Its That Time of Year Again Aussie Expats – Superannuation Reports

 

Yep, its time to receive your annual superannuation reports. Experience tells me that most expats will throw it in the bin.

However this year I want you to do something different. I want you to open the envelope and actually have a look inside. You’re not going to find the golden ticket that allows you to visit Willie Wonka but it may make all the difference when it comes to enjoying a comfortable retirement.

Let me explain. Whether you like it or not every day of the week, every week of the year fees and charges are being deducted from your super fund regardless of whether the product or service being provided to you is appropriate or not. The only person that is going to fix that is you.

• Do you have insurance inside of your superannuation account that you won’t be able to claim on because you aren’t a resident of Australia? Surely they can’t deduct premiums for something they won’t payout on? Wrong. They can and they do.
• Do you have multiple superannuation accounts? Did you know that most superannuation funds charge their administration fees on a tiered basis? What that means is that the higher your balance the less the administration fee is as a percentage of the portfolio. By maintaining 2, 3 or even more super funds you are keeping your balances in the lower range of the tier charging schedule for each of these funds which means you could be paying a lot more in admin fees than you should. Consolidate, consolidate, consolidate your super funds.
• How is your superannuation fund currently being invested? The vast majority of expats we meet wouldn’t have a clue. If you have an investment time frame of 10-20 years and are not risk adverse then your funds being invested in a conservative fund may not be appropriate for you. Its the small percentage changes in returns now which make the biggest difference when it comes to your retirement balance.

As you can see from the above points just giving your superannuation account(s) 30-60 minutes of your time in this one period of the year could possibly make a large difference when it comes to the size of your pot of gold when you retire.

This was a post written on LinkedIn by our Managing Director Brett Evans. To view the original click here.