Education videos

Hello, and welcome to AustralianSuper's Get your super sorted presentation.

When life gets busy, setting time aside to look after important financial matters like super can sometimes be quite challenging. So we have designed this presentation to provide you with simple and practical steps to help you take control of your superannuation.

My name is Yen Du. I'm an Education Manager at AustralianSuper, and my role is to help you better understand how superannuation works.

Before we begin, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and we pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and also extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Please note the information we cover in this presentation is general financial advice. This means we haven't taken into account your personal circumstances, financial situation or needs. So it is important before you make a decision to consider if the information is right for you and also read the product disclosure statement and target market determination on the AustralianSuper website.

In this presentation we will cover a number of key topics. We'll look at consolidating your super, if you have more than one account. Insurance options available in super to help protect you and your family. We'll also look at different ways you can add more to your own super and where to go for any help and advice.

Let's kick off with consider consolidating. If you have more than one super account, it may be appropriate to combine them into one.

Before we look at the benefits of consolidating, I want to introduce you to our case study.

Meet James. James is 36 years old. He's earning $90,000 per year working as an IT consultant. He's also a family man. He has a wife who is currently taking a break from full time work to look after their young daughter.

Now, James has been working for several years and he's changed jobs a couple of times. So James has a total superannuation balance of $90,000 across three different funds.

Now James needs a little help getting his super sorted and this is where our presentation comes in. If you're in a similar situation like James, it may be worth considering whether combining them all together is appropriate for you.

Here are some benefits of consolidating super. It could help you save money with multiple accounts, means multiple set of administration fees and insurance premiums. It could also help you save time with less paperwork and admin to deal with.

It could also provide you with greater control over your superannuation as it's easier for you to track and manage your super account.

Before consolidating, the first step is to gather all your superannuation accounts. Once you have all that information, it may be a good idea to use a comparison tool to help you compare things like administration fees and investment performance, to help you choose the best super fund for you.

You may also want to reach out to your super provider to find out if there are any fees or charges that may apply. Importantly, make sure you're not at risk of losing any features and benefits like insurance cover.

Once you consolidate your super and close your account, any insurances linked will also cancel on the date that account closes. If you wish to keep any existing insurance cover, you may be able to apply to transfer your insurance across.

If you are applying for an insurance transfer it is recommended that you wait for the transfer of insurance to be completed before you initiate the consolidation process. When you are ready to consolidate your super accounts, there are multiple ways you can go about this. You can consolidate online.

You can do this by logging into your myGov account or through your super account online access and use a consolidation tool to find all your super accounts. It will bring up a list of all your super, including any lost money sitting with the ATO. You then select which accounts you wish to combine together.

Another way you can consolidate super is by completing a combine my super form available on the AustralianSuper website. Once you submit your consolidation request, your super fund will handle the rest. Once your consolidation request has been processed, you will receive a notification. You can then log in to check your account and see the funds that have come across.

The next thing we're going to have a look at is insurance in super. Now many people are familiar with car insurance and home insurance, but your ability to earn an income is one of your greatest assets. So just like your car and your home, it's also important to protect it as well.

So imagine our case study James. If he were to face a serious injury or serious illness and cannot work for an extended period, not only does he have to cover medical expenses, but he will also be faced with the challenge of maintaining his family's lifestyle.

Now, this is where insurance in super comes into play. Insurance in super could include death insurance cover or sometimes referred to as life insurance. This is a lump sum that goes towards your loved ones if you were to pass away.

It could also include total and permanent disablement insurance.

This is a lump sum that goes to an individual if they became permanently disabled and they can no longer work again. Now, with income protection, this covers a portion of your salary if you weren't able to work due to a temporary illness or a temporary injury.

At AustralianSuper, we provide most members with basic cover automatically. Now, basic cover could include death insurance, total and permanent disability, as well as income protection, and basic cover is age based. So it will change as you get older, to continue to meet your needs.

You can also log into your account online to check what insurances you have as well.

Now bear in mind, while basic cover offers a baseline of protection, it doesn't account for all your individual needs. If necessary you do have the flexibility to tailor your insurance to suit your own circumstances.

So we're talking about if you need a higher level of cover, you can apply for more insurance.

You could decrease cover or you could even cancel your insurance if you have adequate insurance elsewhere.

To help you work out how much insurance you may need, you might want to check out the insurance calculator on our website.

It will factor in your financial responsibilities to help you estimate how much insurance you may need to consider. It will also tell you how much insurance may cost if it's held through your AustralianSuper account.

Paying for insurance from super may mean you'll have less for retirement.

But having cover can provide you and your loved ones with peace of mind.

So it's worth considering whether cover is appropriate for you.

Now, if you do have insurance with AustralianSuper, it's also important to review your individual work rating. Your individual work rating classifies the usual activities of your job into one of three different work ratings.

Now, blue collar is the default. It is also the most expensive. When you join AustralianSuper, Blue collar is the work rating you automatically receive. You could pay less for your insurance if you apply and are accepted for either a white collar or a professional work rating.

