The $23 billion government fund QSuper has found that a proportion of its members do not have a basic understanding of their superannuation.

Conducted by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), the survey included understanding compound interest, differences between credit card and home loan interest rates and the need to diversify investment, as a basic level of financial literacy. 

Although men had a better understanding than women of basic investment concepts, both genders were lacking when it came to advanced financial literacy.

"While we found a clear distinction on basic literacy between men and women, at the higher level there was less differentiation between the two, with either gender achieving relatively low scores," QUT professor Natalie Gallery said.

Members who sought financial advice had a better understanding of investments, according to the survey.

Those who had an advanced level of understanding however, still did not fully understand the risks inherent in the fund's investment options.

The findings are consistent with a previous national study on consumer research conducted by the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST).

That study found 25 per cent of people did not see superannuation as being their money and 20 per cent were unaware of how much superannuation they actually had.

"Improved financial literacy is even more critical in this current environment of negative superannuation returns, so that people can make informed, rather than knee-jerk decisions about their retirement savings," AIST chief executive Fiona Reynolds said.