She's On The Money - The Secret to Managing Your Super — And It’s Not an SMSF!

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

You’ve heard the buzz about Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSFs) and maybe thought, “Do I need one?” But here’s the twist — you probably don’t. In this episode, we’re cutting through the confusion and breaking down why an SMSF might sound like the ultimate power move, but often ends up being way more work (and cost!) than it’s worth. If you’re wondering how to grow your super and take control of your future without the admin headaches and DIY stress, we’ve got you covered. Tune in to discover smarter, easier ways to manage your super like a pro — no SMSF required. Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that cares about the bank balance of future you as much as today you. Do you ever see the letters SMSF and wonder what does that stand for? But you kind of hear people talking about it and setting up their own self-managed super fund. And have you ever thought like, am I supposed to be doing that? Well, honestly, kind of same. I am Bex Ired and joining me today, our expert in all things finance and the woman ASIC themselves turned to when they needed the lowdown on millennials and their superannuation, Victoria Devine. That's such a flex, isn't it? I know, that's actually really, really cool. That was like probably my biggest career flex that is really really cool well Asik wanted my advice

so that's like Jesus coming to me like hey what should I write in the bible no it's not but I'm not gonna correct you I love that for us I get asked about SMSFs or self-managed super all the time you know when you get super motivated and you're gonna do a really big DIY project of course but then halfway through you're like knee-deep in pain you're standing there and you're like why did I decide to do this? I don't know what I'm doing. I've messed so much up. I need to hire a pro and it might now cost me a bit more because I've made all these mistakes that need unwinding. Well, that's kind of what an SMSF can feel like. Sure, you get to do it all yourself, Bec. Absolutely. But sometimes it's a lot more work than it's worth. So today I decided it was time.

We're going to break down why managing your own super fund, it sounds great in theory, but it can often turn more into a DIY nightmare than a dream. And I think that that is very poignant at the moment because I've seen a lot of people in our community asking, should I have an SMSF? My friends set up one or my parents set up one or most alarming to me, someone approached me and said I could use the entire amount in my superannuation and buy a property with it. There are red flags flying, Bec.

They are flying. They're flying high. Yes. I used to think the same thing as why I wanted to start my own because I'm like, if I have full access to my super, no one's going to ask me questions. It's not the case, I realize. It's very, very illegal to me. It's very scary.

I mean, it's not illegal to have access and invest on your own terms. Absolutely not. Right. But to like use it for your gross reason. Oh, no, we're not doing that, babe. Yes. Absolutely not. I thought it sounded really good.

But then, yes, I realized I'm not allowed to do that. But I've always wanted to know about it because it kind of sounds fancy and like who doesn't more control. Should we start with what a self-managed super fund actually is? I think it sounds really glamorous. Like when I used to be a financial advisor, I'd have people come in and they would say, I really want to have a self-managed super fund. And I felt like people thought that was a flex. I don't know. I used to have people come in and they would be like, well, I want to have complete control. And I'd be thinking in the back of my mind, like you do have complete control. They'd be like, I need this, this, this, and this. And

I used to have this friend, they had a self-managed super fund and they would always tell me how silly I was for having managed funds. And I'd be like, oh, okay, like you're talking to a legit financial advisor. Do you really think I haven't thought about this as an option? And of all people to do it as cheap as possible, it's me because I owned the practice. I could have had my own team set that up for me for not that much. And I still didn't do it. So I feel like that tells you a fair bit about like how much work actually goes into it. How much work goes into it. But let's go back to basics, I suppose. So a self-managed super fund, it allows people to manage their own super investments, which is a lot deeper than having like a management company or a super

annuation company doing that for you. You do have a lot more control today. So we'll get into that a little bit later, but essentially members are then responsible for managing their own funds, their own investment strategy, their own compliance with regulations that's on your shoulders and any admin associated with it. And SMSF, it's very different from having a retail or a industry fund, which are managed by proper professional trustees, which I like that. So approximately 4% of Australians have SMSFs. So they're not that common. And they account actually for 28% of Australia's total super assets. Wait a minute. That's like out of 100% of the funds that are available that are super. It actually makes a lot of sense. So SMSFs are

often associated with high net wealth individuals because of their complexity and the cost that's involved managing them. It's not something that is completely preposterous, right? Like I'm not here saying SMSFs are a terrible idea. When I was a financial advisor, I did have clients that had very practical SMSFs. They would have oodles, and I'm talking like tens of millions of dollars, Bec, of family money that was being managed through an SMSF. They would have massive property portfolios. I had one client who had a vintage car collection inside his SMSF. That was wild, actually, because complete side note, when you sell cars, if you sell them for a profit, you don't have to pay capital gains tax. So there's like a little loophole that basically

