Australia’s innovative investment platform, Spaceship, has generated an extraordinary 46.18% return for its Spaceship Universe Portfolio investment product in the 12 months to 30 June 2021.
Likewise, Spaceship’s flagship superannuation option, GrowthX, has returned 23.41% over the same period, making it among the country’s best performing superannuation fund options.
The results continue a stellar period for the Australian-based organisation, with the Spaceship Universe Portfolio returning an annualised performance of 30.39% and the GrowthX portfolio returning 15.69% since inception.
The Spaceship business has now hit a new milestone, reaching more than $1 billion in funds under management (FUM), cementing its position as a leader in the local micro-investing space.
Spaceship was launched in 2017 and offers both investment and superannuation products, specifically aimed at younger Australians under the age of 45.
Spaceship CEO Andrew Moore said the company was appealing to a new generation, eager to take control of their finances.
“Spaceship is very pleased to have introduced investing to hundreds of thousands of younger Australians, who have seen the benefits of backing a diversified group of domestic and international companies that they know and use every day,” Mr Moore said.
“Our most popular age group is aged 20-39 years old, who are investing an average $50 a week into Spaceship Voyager portfolios.”
“Spaceship Voyager balances range widely across the spectrum, with the average balance sitting around $2,500, reflecting our broad range of customers.”
Backed by Mike & Annie Cannon Brookes’ Grok Ventures and Airtree Ventures, the company boasts a 300,000-strong distribution list of its weekly emails and information about underlying stocks within its funds, to help improve financial understanding and sustainability for younger Australians.
Spaceship customer numbers for its investment and superannuation products have quadrupled in two years to reach almost 200,000 (100,000 customers in 2020 and 50,000 in 2019). Meanwhile, its FUM has more than doubled in the last 12 months from $415 million in July 2020 to more than $1 billion today.
Mr Moore said Spaceship was playing an influential role in how and why younger Australians now invest.
“As recently as three and a half years ago, younger Australians told us they wanted to invest but it was either too hard, too expensive or too complicated with the existing offerings at the time.”
“So we created one of the world’s most easy to use investment apps and younger Australians have responded with their wallets.”
“Many of them had not previously invested before coming to Spaceship and have shown huge interest in learning about the investment markets.”
“They have withstood the shocks of one of most volatile trading periods in decades and been tremendously resilient, showing how important time-in-the-market is to them.”
According to the ASX’s 2020 Investor Study, almost one quarter of Australians who have started investing in the past two years are aged 18 to 24 .
In addition, the Australian superannuation market is expected to be worth $5.4 trillion by 2030 , making it the fourth largest in the world, with more than 16 million Australians holding a super account .
Facts about Spaceship Voyager investors
- More than 85,000 of Spaceship investors invest regularly with investment plans.
- The most popular investment plan is $50 per week.
- The most popular age group is 20-39 year olds.
“Our customers are chipping away, putting smaller amounts aside over longer periods of time and seeing how that can make a substantial difference to their long-term wealth,” Mr Moore said.
“Rather than taking punts on penny stocks or recommendations from their mates, Spaceship’s customers have taken the clever route of setting up a regular investment plan in one of our managed funds, offering an ongoing investment opportunity in a variety of domestic and international companies.”
“Younger Australians are taking control of their finances, a trend that began well before the pandemic.”
Global studies show that investing is the number one goal for millennials’ disposable income over the next year .
Mr Moore added that Spaceship’s micro-investing arm had changed the way many Australians are now thinking about their biggest investment outside of their home: superannuation.
“Traditionally, younger Australians have been turned off by their super – thinking about it as an intangible bucket that seemed inaccessible,” he said.
“We know that at the beginning of last year, more than four million Australians didn’t know how much superannuation they had and nearly nine million didn’t know what their superannuation was invested in. ”
“But that is changing. As more Australians take up investing, they are increasingly asking more questions about their superannuation, holding their providers to account and checking whether it is invested appropriately, based on their appetite for risk.”
“Micro-investing apps such as Spaceship Voyager give new investors the opportunity to witness firsthand the benefits of time in the market versus timing the market, a crucial component in building wealth that we believe leads to further engagement with their superannuation investment.”
The Productivity Commission has estimated that moving from one of the worst-performing superannuation funds to one of the best-performing could boost the average worker’s retirement balance by $660,000 .
Spaceship Super received a Rainmaker AAA Quality Rating earlier in 2021, which is a research-backed reflection of a fund’s quality and performance.