It is beneficial to check if you are eligible for either a white collar or professional, and you can do that by answering a few simple questions on our work rating tool.

Take our case study James as an example. He's currently 36 years old and he has basic insurance cover with a blue collar work rating as default when he joined. Currently, he's paying $5.29 a week for his insurance cover. We know that James is working as an IT consultant, if he's eligible and applies for a white collar rating and is accepted, he could reduce the cost of his insurance cover by up to 41%. If James applies for a professional work rating and is accepted he can reduce the cost of his insurance by up to 56%.

If you're eligible to change your work rating, you can do this in one of two ways. You can change your work rating online by logging into your account, go to My insurance and click on Change my Insurance tab. Or you can complete the Change your individual work rating form on our website.

You can only change your work rating if you hold insurance through your AustralianSuper account.

Now another important part of super is nominating who gets your super if something were to happen to you. In the event that you pass away having a nomination in place can help ensure your benefits goes to the right hands and also aligns with your wishes.

Here are your beneficiary options.

You can make a binding nomination or you can make a non-binding nomination. A binding nomination is a legally enforceable direction to your super fund to let them know who should receive your benefits in the event that you pass away. It provides you with peace of mind, knowing that your wishes will be upheld without any discretion.

However, it is important to bear in mind a binding nomination expires three years from the date you signed the form. On the other hand, with a non-binding nomination, it expresses your preferences for beneficiaries. It doesn't carry the same legal obligation as a binding nomination. The super fund would take into consideration who you have nominated, but they ultimately have the discretion to distribute your benefits considering your preferences and taking into account other relevant factors.

To make a binding nomination, you will need to complete a binding death nomination form and have it witnessed by two adults that are not one of your beneficiaries. To make or change a non-binding nomination, you can do this by going into your account online or use the change my details form. No witnesses are required and non-binding nomination does not expire.

In terms of beneficiaries, you can nominate a spouse or partner, your children, someone you financially support or someone you have an interdependency relationship with. If you have a will, you can nominate your estate or your personal legal representative.

Now let's shift on to a topic that holds incredible potential to add more to your super. There are many different strategies available to help you boost your savings.

Today, we are going to cover three strategies.

This includes salary sacrificing, the government co-contribution, and also spouse contributions. Now, before we dive in, I do want to acknowledge not everyone may be in the position to contribute more to their super right now, and that's okay.

What we cover today is really to provide guidance to those who are thinking about adding a little bit more to super. So let's start with salary sacrifice.

What exactly is salary sacrifice? In simple terms, you are redirecting a portion of your before tax pay into your superannuation account. In essence, you are redirecting a part of your income before it even hits your bank account.

This arrangement is between you and your employer if it's available at your workplace and this is on top of what they might pay you under the super guarantee.

Making a salary sacrifice contributions does mean a reduction in your take home pay, which effectively reduces your taxable income. And also, depending on how much you earn, making before tax contribution can be a tax effective way to boost your savings. For most people, the tax we pay on salary sacrificing is less than what we pay on employment income.

Let's circle back to James. We know he's earning $90,000 per year. That puts him in that 32.5% tax bracket. Now if James chooses to salary sacrifice a portion of his before tax pay into super, he could potentially pay 15% on that amount as opposed to his marginal tax rate.

So salary sacrificing can be worth exploring if the tax you pay on super is less than what you pay on employment income. It is also essential to keep in mind of the concessional contribution cap. This is the maximum amount we can contribute to super each year before tax.

The concessional contribution caps includes employer contributions, contributions you claim a tax deduction for and any salary sacrifice contributions that you choose to make. In some cases you may be able to contribute above this limit under what's formally known as the carry forward rule.

To check if you're eligible and if you have any unused concessional caps amount to carry forward, the simplest way is to log into your myGov account.

Another way you can grow your super is through the government co-contribution scheme. Depending on your income level when you add to your super after tax, the government may co-contribute up to $0.50 for every dollar up to the maximum of $500 per annum.

As we know, James is on a $90,000 salary per year. That makes him unlikely to be eligible for any co-contribution from the government. However, we know his wife is currently taking a break from full time work. If she's eligible, she may potentially benefit.

Let's have a look at how this works. To qualify for the maximum $500 co-contribution, your income must be less than the lower income threshold that's shown on this slide here. You will also need to make a minimum of $1,000 after tax contributions to your account.

Lastly, let's take a look at spouse contributions and the benefits that they can offer. Now spouse contributions involve adding contributions to your spouse from your own after tax income. You may be eligible for a $540 tax offset if you contribute $3,000 to your spouse's account. Now, this can be beneficial if one of the members in a couple is not working or is on a low income. It is a win-win situation as both members in a couple may potentially benefit.

To qualify for the maximum tax offset of $540 let's use James and his wife as an example. To qualify for the maximum $540 tax offset, James would need to contribute a minimum of $3,000 after tax into his wife's super account. Also, his wife’s total income must be less than $37,000 per year.

If her income is higher, James may qualify for a partial tax offset, but once her income reaches $40,000, he will no longer be eligible for any tax offset he can still continue to make after tax contributions to his wife's account. Other criteria apply.

