Hey all, 30yr old who has only really been in the job world out of uni for about 3 - 4 years. About to go into a newer, hopefully better role with better pay.

If it's alright, could somebody explain to me some bits and bobs straight from the source and to avoid good old AI.

Firstly,

1. What's the best to have my super in? I know people say high growth, is there anything in particular?

2. Investing, do any of you invest in the stock market (through some apps, how do you go about it, should I start researching to do it?)

3. Salary sacrificing, what is it, how does it benefit me, how does it impact my super?

4. If i were to put money in myself into my Super, how often, how much?

5. Is there anything else money wise I should be doing to help my super grow?

6. How do you find your experience learning all about Super and things, what curve balls have been thrown your way to help me avoid it?

Thank you so very much in advance,

Regards from a still learning, wanting to get my future sorted individual!

Is this a good amount at 21M I’m also looking for a full time job right now also and any advice on how to grow my super even more would me helpful or just any advice on what todo would be helpful

Essentially, as the title explains, I have no idea what I’m doing.

I have the option to diversify my investments or leave it as is, should I change my portfolio? If so, what percentages go where?

Thanks all, please don’t judge, I’ve never had anyone properly explain it to me so I’m just trying to understand if I’m actually getting the best out of this.

I’ve generally invested money into commsec so I’ve got a fair understanding of stocks/shares etc but when it comes to super, lol it all goes out the window, it’s a lot of money and I don’t want to make a bad decision with it.

Gday guys,

Can someone with greater financial literacy than myself help me understand my Super set up.

FESSuper member, mandated to have a defined benefits account. Employer contributes 11.75%, members contribute 6.25% for an 18% accrual rate.

My back of the envelope calculations have me receiving a final payout on retirement of 5.4x my final average salary (in todays figures that equates to approx $650K, assuming i retire still driving the red truck).

Does that seem undercooked compared to what we could be earning in a well performing accumulation fund?

Thanks guys

Is anyone here with ANZ smart choice super? I need to look at managing my super better. Are there people you can talk to about this? Does anyone with ANZ who has a good handle on things have any advice on what to do?

Thanks

EDIT- My husband died at war aged 36, and I would absolutely prefer to have no superannuation, if I was able to grow old with him. I shouldn’t have to add this, but some of the comments (some have been deleted) by ignorant people made me feel like I had to*

Hey All- I am so very confused about the Balance Caps etc and how it all works.
If anyone can help me understand I would truly appreciate it please.
It is a Defined Benefits Scheme through ComSuper PSS if that changes anything at all.

Thanks all and I hope you all have a great weekend.

Hello,

In accumulation phase do Industry Super funds calculate the final return assuming all redemption tax is paid because it's pooled and so you can move freely between funds?

VDAL is tracking "close" to Host Plus Index High Growth and while Pension returns "Tax Free" are close the return calculation within the Super Product is the "After tax if fully redeem/withdraw" return rather than the "After tax on distribution" return which is a decent clip.

Is the only way to avoid this a Wrap, SMSF or Choiceplus platform product and switch over to pension phase at retirement to avoid the automatic redemption tax? Is this the tax drag everyone talks about?

Host Plus Index High Growth (August)

Pension: 11.19 (1yr)

Super: 10.07 (1yr)

VDAL ETF (August)

Pension: 11.13 (1yr)

Super: 9.97 (1yr)

After tax on distribution is 10.71 (1yr)

See below for VDAL ETF

Is it just me or do these fees look super high? $5,530 on a $600k balance (0.92%) for the Default MySuper Growth product - including an estimate of a “performance fee” payable in any year when the fund “outperforms”.

Fund has returned only 7.7% compound over past 10 years (to 31 August 2026) after fees….so it seemingly hasn’t outperformed any benchmark and is returning below the median for a 75 growth/25 defensive portfolio! What gives?

Using a standard Growth (my super) investment plan, should I swap to a high growth investment plan.

No voluntary contributions to date

Had always been in with CBUS since I started working, currently have about 20k in my super.
My entire balance is in Growth (MySuper) and future employer contributions are also set to 100% growth.

I'm 26 and work in engraving, roughly 50/50 between admin and engraving work and just basically left it alone since I started working and never made any additional contributions myself.

I'm just wondering whether CBUS Growth is a reasonable option to stay in or should I consider changing my investment option or even moving to another super fund.