only applies to the wealthy because you can't just go buy a nice little Corolla and hope that this happens. Say, for example, I sold my really, really ugly old no window Toyota Echo downstairs for 50 bucks. Toyota Echo is an elite car. It actually is an incredible car. And this car has lasted a long time. And because it's a Toyota, she's good for it. She's good for it. But if I sold it for 50 bucks, I wouldn't have to pay. No, no, no. Whereas if you bought a house, for example, and you paid 50 bucks for it and sold it for a hundred, you would be up for capital gains tax. And that's a whole other conversation, but on cars, you don't pay that. So if you're like super rich, cause obviously the Corolla, the Echo, it's not going to do it for us.

But I have had clients who have purchased luxury and vintage cars. They might like buy an old Porsche 911 and redo it and sell it for a profit, that profit is their profit to keep. They don't pay CGT on it, right? So like little tidbit, but this client used to have vintage cars in his SMSF. You know, this is not an investing 101 with V, but like, it's interesting. The amount vintage cars return in comparison to the Australian share market is astronomical. You have to be good at it but he used to flip cars and I remember thinking oh my god like I thought this was going to be an absolute shit show because like I looked overarchingly he has an SMSF looking what's it made up of cars far out okay like I'm gonna work with this yeah like what's going on and obviously

did all my research and I remember looking at it going what the hell this guy's a genius and like he talked me through it and he was really good at it like he ultimately because he was so wealthy He actually funded the setup of a whole workshop that he hired staff for that did it for everybody else. Like it was a legit business, but he did that so that it really brought down the cost of him fixing up his cars. He had somewhere to keep them. Like anyway, whole different thing.

But just really quickly. Yes. If you have cars in an SMSF, does that mean you just like the estimated value of that is what's in your SMSF? Yeah, because don't forget to access an investment, it either has to provide you with an income, a car's not going to do that. He just had an asset. So, in order for it to provide him an income, he had to sell the asset. So, you'd have an average value of what those cars were worth. But ultimately, a car or a house is actually only worth what the market will pay

on the day that you sell it. So, if you go, oh, well, it's worth $300,000, I'm feeling safe. Well, it's only worth $300,000 if the market is willing to pay for that. Like you'd have to find a buyer, right? So, there's a lot more strategy and that's a side note. But back to this, I feel like SMSFs can be very costly. They can be very fun. Like, don't get me wrong, I don't want this entire episode to be these warning us. They can be fun, but in certain circumstances.

Right. So it sounds like it is a lot of work, but there are some benefits to this. So what's the actual catch with SMSFs then? Why wouldn't everyone just jump on board if it's all about kind of like being in control? You put your Echo in your SMSF? I would put my Echo in my SMSF. I mean, it's a real mouthful, isn't it? Yeah. It's like she sells seashells by the seashore.

Absolutely. And that can also go on your SMSF. Yep. Can't. Haven't seen it, but happy to be corrected. Managing an SMSF is a lot of work. It's basically like running a tiny small business. So you're responsible for meeting all the legal obligations. You're then responsible for making sure that it is compliant with tax laws. You're responsible for making sure that your fund gets audited every single year. So you need to pay someone, an accountant, to audit your fund and so many more. I won't say hidden costs because they're not hidden. You just probably don't know about them when you learn what an SMSF is. And this isn't obviously my opinion, but our friends at ASIC recommend that you have at least half a million dollars in super before even considering

setting up an SMSF to justify the costs. So if you don't have more than that and you're considering it, I would wonder why, to be rude for a hot second, is it your ego? Do you want to be in control and you're not willing to do the research into all of the industry and super funds that you could work with that are actually aligned to your values and allow you to have a bit of a play around with the amounts of different things? Or do you have somebody in the back of your mind who's like, oh, we're a company that sets up an SMSF, accesses your superannuation, helps you invest in property and wham, bam, thank you, ma'am, you're going to get an off the plan apartment. And I think that we need to talk about these things a little bit more because it could be