You can find more information on the ATO website. Before making any spouse contributions we do recommend seeking financial advice. Today we've covered three ways you can add more to your super, but there are other strategies available as well.

If you would like to learn more I invite you to visit australiansuper.com/grow where you can find helpful resources and tools to help you delve deeper into each strategy.

Today we are going to put the strategies into action as we follow James’ journey. So James reviews his superannuation arrangement and decides to take the following four actions.

Firstly, he combined his three superannuation accounts into one helping him save on unnecessary fees. James also decides to start salary sacrificing $250 per month into his superannuation account. This not only helps boost his savings but also helps him save on tax. In the first year alone, he saves $975 in taxes. By the time he reaches age 67, he's looking at about $127,000 more in his superannuation account.

James also decides to take advantage of the spouse contribution. He makes an after tax contribution of $3,000 into his spouse's account, and he qualifies for a tax offset of $540.

James also takes a decisive step and nominates his wife as a binding beneficiary. This ensures his super benefits will be distributed the way he intended should he pass away.

As we wrap up the presentation, I also want to encourage you to review your own super arrangements just like James. Here are a few simple actions to help you get started.

You may like to do a lost super search and combine all your super together.

You may wish to log into your account to check your insurances and make sure it suits your needs. And while you're there, also make sure your work rating is up to date.

Thirdly have a think about who you want your super benefits to go to if you were to pass away. Having beneficiary nominations in place can provide you and your family with peace of mind. Also, consider adding a bit more into your super if you are in a position to.

All these simple small steps could make a big difference to your final superannuation balance.

I want to also encourage you to continue your own financial journey. If you need any help or advice, please visit our website australiansuper.com where you can find resources, tools and calculators to help you make the most out of your super.

If you would like to learn more about superannuation, we also offer webinars on a range of topics at different times throughout the year.

AustralianSuper members also have access to over the phone advice at no additional cost. If the advice is in relation to retirement, there may be a small fee.

If you have more complex issues or prefer to meet with a planner face to face you can also give us a call on the same number to make an appointment.

Thank you for taking the time to watch our presentation, I wish you all the best on your financial journey.

Thank you for coming along to AustralianSuper’s Keep your super safe online presentation. When it comes to your super it’s likely to be one of your largest assets, and for many of us we’ll spend 30 maybe 40 years saving for these assets. So, when it gets to retirement, you want to be able to fall back on, those savings that you've worked so hard for.

However, we do know that scams and fraud events can come up. So, how do we keep our superannuation safe online? And this is what brings us to our topic today. Keep your super safe online.

Now, I do realise that we're talking about this, it can create a little bit of fear in us. You know, we might have experienced a scam before or we might know someone that has experienced this before.

So, I do understand it can really be a bit of a scary thing to be talking about, but the more we know about this, the more we can be better prepared when it comes to saving for our superannuation and keeping it protected.

Now, just to introduce myself, my name's Jaclyn Livingstone and I'm an Education Manager here at AustralianSuper, and I'm joined today by Nick Muni, who is our Member Fraud and Privacy Incident Manager.

So, we're going to take you through some of the tips and tricks, things to know when it comes to managing your super online.

Before we go into the session, we would like to firstly pause for a moment so that we can acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we're gathering on today.

We're speaking to you today from the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and we like to pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who may be joining us today.

The presentation may include general financial advice, which doesn't take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making a decision, please consider if the information is right for you and read through the relevant product disclosure statement and target market determination available at our website or by calling 1300 300 273.

So, today we're covering a number of items. So, we'll be looking at what is cyber security and what is a cyber attack. We'll also be looking at how AustralianSuper try and protect our assets as well. And then we'll be talking about what are some case studies when it comes to scams and frauds, and some tips and tools for you to take away following this session.

So, Nick, some of our members may have heard, if you've seen in the news before, that there are a number of cyber attacks and things that do come up. Can you tell us a little bit more about some of these cyber attacks that we have heard about.

Over the past 12 months, high profile Australian companies have actually reported becoming victims to data breaches and cyber attacks.

So, Nick, what are the potential impacts to the affected members.

The most common stolen information that we know about are customers, full names, their dates of birth, where they lived, email addresses, mobile numbers, everything that makes a person a person, really. And in some rare cases, even sensitive information such as, you know, medical charts or information, government IDs, such as driver's licenses, Australian passports, bank account details, credit card information, the list goes on. And this has large consequences for those individual customers,because then once that data has been obtained, other criminals can come in and try to create financial gain for themselves by impersonating those individuals or even using identity theft.

So, Nick, what is cyber security?

Well, just like you would use a lock to protect your house or a car.

Cyber security is the virtual lock that we use to protect ourselves when we're online. Whether we're working for a company remotely using our personal devices for browsing or shopping, or even if we're in the office as well.

And on the flip side, what is a cyber attack?

A cyber attack is a crime that is the digital equivalent of a physical break in. It's usually perpetuated for financial gain. It's usually facilitated through an electronic device. And also the Internet, which is scary considering we all carry one of those around in our pockets. But basically it threatens an individual's security and financial health because it can often result in identity theft or even financial loss or the loss of valuable information.

