End of Financial Year Investment Update: June 30, 2026
Rest has delivered strong results for all our diversified options for the financial year, marking four years in a row of positive returns.
Rest’s default option Growth returned 9.81% for the financial year, driven by the resilience of global share markets and our investments in private equity and infrastructure.
Our default pension option Balanced also performed well, delivering 8.28%.
Both options continued to achieve their investment objectives, helping our members stay ahead of inflation over the longer term. They also delivered returns above their long-term annual averages over both 10 and 20 years.
With Rest’s FY2026 returns across many of our options also above their ten-year annual averages*, we are pleased to continue helping our members grow their retirement savings over the long term.
| Option Return (%) | 1 year | 10 years p.a. | Since inception p.a. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth (Super) | 9.81 | 7.60 | 8.37 |
| Balanced (Pension) | 8.28 | 6.86 | 7.46 |
Source: Rest, 30 June 2026. Returns are net of investment fees and tax, except Pension, which is untaxed. *Sustainable Growth, Growth – Indexed, Overseas Shares – Indexed and Australia Shares - Indexed do not have a ten year history. The earnings applied to members’ accounts may differ. Returns for periods greater than one year are annualised. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. Inception dates are 1 July 1988 for Growth and 13 September 2002 for the Balanced (Pension) option.
Asset class returns
Source: Rest and FactSet, 30 June 2026. Returns are net of fees and tax.
All asset classes delivered positive returns this year, with private equity, infrastructure, and global shares the strongest performers.
What happened over the year?
The year started with steady economic growth and a supportive environment for investment markets, despite concerns about trade disruption. Although some uncertainty about the outlook remained, tariffs ultimately had little impact.
As the year unfolded, markets proved surprisingly resilient. Volatility was (and is) an ongoing feature, with persistent inflation and uncertainty around interest rates, and impacts from geopolitical tensions. Despite these challenges, global shares delivered their fourth consecutive year of double-digit returns, supported by innovation and optimism around artificial intelligence (AI).
Australian share markets underperformed their global counterparts, with less exposure to artificial intelligence (AI) – the biggest driver of returns. Australian share markets were driven by rising commodity prices with stocks exposed to gold, iron ore, and critical minerals performing well alongside energy stocks, which also benefitted from the Middle East conflict.
Inflation remained a key challenge. In the US and Australia, prices stayed stubbornly high, due to a combination of wages, energy costs, and strong housing demand. In Australia, higher prices and three interest rate rises raised the cost of living, while the backdrop of the Middle East war raised power and petrol prices, making life more challenging for consumers and our members.
The year ended on a more positive note as the share market surged to a two-month high in June after the US and Iran announced an interim deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices tumbling and easing inflation jitters.
We saw how markets were largely driven by two key themes across the year, each creating its own set of challenges and opportunities, and highlighting the importance of Rest’s long-term and thematic approach to investing.
Theme 1: Geopolitics and deglobalisation
Geopolitical tensions continued to reshape the global economy, particularly around energy security, supply chains and national resilience. Events in the Middle East highlighted how quickly disruptions can affect energy markets, inflation and investor confidence.
While these events can create short-term volatility, they also reinforce the importance of a long-term approach to investing. This event links strongly into our deglobalisation theme. We believe geopolitical risk is pushing countries to secure their own energy supplies, creating opportunities across areas such as infrastructure, energy transition and supply chain transformation.
Theme 2: AI
The rise of AI is presenting both the biggest risks and opportunities in decades, and it’s being felt across all asset classes and all industries. We’ve seen phenomenal rises in AI and tech stocks alongside significant falls as the technology disrupts business models.
AI disruption creates an investment environment where careful analysis matters. Understanding which companies and assets will benefit sustainably from AI, and which may be disrupted, requires a disciplined investment approach focused on long-term quality rather than short-term market movements.
Thoughts and outlook
We expect market volatility will continue across 2026. But we view it as a feature, not a flaw, of investing. Inherent in every risk is an opportunity, and our mission is to look through the noise and find the best places to deploy our members’ super savings.
We know that periods of geopolitical and market uncertainty present opportunities to set the portfolio up well for the future by buying high-quality assets at better prices.
When investing it’s important to recognise the difference between short-term cyclical change like oil prices, and long-term structural changes such as AI disruption and the energy transition. We position the portfolio to take advantage of both - while managing risks and finding opportunities. We also believe that AI is changing how economies grow and how we work—and it’s changing rapidly. AI and data centres are also placing increased demands on power supplies and increasing the urgency of the energy transition. This and the evolving geopolitical landscape are just some of the reasons infrastructure continues to present compelling investment opportunities as both energy security and supply become increasingly important.
In an uncertain world, we believe diversification and targeting high-quality assets remain key. Our diversified portfolios have remained resilient through difficult environments because of how we invest – with a long-term mindset, a focus on quality, and an ability to build well-balanced portfolios.
While strong returns over a year are welcomed, we continue to focus on the long term to help our members build their retirement savings and enjoy their best futures.