all sunshine and roses. Like I could sell it to you now. And dodgy financial advisors, which thankfully after the Royal Commission can't exist anymore, dodgy financial advisors used to set them up and then work with a property developer that they clipped the ticket on. Like if I said to you, Bec, oh, well, actually that financial advisor who said set up an SMSF actually is making 5% of your property purchase. Oh, right. Okay. That used to happen. Yeah. So there's a lot of hesitancy in the market when it comes to talking about SMSFs, but there's also a lot of people just like me who are or were financial advisors who've just wound up more of them than we've ever set up because we just get new clients who maybe weren't happy with their advisor or

they'd gotten a few years into their SMSF and it was not working for them. And I would then look at it and be like, who let you do this in the first place? Oh, here's the advice I got. And you'd read the advice and you'd just be like, I knew in the back of my mind that there was probably a referral going on and someone was clipping the ticket because otherwise it made no sense to give that advice. Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky. Yeah. So there's also the cost factor. So back to what Asik was saying, SMSFs can be really expensive to set up and then maintain. And the ATO says that the average annual cost of running an SMSF is between three and $10,000, depending on the complexity of it. Okay. So that's not small change. That's for sure. Because here I am thinking, if you're doing

it yourself, no fees, no anything. No. So there's still fees, right? There's no fees. And I think that that's where we need to talk about it. Because even though Beck Asik has said, oh, well, you'd have to have a minimum of $500,000 to consider setting one up. That's where people, I think start thinking deeply about it right so like on average the cost of managing funds in Australia is give or take one percent so like if you've got a balance of five hundred thousand dollars in your superannuation which must be nice lucky you you're probably paying at least five thousand dollars in fees already right and when your super statement comes in you're going to look at that and be like, five grand in fees? For what? And the answer is administration,

management, ongoing portfolio management, probably some insurances built into that. So it's very easy to just see the bottom line and go, well, I'm spending five grand on this. Why wouldn't I go spend three to $10,000 on just having my own? I could sell it to you if I wanted to, but I'm not going to. So it's not really something that the average person, maybe like, I was going to say you or I, but actually just I, who just wants to kind of invest smarter. Like it's probably not something that they should do. I know you can't really give personal advice, but. No, of course not. But you're exactly right. Like if you don't have a huge balance or you're not investing in really complex assets like property, there are much more simple ways for you to manage

your superannuation very cost effectively and also structure effectively. Most now traditional super funds actually allow you to pick your investment strategy, which we know because they talk about that all the time and then they tailor it to your risk level. So you still have a lot more control than you think you do without all the admin stress. Like Bec, it is 2024 right now. And even if you're listening to this in 2025, you have so much power in superannuation. And I'll use Australian Super as an example, not as a recommendation, but as an example, because they're a top performing fund. I feel like everyone's heard of them. They are very trusted in our industry.

And I think that because of that, you automatically assume that they must be a little bit fuddy duddy. But the reality is inside Australian super, yes, you can pick your investment strategy and you can pick it and tailor it to your risk profile, which if you haven't is a reminder to please log in and make sure you know what those things are. But they also allow you to take some of the money inside your superannuation and pick an ETF that you like. so you can actually have so much control and allow that portfolio to reflect your values

and if you don't know that you don't know and you might think that the only way to have ultimate control is to take it all out and have it in your own fund but the reality is you can control so much and if australian super is not for you maybe you want an all women's super fund or you want to invest in something completely different like there's a super fund for everyone nowadays yeah Yeah, definitely. Like, find a company that aligns with your values, if that's what you're looking for, before you jump into, well, I have to have ultimate control and it must be all on my shoulders, right?

Yeah. That's so true, actually. I did jump into mine and I kind of, like, moved my investments around or, like, my money around. I was like, oh, this feels like I'm fully in control. You go in and check it and it's like, I feel in control of this. So, it does sound like a much simpler option for most of us. And I love that you can still, like, kind of take charge of that needing to be a super

fun manager yourself. And I mean, would you call a super fund manager to fix your taps if they were broken, Bec? No, I'd call a plumber. Like I want somebody who is an expert running the show. And given it's so affordable to do so, why aren't you just getting the expert involved? right they know what they're doing they know what they're doing and like it's the plumber that has a leaky tap so like i knew that if i ever set up an smsf myself i'd probably let it go by the way side not do the right thing by it not check everything because i'm so busy getting in everybody else's business don't they say the plumber always has a leaky tap like i don't know so true we are all about actionable tips here at she's on the money and we're going to take a really quick break and when we come back we're going to give you the lowdown on how you can