And when we're talking about cyber attacks, what are some examples of cyber attacks that can occur?

Cyber attacks and cyber security is an increasingly evolving landscape, but the top six types of cyber attacks that we see all the time include malware, which is malicious software that's designed to harm our computers or our devices, when we're online.

We also have seen ransomware pop up in the news a bit more.

Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts files and demands a ransom be paid for an owner's restoration to those files. And a bit of a kicker in the works that cyber criminals are doing is while an owner decides whether or not to pay that ransom for every day they delay the payment, they're going to just release personal data of their customers out to the public through the dark web or other means, which adds an unnecessary element of pressure to that owner.

Phishing emails are when scammers will send an email or a text message that often pretends to be from a real organisation such as a bank, a courier, a telecommunications company, or even a government agency. But the links embedded in those emails or texts are actually directing people to fake websites or fraudulent sites and often contain harmful material such as malware.

Social engineering scams, which I don't know if you've heard about, but these these are designed to trick us into giving out sensitive information about ourselves through manipulation tactics. Some of my friends have reported being victims to the “Hi Mum” scam, which is increasingly prevalent. That's where, you know, a person, typically a parent will get a text that says, “Hi Mum, my phone's been smashed I'm sending you this message from this number, but you can't call me back on it. I'm in a bind. I need help. I need to pay my gas bill. Can you please wire me $500?” And it's, you know, ridiculous. But people are falling for these scams because fraudsters are relying on our compromised emotions to supersede our ability to make rational, objective decisions.

Password attacks are a form of cyber attack where advanced software is trying to guess at people's passwords. And it can be successful, especially if passwords aren't really secure or if we're reusing them on different platforms or sites.

The last type of cyber attack that we've seen is SMS spoofing. Cyber criminals will often try to impersonate real organisations such as those banks or those telecommunications companies, and sometimes they can even appear in the same thread, or email, or mobile text message thread that you might have from those real organisations, but you'll know it because they'll have a link that you weren't expecting about. And it'll probably be containing malware, harmful material, or even trying to direct you to a login page.

So here at AustralianSuper Nick, how do we actually protect our members information?

The Fund has a multi-layered approach to this because it is a very complex issue. But firstly we invest in financial crime and information security teams dedicated to protecting members from harm. We also deliver security enhancements as part of our security strategic roadmap in response to a constantly changing threat environment.

We raise awareness and education with members such as what we're doing today, but also through our website. We post regularly new and emerging fraud types or scams, on our scam alerts page, and we do the same thing by running an ongoing, dedicated security influence program for our colleagues and employees at the Fund.

We're continuously refining our data retention, archiving and destruction standards to reduce the risk of data loss.

We're proactively identifying and preventing members that we think are associated with a recent data breach by maintaining security assurance, monitoring and also threat hunting capabilities.

And lastly, it's all about collaboration and working with others proactively to combat the increasing threat landscape. We work with law enforcement. We work with industry partners and also the regulators to make sure we're doing everything we can to protect members.

So, as superannuation is one of our biggest investments, how is superannuation targeted? As it does become more attractive when it is a big pool of savings.

It's absolutely attractive. I was reading an article from the ACCC, which is Australia's Corporate Competition Regulator, and in 2022 $3.1 billion was lost to Australians in scams, with investment scams leading the top of the pack. Superannuation falls into this category.

What we predominantly see in superannuation are staging accounts. Which are fake membership accounts created by fraudsters that have obtained people's personal information and they typically are unaware that these accounts exist, and they can do several things with those accounts, including trying to transfer funds through an unauthorised rollover.

A rollover is simply transferring one person's savings from one fund to another fund and typically without individuals knowing about it, a cyber criminal, if they are cluey enough, can actually hack into a myGov account, or the ATO that's linked to a myGov account, and start to initiate those rollovers from one fund to another, which can cause severe panic in people who are unable to find out where their superannuation might be.

A third type of attack on superannuation is where fraudsters themselves try to impersonate members. It could be over the phone, it could be in writing, it could be in messaging. But they'll know enough about a member's details to pass security and assurance material and be able to get through. And from there they're going to try to update a member's contact details to fraudulent mobile numbers, fake email addresses, or they might even try to gain access to a member's online account where they can then try to orchestrate a withdrawal of funds.

The last type of typology we see in superannuation fraud has to do with illegal early release. We know that retirement savings is meant for once you've reached your retirement age, which is also known as preservation age. But Australians can also access their superannuation early in certain situations such as financial hardship. Sometimes what we're seeing is that members themselves are depleting their own superannuation accounts by accessing super early and then rolling to another fund and doing it again very quickly, which is actually against the law.

So Nick, do you have any examples where this has occurred or scams or incidents have occurred at AustralianSuper?

Yes. A few years ago I dealt with a member who called us after her identity was stolen. This isn't her real name, but we'll refer to her as Priya. And Priya was 31 years old, had two kids and a husband. Priya was with the fund for five years. She and her husband both had AustralianSuper accounts and they were wondering whether they had enough saved up for retirement.

