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In This Chapter

▶ Taking four super facts seriously

▶ Knowing what makes a super fund tick

▶ Considering all of your super options

▶ Sizing up your current super fund, and your super entitlements

▶ Figuring out the fees your super fund charges

▶ Deciding whether to change super funds

U nless you own a goose that lays golden eggs, you need to create your own nest egg for your retirement. Like most Australians, you probably hope you’re going to have a good-sized egg, because you want your later years to be free from financial worries.

Your challenge, as a future retiree, is to create the most comfortable retirement that you can afford. The dilemma, however, when thinking about saving for retirement is whether to rely on the Age Pension, or to accumulate superannuation or private savings, or a combination of all of them. For the record, the Age Pension is around $427 a week – paid fortnightly – for a single person, or $644 a week as a couple (as at September 2014, applicable until March 2015, and increased in March and September each year).

In this chapter, I give you four reasons why your only true option is to take superannuation seriously, and explain why living solely on the Age Pension is no longer a lifestyle option. I take you through the key decisions that help you grow your super balance and list the important information you need to know about your super benefits. By reading this chapter, you find out what super fund options are available (including a self-managed super fund), and whether you’re in a position to change super funds. I also supply you with lots of interesting statistics that you can quote at dinner parties or use when pontificating at the pub.

Australians are living longer and, as a population, getting older. The federal government has made it clear that the Age Pension isn’t going to be as widely available by the time you retire (see Chapter 20 for an explanation of how the Age Pension interacts with your super benefits). Have you seriously considered this possibility?

Australia’s standard of living is one of the highest in the world, with one of the world’s most advanced health systems, using the latest, expensive technology. Because older people use the healthcare system more than any other age group, and the increasing number of older Australians is putting pressure on Age Pension expenditure, the decision makers in Canberra have peered into the country’s cookie jar and realised that the Anzac biscuits are running out. Fewer people are ‘making the biscuits’ as the numbers of workers entering retirement increases. The federal government is likely to ration the bikkies or break them up to ensure everyone gets their fair share. But workers have grown up expecting that they’re going to get a full serve.

What’s the solution? BYO – bake your own! Superannuation is Australia’s preferred recipe when it comes to ensuring that both you and I, and everyone else, save for retirement.