manage your super within your super fund. So don't go anywhere. Welcome back, everyone. So V, what are the steps our listeners can take to stay in control of their super without getting sucked into the SMSF hype? So first things first, Bec, I don't think that you'll be surprised. I want to talk about why it's important to firstly be in control of your super, but secondly, the importance of being in control of your super, especially as a woman. Here's the thing. On average, Australian women retire with 28% less superannuation than their male counterparts. And while that is not fair, and a lot of people could have some arguments about, you know, oh my gosh, like the gap doesn't exist. I will cut you. Like I'm so done with that conversation

because the gap exists and I can prove it and it's usually ignorance and people being literally rude like if somebody puts their hand up back and says I'm experiencing disadvantage do you go no not sit down yeah like what why aren't we getting behind it like I would much prefer to be like oh okay maybe this conversation isn't for me I'm gonna dip out but let everybody else have a platform to share their thoughts feelings beliefs and values absolutely because no one's experience is the exact same as yours and if it was and everyone would be like you do you know what kills me the most beck complete side note again and like this is me just calling people in my dms out i cannot stand when a woman of all people messages me and says well i don't

think the gender gap is real i've literally not experienced it that's not the same for everyone survivor's bias yeah and also like it might not be true they might not know that they could be being paid more even though they're being paid probably. But like even if they're like oh it's completely transparent like I am on the same salary as all of my male counterparts and I have been since the day I graduated. Complete transparency V. Your argument is flawed. Why do you think that your experience means that everybody's experience is reflective of that? It actually drives me insane to think that you are so naive that you think because your experience was yours must be the same for everybody else totally it's how dull would the world be if that were true if

that were true and also where did this conversation come from then if it doesn't exist there are a lot better things to advocate for yes than closing a gap yes like i'm saying here i just want the same thing and the same opportunities that are extended to my male colleagues i'm not saying i want more or better like beck if this didn't exist there is a whole heap of stuff i could be like oh my gosh women we need like three days off a week like I could find some stuff to come up with and a pretty convincing argument but like closing a gap and asking for equality bare minimum the gap isn't because we're bad at managing money it's mostly due to things like career breaks and having kids or unsurprisingly being paid less in the first place yes and basically we see it here

at shoes on the money as the hidden tax that we pay just for being women what a privilege but we don't have to let it stay that way, right? So, I've got a few steps of how we can take back our power when it comes to our superannuation. And the first is, I want you to check your superbalance. Bec, do you know what is in your superannuation today? You don't have to tell me the amount. Sure. But do you know? I think so. That is good. And most people in our community would be like, oh, yes, maybe, no. Like if you're erring on the side of caution, babe, it's time to log into your super fund and just check. Just check it. It will take five minutes and you will be a lot more financially literate. There is

research out there that says when we know our numbers, we are, I think it's like 82% more likely to achieve financial security than when we don't know our numbers. That's very true. And that is just you knowing, not actually about doing anything or saving anything. We haven't even got to the part where I make you take actual action. Most of us don't check regularly and I want this to become part of just your financial hygiene checklist. I want you to do it at least every quarter, knowing your balance and how it's performing is going to put you in the best possible position. Do you need to be considering a different fund? The next is I want you to review your fund's fees and the performance that your fund has. Perfect. Now, just really quickly on

fees. I do want to know, I understand why superannuation companies charge fees, but I'm struggling to find where fees come from if you're managing your super fund yourself? That's a good question, to be honest. And that comes from all of the external support that you need. So where does the SMSF come from in the first place? It needs to be established by an accountant. So setting up the structure, registering it with the ATO and ASIC is going to cost you money. So getting that fund, it's kind of like setting up a trust. As we said before, I think I referred to an SMSF being like a small business. It's like a small business cost. So you need to register your small business. You need to register your SMSF. You're going to need to have an

accountant legally. If you were a small business, Bec, you could go, but I'm going to do the accounting myself. That makes sense. But in an SMSF, you actually can't. You need an external auditor to perform an audit each and every single year. And that audit, Bec, can be anywhere from three to $8,000. Oh, I see. So that's what I'm talking about when it comes to fees. It's not, oh, you're going to save so much because you don't have the underlying management fee. Like there might be underlying management fees that then sit inside your super as well, because what would happen is let's just get the laundry list going. You've got to register it to begin with. So charge there. You've got to pay for your annual audit every year. Great.

