About Super
Choosing a super fund
Contributions
Taxation
Super rates and thresholds
Preservation and accessing your benefits
Social Security
Lost Super
Financial Hardship
Superannuation guarantee
Super is a long-term way of saving for your retirement. By saving small amounts of money now, you can make sure you have enough to live off when you are older.
The benefits of super
There are many benefits of investing in super:
- tax effective - superannuation offers you a tax effective environment in which to save money for your future. Government reforms have increased the benefits of superannuation, by enabling people to access their money tax free in retirement (from age 60).
- access to different types of investments - super funds invest substantial amounts of money for their members. This means they can often choose investments that individuals wouldn't be able to access on their own.
- security - through legislation, the Government controls the way super funds manage assets and provide services to their members (although the risks
associated with investing still apply to superannuation).
- a way to save money - not everyone is good at saving money. Because super is compulsory and you can't access it until retirement (except in certain situations), it becomes a forced way of saving money. Although at times it may seem frustrating, most welcome it when they reach retirement and realise they actually do have money put away that can help them through their non-working years.
- access to insurance, often at cheaper premium rates - super funds can generally use their buying power to give their members a better insurance deal than if they individually applied to an insurance company. This is because they group their members together into a combined insurance policy. This enables super funds to buy insurance at generally cheaper group insurance rates.
This section of the website provides you with important information about super to help you learn how it works so you can make the most of your retirement savings.