It’s not too late to reclaim your lost super
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) have released figures revealing there is almost $12 billion in lost super waiting to be claimed by Australians around the country.
A superannuation account is considered “lost” if the fund has been unable to contact, or has received a contribution from, the individual in five years. According to the ATO, there’s roughly $11.7 billion sitting in lost super accounts, just waiting to be claimed.
Figures from the ATO show the average lost super account has roughly $10,000 sitting in it, but the actual balance can vary greatly from a few hundred to in some cases a few hundred thousand dollars, depending on the remuneration and time in the job.
ATO deputy commissioner James O’Halloran told News.com.au, “You might be surprised. A lot of people who worked casually while they were studying or worked multiple part-time jobs find super they had completely forgotten about. While some people purposefully maintain a number of accounts, a lot of Australians are unaware their hard earned super is unnecessarily being eroded away by fees. We know that when it comes to big life events, updating your details with your super fund is one of the last things on your mind. One thing you can do is make sure your super fund has your tax file number. It helps us reunite you with your super down the track.”
Most of the time, the reason people lost track of their super was generally to do with changing jobs, moving house, forgetting to update details or a combination of the three.
O’Halloran added, “Unlike missing car keys, lost super isn’t hard to find. Over the past couple of years, we have made a lot of changes to our online services that make finding and consolidating your super simpler than ever. Once you have linked your MyGov account to ATO online services, you will be able to view all your super account details, including any that has been lost or forgotten about.”
Finding super that you’ve lost can make a huge difference to the lifestyle you can expect to enjoy in retirement. As Equip notes in a recent blog post, “According to Rice Warner, if we all held a single superannuation account, then the average account balance would increase by about 80%, to around $90,000 from the current average of $50,300.”
The good news is tracking down lost super is not as hard as you might think. For example, Equip provides a useful Supermatch service that can help track down any super you might be missing from other funds, so you can ensure your balance isn’t diminished by fees across multiple accounts.
Have you taken measures to retrieve lost super? Do you think enough is being done from the government to let people know what to do?
Let us know in the comments.
Equip manages $7 billion of investments for members working across a wide range of Australian industry sectors. This superannuation fund has been providing strong investment performance and has been a reliable provider of retirement benefits for over 80 years.
Related links:
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