Are you an investing wizard? Like, let's be honest. Let's pretend you're following ASICS rules. You had a minimum of $500,000 in your super before you decided to go and get an SMSF. Fantastic. You've got 500 grand to invest. How are you investing it? Are you going to go see a financial advisor? Maybe you do. Right. Financial advice fees in Australia sit between $3,000 and $10,000 each and every single year. So you've got to pay for that. You've got to pay ongoing management fees for that financial advisor if you're using them. If you're smarter than the average financial advisor and you're like, well, V, I want to manage it myself. If you buy ETFs, you're going to have the underlying fees for owning that ETF. If you're buying direct shares,

you're going to have underlying fees for brokerage and ongoing platform support. It's really adding up. It does. And that's where I go like, this isn't as easy as you think it is. And all of these fees might slip through the cracks. And when I say that, you might not remember they're there because like brokerage might happen and you go, well, I paid 50 bucks in brokerage to make that transaction. you've already forgotten about it you haven't accounted for it like these things over time add up so we want to make sure that we're making the right decision and when we say i want you to review your fees for your current superannuation i want you to look at retail and industry funds check the

fees check the investment returns and have a look at well am i getting the level of control that i want to make sure that you're in the right account because their fees are going to be a lot cleaner and I'm not saying they're better or worse, but just a lot cleaner to review because they're going to go down the bottom of your balance sheet basically. You're paying this amount in fees, this amount in insurance, and this amount in management. Because more often than not, if that superannuation fund invests in a Vanguard ETF, for example, they are going to pass that management fee onto you. So if Vanguard charges like 0.8%, you are going to pay that 0.8%, but then you're also going to pay your super fund fees for them to manage that for you.

So I don't think it's a waste of money. You're paying someone to make sure that you're getting good returns. Money win. The next thing I want you to do, Bec, how many super funds do you have? You might be shocked by this, but I used to have like four. Now I have one. So you've consolidated them already. That is the next hot tip. According to the ATO, about a quarter of super fund holders actually have multiple accounts. So that means basically 25% of people listening right now have multiple super funds and they are paying multiple sets of fees. So we just talked about fees and how they can add up. Imagine if you had to pay double, Bec. While you're there, also, can you please check if you have any unclaimed super?

So sometimes, and this is more historical because now we are better at data matching, but there's about $18 billion right now sitting, Bec, in an account that the ATO manages and it's lost an unclaimed superannuation that people haven't gone and picked up. How do you find that? Online. So you need to do some data matching through the ATO website. Super easy though, because the government actually doesn't want this. They can't spend it. They want to give it back to you. That's very nice. Like, yes, but it's also a legality, right? Like it's lost. It's kind of gone into lost and found box and you can't just go and raid the lost and found box and take whatever you want. That's theft. So they actually want to give it back to you. So they're making it

as easy as possible, but I would have a look at it. I would also urge your parents to look at it because it's more likely that they are going to have lost super than you do because data matching, you know, you and I are a bit younger. Back then they might've had different names. They might've gotten married. They might've not provided enough information on a super fund form for it to become lost. So just maybe help a maid out. Yeah. Oh my God. I'm going to Google after this. Please do. And then we're going to assess our investment options, right? So we spoke before about what different super funds can do. And it's a lot more powerful than it used to be. But most super funds offer different investment strategies that you can pick from. And often I would say

they're labeled like high growth, balanced or conservative. And most of you, if you log into your super fund and you've done nothing until this point, no shame. Look at you doing it now. Absolutely. But I can almost guarantee that when you go in, you'll see that you're in a balanced fund. Nice. Okay. Right in the middle. What does that mean though? It means that you probably got your super fund forms when you got your first job or a job that you had to sign super funds for and you're like, I don't know what to pick. Because if I said, Becky, you're conservative, you'd be like, no. Are you high growth? Oh, that sounds scary. And then there's a little box and it says balanced beside it. What one are you most comfortable ticking if you don't have the

financial literacy. You deserve to make the best decisions for you. Oh, balanced for sure. 100%. And we all did it. All of my super funds were balanced at one point. I have since changed it. Don't worry. I'm a very high growth investor. But most of you are imbalanced because it was the safest option at the time. But I can almost guarantee that if we went and did a risk profile, which we have done an entire episode on for the community. So go and we'll put the information in the show notes but there is an entire episode on how to work out what your risk profile is i can almost guarantee that because of age and a few other factors and the fact that people are in the she's on the money community they're not balanced investors they're probably growth or

high growth they want more out of their money than just sitting a lot of it in cash yeah okay so do you know how much that costs you though to check how much nothing it's free oh my god so you can go and do this and put future you in the best possible financial position and you could spend some money on a coffee and be like but that coffee and did a lot for future me yes that's so true exactly right okay my next question b is how do you know how much you'll need in your super and how do you get there like how much cash do you need yeah by the time you retire ideally it's good question right so the afsa suggests that people will need about 595 000 in super savings at the age of 67.

