Unclaimed Super is a big deal
Today, we are talking about unclaimed Superannuation and again, I know I talk about some of the most exciting topics on the planet…..
But let’s get just a teensy bit serious here.
In Australia, there is over fourteen million dollars ($14,000,000!!!) of Superannuation that has been unclaimed or lost.
I’ll say it again. Fourteen million dollars!!!
Some of that could be yours and that means you could be missing out on your retirement savings!
This is money you’ve EARNED and washed down the drain!
How do you make sure you’ve got your earnings under wraps?
- Create a MyGov Account: Located on the Australian Government website, this is an account that links your data from various Government organisations including Centrelink, Medicare and the Australian Tax Office (ATO). You can find MyGov on my.gov.au. Be sure you search for the Australian Government website.
- Link your MyGov Account to your ATO Account: Once you’ve created a MyGov account, you can link it to the ATO. All you need to do input – in a secure format – your Tax File Number and your date of birth. And once you’ve done this, you can link your MyGov account with your ATO account. From there, you can search for any unclaimed Superannuation tracked by your Tax File Number. It’s that simple; it should take no more than 30 minutes to find out if you have any unclaimed Superannuation.
Claim your Superannuation
Then what happens if you do find you have unclaimed Superannuation? If you are;
- over 65 years old, or
- permanently disabled, or
- temporarily lived in Australia – on a working holiday Visa for instance – and no longer reside in Australia
You might be able claim the outstanding Superannuation as a cheque or electronic funds transfer.
Collate your Superannuation
If you don’t qualify for any of the three factors listed above, you can request your unclaimed Superannuation to be collated with the main Superannuation fund that you already have. Collating your Superannuation equals lower fees and more Superannuation for your retirement. This process is as simple as competing a form that we’ve posted the links for at the bottom of this blog. You can use this as a resource going forward or forward to someone you know who has unclaimed Superannuation.
What to do if you have Multiple Superannuation Accounts
What if you already have multiple Superannuation funds? This often happens if you change employer and don’t give the new employer your existing Superfund details. The new employer is obligated to pay you Superannuation so will do so will create an account for you using their preferred fund. Inevitably, you’ll end up with multiple accounts linked to your Tax File Number. It also means you’ll be paying multiple management and account keeping fees for these various funds. That will reduce your overall savings for when you decide to retire.
A solution is:
Review your Superannuation funds with a financial planner: Work out which of the superfunds is the best one for you, such as
- the fund with the lowest fees, in order to maximise your return when you retire, or
- the fund with the most contributions in it and transfer the other, smaller existing funds to it.
Update your Superfund details with your employer: Check with your employer which Fund they are using for your Superannuation. If it isn’t the one you’ve chosen, then provide them with your updated account details, including the Superannuation compliance statement.
Overall, updating your Superfund is a very simple procedure that shouldn’t take more than an hour of your time but that can save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of Superfund management fees.
I hope this is helpful to you? If you know anybody that has multiple Superannuation Funds, get them to watch this video because we want to help as many people as we can.
And have yourself a really great week and we’ll see you again in next week’s episode of Catalyst Plus TV.