So they started looking online and they came across a Facebook ad for a financial investment firm that was offering unrealistically high rates of return if Priya and her husband rolled out their superannuation into a self-managed super fund and invested directly in international shares.

They were skeptical at first, but they clicked on the link in the Facebook ad, which took them to a very polished, glossy, fancy website, and it had financial advice, licensure information at the bottom it appeared to have a “Contact us” page and “About us” page. They looked through all the pages and they said, this appears to be legitimate. So they organised for someone to call them back from this company.

I think they got a call within the next few days from someone who purported to be a Financial Adviser with lots of experience and knowledge about superannuation. And basically he was saying you could earn up to 15 to 20% returns year over year if you invest in this mechanism.

So they provided all of their details through this website, their names, their dates of birth, where they lived, their tax file information and where their superannuation was, and they even provided identity documents as well. Their driver's license and passport details, hoping that this was going to boost their retirement savings.

Three weeks later they found that their superannuation was gone and they couldn't trace it because the person that was claiming to be a Financial Adviser was really a scammer and redirected their money to a bank account that they couldn't access. They had no idea where it was and it was destined to go into cryptocurrency, which is virtually untraceable.

I spoke to Priya. I told her, we're going to get to the bottom of this. I'm going to work with you. I'm going to give you all the help I can, but I need you to, you know, help me understand where you think this money has gone so that I can call the banks. I helped her flag her account to make sure that there was no unauthorised activity or changes to her details. She volunteered to set up a personal password so that if anyone called trying to access her account, only she could do that. Eventually, I found the bank that the money went to and it was protected, thankfully, and I was able to recover it and make sure that she and her husband had their balances restored.

Well, that is a good outcome for Priya so that's very nice to know. So, understandably, hearing stories like that and other stories that we might have heard on the news,we can be really concerned about you know, what scams might impact us or I know plenty of AustralianSuper members that feel the same way. What can we actually do to protect ourselves when it comes to managing our superannuation online?

The best way is to be across your account details by registering for online access. That way you can log into your account at any time, see the balance, see the transactions, know what contact details we hold for you.

We send regular SMS confirmation messages. If anything has changed online so that you'll know right away if something appears to be suspicious. You can call us right up.

The second thing members can do is to establish really safe and secure passwords. Try not to use your name or your date of birth as these can often be guessed at. Also, try to regularly update your passwords and try not to use the same password across all your sites in case one of those companies gets compromised through these data attacks. At least the details won't match any of your other password details.

Scammers will often try to send you fake emails or messages impersonating real organisations like the banks or government agencies. And they might even try to convince you that you owe a debt or that there's an invoice you haven't paid. Maybe you've had some building done to your home recently. Really think and question everything you receive.

If you think that something is unusual or you weren't expecting it. Don't click on any links because they often will contain harmful material such as those malware or phishing emails I was talking about earlier.

AustralianSuper will never send a member a text message with a link that logs them into a page. We'll send you links to our website, but we will not be asking for your username or password details. Those remain sensitive and private to yourselves.

Fraudsters may even try to call you sometimes from an unlisted number that you might not recognise. If possible, don't answer those calls, but if you've answered it, hang up immediately and call us to let us know what's happened. Often times, the fraudsters or criminals will be keeping you on the phone to try to access additional information about you.

They may even be trying to understand what your voice sounds like as well.

So let it go to voicemail, see if it's legitimate. If possible, if any organisation details are left go to an internet search, look up that organisation separately, what their real contact number is,and call them and find out if that call was real or not.

Lastly, be careful how much personal information you put out there, especially on social media.

Yeah, there's an obvious one there.

Exactly. Look at the privacy settings and try to see if you can restrict or reduce the amount of publicly available information people can have for you.

Perfect. And I know you mentioned before about how AustralianSuper will reach out to contact you. What are some of the ways that we do try and contact our members?

We contact members through a variety of ways. Every year we must send an annual statement that shows members their balance, their investment returns, any insurance cover, but it also shows them their contact details. So if anything is incorrect, they can call straight away to correct those details.

We also, through legislation, need to let members know when they've requested to withdraw from superannuation, tell them how much that was, or if they've rolled their money out. So we send these things through email but also through the mail. If possible, when you register for online access, ask to be sent by email. That way you can know about things sooner.

If you receive a call our representatives will clearly identify themselves and the reason for that call. If you in any way are suspicious about that caller or just not comfortable, hang up and call us on our number. Our number’s on our website, it's also on our statements and most of our communications to members, it's 1300 300 273.

And you can ask to see was that a real call I received or not because we leave everything in our note system for members to know that it was really us.

We're here to help protect accounts so that members live well in retirement.

So occasionally we put all these things into place to try and protect ourselves, but unfortunately scams can still occur or fraud incidents, so what are some examples, or do you have an example that you can share with us, about a member that has been scammed before or experienced a fraud event?

