• The top-performing super funds of FY26
• The top-performing growth super funds of the past decade
• The super funds delivering the best returns for the risk they take

But we’ve heard you loud and clear: you want MORE.

Some of you aren’t exactly jumping for joy at long-term returns of less than 10% a year. Even Koda Capital's Sebastian Ferrando described the returns from our top-performing growth funds article as “ordinary. Not bad, not good.”

You wanted something a little more high-octane, eh? Well, we got you. We teamed up with SuperRatings to find out what happens when you dial up the risk and looked at:

• High growth options: These funds have a 91-100% weighting towards growth assets including equities.
• International shares options: We went one step further here, given global equities have been the source of some of the strongest returns in Australian portfolios in recent years.

And the numbers certainly kick things up a gear.

The best-performing high growth option returned 14.7% in FY26, while the top international shares option delivered a whopping 23.2%.

Those are markedly stronger numbers than we've seen from traditional growth and balanced options – and should give readers plenty more to think about when it comes to how much risk they're willing to take inside super.

The 5 best-performing high growth super options

SuperRatings data for the year to 30 June 2026 shows the median high growth option returned 11.9%, with all five of the top performers delivering more than 12%.

Spaceship GrowthX topped the rankings with 14.7%, followed by CFS High Growth at 13.4% and UniSuper High Growth at 13.1%.

Stretch the timeframe to five years and the rankings change considerably.

Perpetual WealthFocus's Global Allocation Alpha leads with a 10.9% annualised return, followed by Vision Super's Just Shares at 9.5% and Spaceship GrowthX at 9.3%.

There is an important lesson in the changing rankings: the option that shoots the lights out over one year won't necessarily lead over five. 

That's particularly important when we're talking about super, where the investment horizon isn't five years, but potentially 30, 40 or even 50.

International shares take it up another notch

If high growth isn't spicy enough, the international shares numbers certainly are.

The median international shares option returned 14.3% in FY26, comfortably ahead of the 11.9% high growth median.

At the pointy end, Mercer International Shares (Hedged) and Australian Retirement Trust's International Shares Index (hedged) both returned 23.2%. AMP's Specialist Hedged International Share option wasn't far behind at 20.8%.

Over five years, legalsuper Overseas Shares and Team Super International Shares lead the pack, both returning 13.2% per annum.

There is an obvious caveat here.

An international shares option is not simply a more aggressive version of a diversified high growth option - it is a single asset class strategy.

Currency also matters. The strong performance of hedged options in FY26 illustrates how currency movements can materially affect the returns Australian investors receive from overseas markets.

So these rankings aren't an invitation to pile your entire super balance into whichever option returned 23.2% last year!

The decision many Australians put off

As Jonathan Philpot, wealth management partner at HLB Mann Judd Sydney, explains, the more interesting question for Australians with decades until retirement may be whether they are taking enough investment risk with their super in the first place.

Philpot says one of the most common mistakes younger Australians make is assuming super is something they can worry about later.

“When we are in our 20s and even early 30s, retirement feels like a long way away, and thinking about superannuation savings seems like a waste of time.

I often hear younger clients say that they’ll start worrying about their super when they have a bit more in their fund, or once they are in their 40s, but that they have more important things to worry about now such as first home ownership or starting a family.

However, it doesn’t take much effort now to make an enormous difference to your retirement savings. Put it this way – if you could end up 35% richer in retirement with just a few basic changes, would that be worthwhile?"

Philpot says there are two main levers Australians can pull: contributing more than the compulsory 12% Superannuation Guarantee, and reviewing how their existing balance and future contributions are invested.

The first requires finding additional money. The second doesn't.

“... the fact that more people don’t take advantage of the second is, to me, simply staggering.”

How 1% could make you 35% richer

Many Australians who don't actively choose an investment strategy will end up in their fund's default investment option.

Philpot says a typical balanced option might hold around 70% in growth assets such as Australian and international shares, property and infrastructure, with the remainder in defensive assets such as fixed interest and cash. For investors with decades until retirement, that defensive allocation could potentially come at the expense of long-term growth.

“I would say a balanced option makes most sense for those who are currently retired and drawing a pension to live off. But younger Australians really need to ask themselves whether this option is right for them – and what they are leaving on the table by choosing it.”

Philpot estimates that shifting from a balanced to a growth option could potentially generate an additional 1% per annum in returns.

That might not sound like much, but compounding makes the difference increasingly powerful over time.

“Over 20 years it gives the super balance an additional 22 per cent boost, and over 30 years it is an additional 35 per cent. This is the magic of compounding – a seemingly small higher expected return produces a significant final difference to the outcome over 20-plus years.”

To put that into dollars, Philpot points to someone reaching age 60 with the average super balance at that age of $263,400. He estimates that earning an additional 1 percentage point per annum over 30 years could have left them with around $92,000 more in retirement savings.

That doesn't mean a growth option is right for everyone. Higher expected returns come with greater volatility, and an individual's investment horizon and tolerance for risk matter.

But Philpot says it's at least worth asking the question.

“As a general rule, if you are more than 10 years away from retirement, review your current investment choices and consider whether a more aggressive option within super is the way to go forward.”