Why is superannuation important?

Answer 1

An outline of what superannuation is and how it works. When you retire, how will you earn an income or have money to live? Who will buy you food and keep a shelter over your roof? Superannuation is the answer. It is a way of saving up for when you retire, become invalid (unable to work) or beneficiaries upon your death. You should save small amounts of money now, so you can make sure you have enough to live on when you're old.

If you have a job, your employer has to put money in to a super fund or a retirement savings account (RSA) for you, and what's good is that this money comes from your employer directly not from your pay packet. Most people start saving up for superannuation when they start work because their employer has to pay contributions. If you want to, you can also put extra money into the account yourself, this is called a personal contribution, or you can add money to your employers contribution from your pay this is called salary sacrificing. This means that you choose to take less money from your salary and have this added to your employers contribution. This comes off your gross salary which means you don't have to pay tax and you save money. If you are self employed you can choose to have a superannuation or not. All this money over the years is invested for you, making compound interest, and is available for you to live off when you retire. Superannuation covers full-time, casual, and part-time workers if you are earning more than $450/week and are over 18 and under 70 years, or if you are under 18 you must work for 30 hours or more for it to comply. Most of the time, your employer must give you a minimum of 9% of your earnings towards your superannuation.

Personal contributions are where you take money from your net salary after tax and contribute it into superannuation. If you are self employed then you might be able to claim your contributions on tax deductions. You can also put money into your partners superannuation and claim tax on that too. If you put money into super after it has been taxed then you can be eligible for other benefits like CO-contribution.

Super funds are managed by trustees. They all follow their own rules. They are designed to make sure that your super is managed properly. Retirement savings accounts are similar to super funds, they allow you to save up for when you retire, become invalid (unable to work) or beneficiaries upon your death.

You have the choice of which fund that you put your superannuation into. Even though most people put their money into a superannuation fund that is offered by their employer, most of the time you can choose to switch your fund. Its not compulsory to change your fund but it might be worthwhile having a look around and seeing what funds offer what features e.g. fees and charges, death and disability benefits, insurance premiums, investment strategies and performance, fund features and services.

If you have died or become disabled a lump sum of your super can be paid tax free to someone who relies on you. This money can be paid to someone that doesn't rely on you for 15% tax surcharge. To access your super before you retire, you must be in an extraordinary circumstance. You must have severe financial hardship, if there is a terminal medical condition or be on compassionate grounds.

There are scams out there called superannuation scams. They offer an early access to your superannuation through a self-managed superannuation fund for a fee. This is not legal as the superannuation cannot be accessed until you are 60 years old unless you suffer from the above conditions. So anyone who offers you early access to your superannuation is acting illegally. To take your superannuation out early You will have heavy penalties taken out in tax. You can be offered these chances by someone who is pretending to be a financial adviser, they might say that they can promise a quick and easy unlock of your money. The scammers trick your superannuation fund into paying their client money in cash, saying you are willing to pay the fees and they take all the money and disappear. Also they might keep you in the loop a bit and make you agree on a story, and they might even give you a little bit of money and take all of the 'fees'. Signs to look out for scams are anything to do with early access to your superannuation, quick and easy 'unlock' of your superannuation and if the promoter of the scheme claims to be a financial adviser. To protect yourself make sure that you use common sense; if the offer is to good to be true then it is, if someone is pressuring you into making decisions it is very suspicious and you should investigate the validity of the adviser. There are organisations out there for you to get help like: ASIC, Australian taxation office, ACCC, FIDO.

You have to make sure that you keep a record of all of your superannuation because it is your money for when you retire. It could be your biggest asset you will have in your life. It is kind of like a bank savings account and if you don't look after it and make sure that you are being paid then you might be missing out.

Personal contributions are where you take money from your net salary after tax and contribute it into superannuation. If you are self employed then you might be able to claim your contributions on tax deductions. You can also put money into your partners superannuation and claim tax on that too. If you put money into super after it has been taxed then you can be eligible for other benefits like CO-contribution. We will talk about this in more detail next.

The CO-contribution scheme. On July 1, 2003, the super CO-contribution scheme was started. It was the governments way of helping low to middle paid workers save more for their super. If you contribute your own money into superannuation or a retirement savings account, the government will match your contribution, every one dollar you put into super (from a non taxed personal contribution) you get $1.50. Your maximum amount is $1,500. However, you must reduce this by 5c for every dollar you earn over $30,342 and up to $60,342.

You are eligible for the CO-contribution scheme if: # You make a personal super contribution by 30 June each year into a complying super fund or retirement savings account # Your total income is less than $60,342 (this is indexed annually to reflect changes in average wages) # 10% or more of your total income is from eligible employment, running a business or a combination of both # You are less than 71 years old at the end of the year of income # You do not hold an eligible temporary resident visa at any time during the year # Lodge your income tax return. You don't need to apply for the CO-contribution. All you need to do is make sure you: make personal superannuation contributions (after tax) to your super fund or RSA fund and lodge an income tax return. This is not available to you if you decide to tax deduct any of your personal contributions that you have put in.

Why is superannuation important? Superannuation is so important because it is all about providing money for your retirement. It is one of the most important investment decisions you will ever make in your life. Because of that Australia is an ageing population with life expectancies increasing, it would be illogical to think that the government will be able to provide for everyone when they retire. The government has made it as compulsory as it can, because it doesn't want to pay you money. It has made it more inviting for us to put our money into superannuation by having generous tax benefits so your money can last you your retirement years.