Absolutely. In recent months, I spoke to a member named Bernard. Again, not his real name, but Bernard is a real member. He's 71 years old and he has over $1,000,000 in super. He's been with the fund for over 12 years. Bernard called us after he experienced a home invasion. Criminals broke into his house and stole a hard drive which contained all of his personal credentials, tax information, medical details, and even details about his bank accounts and credit cards.

He said, “What can I do to secure my superannuation account?” Well, first of all, we did an investigation of his superannuation account. We determined that there were no attacks yet and we were going to protect him by adding extra flags on his account. He also opted in to establish a pin or a verbal password so that if anyone called up and they didn't know that we wouldn't be able to speak to them about the account.

Secondly, we also referred him to an organisation called IDCARE, which is a registered charity to support individuals who have had their identity stolen from them, and it helps them restore access to information and it helps give them tips and tricks about what they can do to protect their identity moving forward. The interesting thing about this member, is that months after he called us and let us know about that home invasion, we saw someone try to roll his money out in two times. The first time it was for a very small amount comparatively to the account balance, but we blocked it because he called us right away and we were able to put those additional protections. Months after that first attempt, a second attempt came for the entire amount and we blocked it again.

That's good.

It's very good to know that people are vigilant on these matters. So if we ever are in the circumstance or we do experience scam or a fraud event, what can we do to to make sure that we're protected or what steps do we need to take?

The first step is to notify us immediately. Call us. Write to us, message us. There's a variety of ways to do that. It's on our website, but we need to know about it so that we can start investigating.

Secondly, report the matter to local law enforcement as well. You can also report through Scamwatch via the internet, or even the Australian Cyber Security Center as well.

Lastly, as an AustralianSuper member, we partner with a registered charity called IDCARE. They're professionals and specialists that’ll help work with you and give you support to help restore your identity if it's been stolen.

So what happens next? There's a series of resources that you can see on screen. So we do list scam alerts that do come through so you can keep up to date where scams may be occurring. Also looking at tips to help managing our security online. or lastly, if you ever do have any concerns or you'd like to reach out to us, please contact us at 1300 300 273.

Thank you for attending, AustralianSuper’s Keep your super safe online presentation. We hope that you found that helpful. If you have any following questions after this session, please reach out to us either at our website australiansuper.com or by contacting us at 1300 300 273.

Thank you and goodbye.

Welcome to our Who inherits your super? presentation. The concept of beneficiaries, which is who you can nominate to receive your super if you pass away, can often raise lots of questions. Who can I nominate? What happens to my super if I pass away and will my super be taxed? Well today we're going to unpack some of these questions for you.

My name is Kim Heironymus. I'm an Education Manager here at AustralianSuper and my role is to help you better understand how super works. Now I have with me today Phil Wilkins. Welcome Phil. Phil is a Financial Planner here at AustralianSuper. Phil, can you take us through what your role entails?

So Kim, my role is called a comprehensive Financial Planner. So that means that I can give tailored, personalised advice to members and also non-members on a broad range of advice topics, not just limited to, say, superannuation.

So before we start, AustralianSuper would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. So today we’re speaking on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Today's presentation may include general financial advice, so we're not taking into account any of your personal situation, your financial needs or objectives.

So please consider if the information is right for you and consult the relevant product disclosure statement and target market determination, which you can find on the AustralianSuper website. AustralianSuper has engaged Industry Fund Services to facilitate the provision of financial advice to our members, and Phil is an authorised representative of Industry Fund Services.

So today we're going to cover What is estate planning? We're then going to go through nominating your beneficiaries and have a look at the different types of nominations and who you can nominate. We'll then look at any potential tax implications, and we'll take you through an example to help you understand that. And then we'll take you through next steps.

So your super isn't considered part of your estate, and a common thing that we hear from members is ‘it's okay. I have a will. I don't need to worry about my super.’ And that's not always the case.

So your will covers personal assets, so things like your house, cars and any investments that you own. Whereas with your super, this is held in trust for you by the trustee of your super fund. So it doesn't necessarily form part of your estate and is considered a non-estate asset.

So it's really important to consider nominating your beneficiaries on your super fund. Phil what should our members consider when they're looking at their estate planning considerations?

Well, Kim, there are a lot of estate planning considerations that someone should be thinking about. First and foremost, we have your will. A will is a legal document that sets out the instructions on how you would like your estate to be managed in the event of your death. And it's really important that you have one in place or if it is out of date, maybe look at getting it updated.

We also have testamentary trusts, a testamentary trust is something that I talk to my clients about quite often and it can provide additional asset protection and it may provide tax advantages as well. Then we have power of attorneys. Now a power of attorney is when you can handover or give authority to someone to act on your behalf. There's different types of these power of attorneys.

So we have an enduring power of attorney that can last even if you lose mental capacity to make decisions, or we have general power of attorneys which actually cease if you lose the capacity to make decisions.

A general power of attorney may be used if you're, for example, wanting to give someone authority over a shorter period of time like you might be overseas and hard to contact. You might be trying to settle a property purchase here in Australia where you can actually give authority to someone else to act on your behalf, someone who you trust.

And then we have guardianship. And guardianship is really important for anyone who has young kids. A guardianship is you listing who you would like to look after your children in the event of your death, rather than leaving that up to your individual state government.

