It is important to take control of your super and there are two simple ways to do this, by checking how much your fees are costing you and compare the returns your fund is achieving compared to others. Every year these figures are published and are easy to find.
What is the standard fee for your superfund?
It is commonly excepted that the average fees for a superannuation fund is $500 per $500 invested. This figure is inclusive of administration fees and investment fees. However, some funds such as Sunsuper $368 and ING Living super $375 have smaller fees than the average. Higher fees can have a large impact on how much super you will have, so it is important to shop around and pick a fund with lower fees.
Is your return matching the rest of the industry?
2017 was a great year for superfunds with a median return of 10.8%. The best performing funds were Hostplus 13.2% and Australian Super 12.4%. If you look at the historical data, these two funds and the other top 10 performers have been in there year on year. So, it might be time to pay attention to your superfunds return and compare it to the top funds in Australia. Because like the fees you pay having a low returning fund can substantially reduce the amount of super you have to retire on.
Now is a good time to be logging onto your superfund and seeing how it performed this year in comparison to other superfunds and also take the time to have a careful look at the amount of fees you have paid. Because changing to a superfund with lower fees and higher returns can result in ten of thousands of dollars more at retirement.
