By Chris Carlin, Glasshouse Wealth
THE start of a new year is always a natural reset, but 2026 is a particularly good time to review your overall financial position. Interest rates, markets, legislation and household budgets have all shifted over the past few years, and many people are still running on strategies that were set in a very different environment.
Investment performance is part of that review, particularly within superannuation. Over the 2025 calendar year, diversified “default balanced” super options generally delivered solid results. However, one of Australia’s largest super funds underperformed its peers by around 1–2%. That gap may sound small, but over decades it can translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars less in retirement savings.
Past performance is not an indicator of future returns, but it does leave clues. If your fund or portfolio has consistently lagged, it’s worth understanding why. Is it a temporary blip, or is the strategy more conservative, more expensive, or structured in a way that may no longer suit your goals, values, or where markets are heading?
Performance, though, is only one piece of the puzzle. New jobs, children, property purchases, business ownership, health changes and updated legislation all impact how much risk you should take and how your money should be structured, especially from a tax perspective.
That’s why financial plans are written in paper, not in stone. Markets change. Rules change. Life changes. A good plan adapts with them.
“Set and forget” can work for a while, but only if you remember to come back and check whether your plan reflects the future you’re actually building toward, not the past you’ve already outgrown.