And then finally, we have nomination of beneficiaries. Kim, as you've already mentioned, super is not part of your estate when you pass away. So it's really important that you list who do you want to leave your super to in the event of your death?

That's right, Phil. So nominating your beneficiaries is providing written direction to your super fund as to who you would like to receive your super if you were to pass away. Now, there's a couple of different types of nominations that you can make. There's what we call binding nomination. There's a non-binding nomination. And if you have a Choice Income account, there's a reversionary nomination.

So a binding nomination is formal written direction to your super fund and it's legally binding. Now, you'll know if you've made a binding nomination because you would have had to print a form off the website, complete the form as to who you want on there your beneficiaries, have two witnesses sign it and send that back to your super fund.

So with a binding nomination, it expires every three years at AustralianSuper. So it's really important to ensure if it has expired, that you've made a new nomination. Now, at AustralianSuper, we write to our members before it's about to expire and we remind you that you need to make a new nomination and the reason for this is it is legally binding and your situation may have changed since you made the original nomination.

So just really important to ensure that you're keeping that binding nomination up to date.

And then we have what we call a non-binding nomination. So a non-binding nomination is more of a preference. So when you join the fund and you're completing your form or doing it online, it would have requested you to nominate a beneficiary. So that beneficiary that you've nominated, it's more of a preference.

So the trustee of the super fund will consider who you've nominated however, the trustee needs to consider all of the relevant laws and it may not 100% go to who you've nominated, so it's really important to consider what nomination have you got and is it relevant to your circumstances?

And then thirdly, there is an additional nomination you can make if you have an account based pension, which at AustralianSuper we call a Choice Income account, and that is a reversionary nomination. we call a Choice Income account, and that is a reversionary nomination.

Now with a reversionary nomination, you're receiving your regular income that transfers over to your spouse or your partner and continues to pay them that income until it reaches zero.

So a reversionary nomination is only available to those members that have a Choice Income account.

And Kim I think it's really important to note that while your partner can still receive a regular income, they can also go and access lump sums from that account as well. So it's still very flexible for them.

So Phil we've covered the different types of nominations that you can make, but it's really important to consider who you can nominate by ensuring you make a valid nomination. So can you take us through who can we nominate?

So, Kim, I know you and I do as well, we see this section being filled out incorrectly and a lot of people super funds quite often, unfortunately. So let's go through who can you nominate on your super fund as your beneficiary?

So first we have your current spouse. Now, you don't have to be married. You can be de facto and same sex or opposite sex relationships.

You can also nominate your children of any age.

Now, age really only comes in and plays a part when we're talking about tax on super. So your child at any age can receive your super directly as a beneficiary. Now, an adopted child or stepchild also counts as a child in this situation. But one thing I'd like to point out is for a stepchild, is once your relationship with the natural parent ends, that child no longer is considered your stepchild.

So you can't list them as a beneficiary under the child option unless they still remain a financial dependent for you.

Then we have interdependant relationships. Now, interdependant relationships is someone that you live with and you share both domestic and financial support with. So, for example, you might be living with your sibling and you're sharing the household bills and some of the household duties that would be an interdependant relationship.

And then financial dependants. Now, financial dependants aren't someone that you're just providing a little bit of financial assistance to here and there. It's someone that if you were to withdraw your financial support, it would significantly impact their quality of life. And then finally, you can actually leave your super fund paid into your estate via the legal personal representative option.

So this is if you want to leave your super fund to someone who's not listed on one of these options, you can have your super paid into your estate and then your will can take over and then leave your super proceeds to whoever you choose.

So, Phil, I understand that there's some considerations as to who you can nominate, but could you talk us through who's classified as a dependant and are there any tax implications?

So, Kim, this is where it gets a little bit tricky because we have both a superannuation dependant and a tax dependant, and a superannuation dependant is simply someone who you can list as a beneficiary on your super fund and they can receive the proceeds from super directly.

A tax dependant is someone who, when they receive the proceeds from super they receive those proceeds tax free.

However, if they're a non-tax dependant, like an adult child who's financially independent of you, they may have to pay tax on the taxable component of super.

Let's go through a couple of examples. So your current spouse, as I mentioned, married or de facto, it's completely fine. They can receive super proceeds directly from super and also receive them tax free.

A former spouse, however, you can't list them as a beneficiary on your super, but if they were to receive your super proceeds via your estate, they actually can receive those proceeds tax free, which is quite interesting. Your child, if they're under 18, they can receive super directly and pay no tax. However, if they're over 18 and they're financially independent, they can receive directly from super, but they will have to pay tax on the taxable component of the super fund.

And then finally, we have financial dependants and interdependant relationships. These can these people can receive super directly and also pay no tax on those proceeds.

So, Phil, can you take us through what are some of the factors that impact tax paid?

Yes. So there are a number of factors that can impact the tax to be paid by your beneficiaries.

