September 30 2024
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What are index investment options?

Heard about index investment options but not sure what they are? Rest offers index options as part of a range of investment choices that have different risk and return profiles. Let’s look at what choice Rest offers, so you can consider which one’s right for you. 


Most of us may not read the financial papers from cover to cover or watch the stock markets like a hawk. But that doesn’t mean we don’t care about how our super is invested. Part of our job at Rest is to help you make the most of your super.

That’s why we offer a range of different super options to help get your money working for you.

What’s the difference between active management and index investing in super?

First, let’s start with some basics. When you’re choosing how to invest your super, there’s a few options to consider. A key one is how much risk you are comfortable with. Generally, more risky investment options have potentially higher returns. Risk is also a key consideration in choosing active or index options.

Active vs Index

Actively managed investment options are where a team of investment managers aim to outperform the stock market and manage market risk by adjusting your portfolio. This includes trading shares, bonds, or other assets relevant to your option, and making regular investment decisions on your behalf.

This doesn’t generally happen in index options. Instead, your money is invested with the aim of replicating the returns of the market that you’ve invested in, as represented by the index. For example, if you opt for an Australian shares index, shares will be bought (and sold) for you with the aim of closely tracking the market of the index, like the S&P/ASX300.

Once you’ve chosen what to invest in, your investment outcome should simply follow the market return, be it up, or down. This is where understanding risk is important.

When you choose an index option, you aim to get the market return. This is great when markets are rising, but if markets fall, so will the value of your investment. Because the option is not actively managed, the risks are not managed as the index option will follow the market during a market fall.

The benefits of index investing can include low fees, simplicity and cost-effective access to the market covered by the index.

Why are there no investment fees for index investment options?

Because Rest’s actively managed options involve more direct management of investing than index options, you’ll pay an investment fee. For example, our default investment option, Growth, is actively managed by our investment team, and therefore has an investment fee.

For our index options, the investment fee is 0%. However, you will still need to pay other fees and costs, including administration fees and costs, transaction costs, buy-sell spread and insurance fees (if applicable) in relation to your super. You can read more about this in the PDS available at rest.com.au/pds.

Want to learn more?