It Pays To Keep Your Super Together
It Pays To Keep Your Super Together
There is over $17 billion dollars in lost and unclaimed super money in Australia. Some of this money could be yours.
Losing unclaimed super is like throwing money away. If you’ve changed jobs a few times you have probably ended up with more than one super account. This is because every time you start a new job your employer is required to pay the superannuation guarantee (currently 9.5% of your gross wage) into an eligible superannuation fund on your behalf. And unless you notify your new employer about your existing super fund, a new super account will be established for you.
As time goes on, it’s easy to forget about your unclaimed super accounts. These accounts become inactive when two years pass without any member activity. When this happens, the accounts are considered to be lost or unclaimed and may end up on the ATO’s Lost Member Register.
Get your super on track
Having multiple super accounts generally isn’t a good idea because you:
- Pay duplicate fees
- Don’t know what you’re invested in
- Have extra paperwork
- May be missing out on entitlements.
The end result is that your money is not being invested as efficiently as possible.
Do something about it now or the Government will do it for you
From 2014, the government introduced a new process for automatically locating and consolidating multiple member accounts. Under this process, lost and inactive accounts with balances of $1,000K or less are consolidated into the member’s current active account unless the member opts out.
While this process helps reduce the number of lost super accounts, it may derail your existing financial arrangements.
Consolidating your super has many benefits
By actively taking charge of your super accounts you will be able to make decisions that work for you. What’s more, consolidating your super into a single account will make a big difference to your super savings.