So the tax component of your super fund is really important. How much of your super is in taxable component versus tax free. Also, whether your beneficiary is a tax dependant or a non-tax dependant that's going to impact whether they have to pay tax or not and whether the amount is taken as a lump sum or an income stream because the tax rates on these different ways to receive your tax death benefit is different.

Also, the age of the deceased and the age of the beneficiary will play an impact. And then finally, the transfer balance cap can even play a part to determine whether or not you pay tax or not, especially for those people with much higher superannuation balances.

Can you take us through what are these tax components that you mentioned?

Yes, so superannuation is mainly made up of two components, the tax free component and taxable component.

So the tax free component is money that you voluntarily put in from your bank account. Now, the reason it goes into super tax free and it also stays in the tax free component, is this money sitting in your bank account it's assumed that you've earned this money and you've saved it up.

So you've paid income tax or you've sold something and you've paid capital gains tax. So either way, you've already paid your full rate of tax on those proceeds. So when you voluntarily put that into super, it goes in tax free and it stays in the tax free component.

Now the government co-contribution payments that you receive are also a tax free component.

And also it's important to know that if you roll super from one super fund to another, these tax components stay the same. You don't lose that advantage.

Now, the taxable component of super actually is the most common or the largest type of component that most of us will have in our super fund.

And the reason is it's built up of employer contributions, salary sacrifice contributions, or voluntary contributions which we claim a tax deduction on, and also the investment earnings.

Now, the reason these funds are taxable component is because when they were received into the fund they were received at a concessional tax rate and that benefit is for you. Now, if you were to leave that to say your financially independent children, that tax benefit that you got wasn't actually intended for them and they have to pay the difference in tax.

So Phil, it might be helpful to go through an example, I think, and look at the possible tax implications in this example.

So let's have a look at John and Laura. So John is 60 and he's married to Laura, who is 58. Now they have two children together. They have Ben who is 20. Now, Ben’s studying at university, he's still living at home. So he's what we consider a financial dependant. And then we have Meg. Meg is 28.

She is married and she has her own daughter, which is Ava, which is John and Laura's granddaughter. And Ava is four years old.

So sadly, John passes away and he has a total death benefit of $400,000, which is 100% taxable component. Phil, can you take us through what are the potential tax implications for each of these family members?

Yeah, not a problem. And I think it's really important that we go through an example like this.

So in this situation, as you've pointed out, John's passed away. Now, if the super was to be left to his spouse, Laura, she can receive that directly from super and also pay no tax. Now, as you pointed out, Ben being studying and living at home and he's still financially dependent on his parents so he can receive directly from super those proceeds as a beneficiary, but he also can receive them tax free even though he's over 18 years old.

Now, Meg, on the other hand, is financially independent. So if she's to receive those proceeds, which she can directly, she actually has to pay tax on the taxable component at 15% plus Medicare. So in this situation

which you said was $400,000 in the taxable component, it worked out to be $68,000 in tax, which is quite a lot of money.

Now, Ava, even though she is under 18 because she's a granddaughter, and not financially dependent, she can't directly receive those funds from super. And if she was to receive proceeds from the super say via the estate, she also would have to pay tax on the taxable component as well.

Phil, we might have some members here today that are concerned about the potential tax implications. Are there any strategies that you can use to assist with this?

Yeah, and one thing I'll point out is a lot of my clients are surprised that their adult children will potentially have to pay tax on their super when they leave it to them in the event of their death. So there are strategies that us Financial Planners can use to reduce the estate tax, especially for adult children and there's been recent rule changes within the legislation which has allowed this to become more flexible and efficient over time.

So today we've discussed how important it is to consider your estate planning considerations and nominating your beneficiaries. But by attending this presentation, you've actually taken the first step. But there are a couple of other things you can do from today's presentation. So let's have a look at what those are.

So if you haven't already nominated a beneficiary, you may want to consider nominating a beneficiary on your account, given the different types of nominations that we've actually covered today.

And if you have already nominated a beneficiary, it's always a good idea to go back and review your nomination because circumstances change and you may want to reassess your nomination and make a new one. You then may want to consider your estate planning considerations, given what Phil's taken us through today.

And it's really important that you communicate your wishes to all the relevant parties that are involved. There's no point in putting this all into place if you haven't let them know what you would like.

And then you may want to consider seeking some financial advice along with any legal and tax advice from a legal or tax specialist.

So we have a number of different advice options available to AustralianSuper members, and I'd like to direct you to our website. We have many webinars covering a variety of different topics, such as estate planning available on our website, and you can see the link there on your screen. But you might actually want to sit down and speak to a financial planner such as Phil.

So Phil, can you take us through what would a financial planning meeting entail?

So if someone had a little bit more complex needs or say they wanted to cover a broader range of advice topics, then a comprehensive Financial Planner might be the right option. So what we would do is we would sit down with you for about an hour and we would discuss what's important to you, your goals and really work out whether or not it's worthwhile putting a financial plan together for you and whether there's going to be value in that for you.

And if that's the case, we'll also quote you on how much that would cost.

We understand that this is a complex topic and it's often something we don't like to think about, but we hope that by attending today's presentation, we've helped answer the question of who inherits your super?

Thank you for joining us today.