Question 1

What is cash??

Accepted Answer

The cash asset class includes, but is not limited to investments in money at call, short-term bank bills, and term deposits.

Question 2

What are equities?

Accepted Answer

Shares in companies that are either listed on an exchange or not publicly traded. From time to time this can include equities held as security for financing trades undertaken by the cash asset class which is distinct from the Australian and International shares asset classes.

Question 3

What is property?

Accepted Answer

Investments in real estate assets and strategies that may include office buildings, shopping centres, industrial warehouses, and residential housing. Investments in property include investment in property operating platforms that both own and operate property assets.

Question 4

What is infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure includes assets that help governments and communities operate. These assets might include roads, trains, ports, airports, hospitals, schools, or utilities like electricity and water. It can also include digital infrastructure like registries and data centres.

Question 5

What are alternatives?

Accepted Answer

Alternative investments include commodities, multi asset class investments, and active strategies that take advantage of market trends. They don&rsquo;t meet conventional definitions like cash, fixed income, equities, property or infrastructure.

Question 6

What is fixed income?

Accepted Answer

Fixed income assets are like loans to a government or company.

Question 7

What are derivates?

Accepted Answer

These are financial contracts that get (or derive) value from the performance of another asset or group of assets. This can include investments like equities, fixed income or currencies. We use derivatives including but not limited to: forwards, futures, options, and swaps. We may use derivatives to manage risk and exposure, and rebalance investment options to their target asset allocation. We use a combination of derivatives to reflect the risk characteristics of each asset class.

Question 8

What is currency exposure?

Accepted Answer

The value of overseas investments can be impacted by currency movements. The effects of currency movement on an investment can be reduced by &lsquo;currency hedging&rsquo;. This fixes the value of the Australian dollar relative to one or a number of foreign currencies. For more information, please refer to the PDS that applies to you under the section titled &lsquo;Currency management&rsquo;.

Question 9

Why do you invest in unlisted assets?

Accepted Answer

We hold a significant allocation to unlisted asset classes, particularly the key unlisted asset classes: unlisted equity (or private equity), infrastructure, property and private credit (part of unlisted alternatives). We hold these assets because we believe they'll deliver strong, long-term returns, while reducing our members' exposure to share market volatility.

Question 10

How do you value the unlisted assets?

Accepted Answer

Unlisted assets aren't generally traded on public markets, so valuations are less frequent. Investment managers engage independent valuation specialists to do valuations, often from the four major global accounting firms or specialist valuation firms. When investment managers appoint valuers, we provide input on the selection of the valuer. As part of this, we ensure their valuation method complies with the requirements of our regulator (APRA) and the relevant fair value requirements of the Australian and international accounting standards. At least 80% of our unlisted asset holdings are revalued in any given quarter. This process ensures that the daily unit price Australian Retirement Trust provides to our members is a fair and accurate reflection of the value of the assets in the investment options.

Question 11

What product does the portfolio holding relate to?

Accepted Answer

The portfolio holdings are for the investment options offered by Australian Retirement Trust as at 31 December 2024.

Question 12

Why does Australian Retirement Trust disclose its holdings?

Accepted Answer

The law requires superannuation trustees to disclose their portfolio holdings as at 30 June and 31 December each year. We also value the trust our members place in us to invest their super savings on their behalf. So we believe it&rsquo;s important to be transparent and make it easy to see what they're invested in.

Question 13

How often will the information be updated?

Accepted Answer

The holdings will be updated twice a year, as at 30 June and 31 December. We aim to provide the updates within 90 days of those dates.

Question 14

Why have you displayed the information in this format?

Accepted Answer

The format is required to be displayed in accordance with Schedule 8D of the Corporations Regulations 2001 (Cth). This should make it easier for members to compare our holdings against those of other superannuation funds. Note: you may notice that this may be different to the asset classes described in the PDS that applies to you.

Question 15

Can I ask for a holding to be removed or added from an investment option?

Accepted Answer

No. When you invest with us, the investment options are managed by our team of investment professionals who determine the holdings to aim to achieve the investment objectives set out in the PDS that applies to you.

Question 16

What does internally and externally managed mean?

Accepted Answer

Internally managed assets are managed by the Australian Retirement Trust investment team directly. For internally managed assets, the report will display the name of the asset. For externally managed assets, we will display the investment manager appointed by our investment team to manage the asset on our behalf.

Question 17

Why do we aggregrate some of the investment holdings data?

Accepted Answer

This is in accordance with section 1017BB Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the Corporations Regulations 2001 (Cth) and ensures that the underlying data is protected for commercial reasons.

What we invest in

Take a closer look

Common asset classes super funds invest in are:

Shares/equities

Fixed income

Property

Infrastructure

Cash

Alternatives

Our holdings

Superannuation investments

Retirement investments

QSuper holdings

FAQs

Assets and asset classes

Risk management

Investment options