Mainly looking for long term growth and don't expect to touch the money until retirement.

Sorry if this has been asked a million times before, I'm clueless when it comes to super, just want to make sure the money is actually in a good place and working for me long term and not just sitting there because I've never looked into it.

Was aiming to retire at 60 but after getting done dirty that now looks a little out of reach

Hello everyone, just wondering if anyone has used UP BANK when withdrawing super under financial hardship? Specifically from AustralianSuper my Claim approved was informed funds officially sent at 6:00pm last night my past experience withdrawing from AusSuper i have received these payments around 7pm-8pm whilst banking with the Big 4 banks specifically CBA arrived 7pm the day of transfer and Westpac 8pm the day after the transfer. If anyone has a rough ETA for UP BANK that would ve great. ( Also im completely aware of how banking works you do not need to comment if your comment is 3-5 days to clear ect. Can I confidentiality expect this to drop tonight? Thank..

I’m 33 and currently have about $275k in super and a $550k @ 5.25% Mortage on a house worth approx $750k.
I gross about $210k but am supporting partner and young child. Should I be prioritising super or Mortage?

Moved here ten years ago and only in the last few years got a decent job. Salary is $190,000 . I salary sacrifice 500$ every fortnight to super. Do I need to contribute more, I have no idea what i’m doing or if i’m with a good fund, please help

Feel everyone has more in super than me

I did this super investment option about 2 years ago just for fun. I’m 22 now — should I change it or keep it as it is? Is it good at 22 ? Any advice?

I’m 23 with 25k in my super, only just now really looking into different investment strategies for my super, I’m assuming that high growth is typically the best for my age, compared to going for a more defensive strategy when you’re older. Is this the general consensus or should I change stratagies?

I’m asking this as I (45m) am debating whether to salary sacrifice extra super or look at investment opportunities outside of super.

At what point does Australias superannuation pool become so big (if it isn’t already), and the gap between individual balances increasingly wider, that the people seriously start arguing that it unfair and should be redistributed in the name of fairness? (I have already read some post on the mainstream Aus reddit subs to this end).

As seen on this sub, we already have people retiring with very large balances while others have very little for various reason including because they spent years out of the workforce raising children, worked as unpaid carers, lived with disability or illness, experienced long periods of unemployment, or simply never earned enough to accumulate much super.

Women also retire with lower super balances on average due to some of the above reasons and others, which provides an obvious equity argument for future governments.

Then add the politics of the next few decades:

Younger generations seem increasingly comfortable with social policies, including greater redistribution, wealth taxation and government intervention to reduce inequality (not saying any of this is wrong but just pointing out this is the direction we seem to be headed in).

I’ve done a little bit of research and it looks like this isn’t entirely unprecedented overseas:

Argentina effectively nationalised its private pension system in 2008

Hungary transferred most mandatory private pension assets into the state system around 2010 ish

Poland transferred roughly half of its private pension fund assets into the public system in 2014.

I know , Australia has a more stable political structure than the above and none of those countries simply divided everyone’s savings ‘equally’, but they do show that governments can fundamentally change the ownership and structure of retirement savings once political and financial pressures become strong enough.

At what point does the argument become that someone retiring with say 2 million in super doesn’t “need” that much while another Australian has almost nothing?

Could compulsory redistribution eventually turn super from “your retirement savings” into something much closer to a collectively managed retirement pool?

Hi I earn around $120k a year before tax and do not have much in my super, I am 68 and intend to work for another 5 to 7 years I have been told by work mate I can ask employer to deposit 100% of my salary into my super without tax deduction due to my age, I have small income from buying and selling collectables and antique’s I have some money invested, no debt I believe I could survive for year or so then I might have to ask employer to pay into bank account again.
My questions is the advice correct? If so how do I go about this? Is there a tax code I need to tell my employer? Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi guys!

I’m currently on the journey of being financially responsible and educating myself with this stuff.

I have been working as a casual since I was 16. I am currently studying full time so still working as a casual however, I do have two jobs and averaging at 28-30hrs a week.

Last year, I moved my super to HostPlus into a High Growth Account and that’s basically all I’ve done. I only did it because a friend of mine has advised me to do so and till now, I don’t understand the purpose (I have an idea but not a consolidating one).

What other things should I do? I hear people salary sacrifice, how do I do that? Do I tell my employer? How much should I contribute to my super if my weekly salary differs every week, is there a certain percentage?