Ah, okay. But couples need $690,000 combined. What the heck? It's nice to have some clean numbers, right? It is nice. It's nice to not have somebody turn around and be like, oh, well, it's up to you and your values and your morals. Like at a minimum, the AFSA has recommended that single people

need about $600,000 in their account. Sure. So working then backwards, we need to work out our lifestyle goals, what that looks like. Maybe you want to travel around Australia and have some tinnies and maybe get an old caravan and have a sick life. Or maybe you're like, well, V, actually, I've been working in the background and I want a yacht. Those two things cost very different amounts of money and that is okay. But that's where we then have to overlay our values and

what we are trying to achieve. So I know that personally, that's not going to be enough for me. So I need to do a little bit of working backwards. And if we work backwards cleanly, I work on about 5% and I work on 5% because it's really conservative and I love to under promise over deliver back. So if I say on average, you withdraw 5% from your retirement fund each and every single year and you want an income of 60 grand in retirement, that would mean that you need an investment portfolio of $1.2 million. So you need to take everything that the AFSA says with a grain of salt because that's on average across Australia and obviously there's people with really high incomes and then there's people on lower incomes and that's all fine

but I would work out you know at a five percent drawdown rate like how much do you want if it's 60 grand you need 1.2 million dollars and do some maths yourself you can just google it if you want to as well and work backwards if you want 80 grand it's more like have a look at that so what do you need in super is very different, but how you get there is to me the most important part, right? So, the first thing you want to do is set some goals. So, working backwards, like you're already contributing to super and I'm going to use you as an example because you are a PAYG employee. So, every month you get your pay slip and on that pay slip it says, Bec, here's how much cash we put in your bank account and Bec, here's how much cash we put

in your superannuation, is that amount that is being contributed enough for you? Like you did some working backwards. How much did you need to contribute each and every single month? I've spoken about it on the podcast before. My favorite website is the Money Smart website. And on that website is a compound interest calculator where you can put in the percentage amount, you can put in how much you're planning on contributing, and you can play with the timeline. And from that, you can go, well, if I contributed $500 a month, this is how much I'd have at retirement. If I contributed $10 a month, this is how much extra I would have. You can play with that. Does that mean that you need to contribute more to super right now? Not necessarily, but it means that

you know that the contributions that are currently being made are either going to help you get to retirement or you might need to do some more work. And that's really helpful. It might be disengaging. You might be like, oh my gosh, but isn't it good to know now? And we can make a plan instead of getting to 67 and going, hey, Bex, so you know how you thought that you'd just retire? Yeah. No bueno. I want to ask really quickly, this is mainly for my mummy, who is one of those people that unfortunately didn't know about superannuation. Hi, Bex mum. Hi, Bex mum. Now, I don't imagine she'll have much or if anything. Yeah. And pensions still exist, right? Really good question. If you're retiring with not enough superannuation, the government in Australia is

brilliant. There is a pension. You can apply for it. There's obviously a whole heap of poops that you need to get through. You can't obviously have a massive investment portfolio, but they're no super. They're going to look at your assets and they're going to work out whether you qualify for it, but it's definitely something to look into. And I think that that is privilege of living in Australia, right? Like I am really glad that we support our economy and I'm really glad that we support people who are aging. The other thing I want to say is superannuation only became mandatory in 1992. So when I was born in 1991, my mom didn't have compulsory superannuation. So my mom in her thirties only started earning super. You and I, and a lot of our community have had the

pleasure of, you know, if I was born in 91 and superannuation was mandatory by 1992, by the time I was 14 years old in nine months, I was making superannuation. So I have a one-up on my mom. So I got super from 14 years and nine months. My mom did not. So I think that there's also this really big gap. And this is why the biggest demographic of people becoming homeless is women in their 60s and 70s. And it makes sense because they didn't have a lot of contributions going into superannuation. A lot of them are deciding to leave their partners. That's the number one driver behind homelessness. It's not they're bad with money. It's not that they didn't have good careers or good jobs. It's not because they've done the wrong thing.

It's actually because they are behind and that breaks my heart. But that's where I kind of want to talk about this as well and be like, okay, cool. Like you mentioned your mom, but also like, let's give that community a lot of grace as well because they didn't have the things that we had now. Yes, of course. And I know that if I looked at your super back, you would have contributions from your entire working life. Like you may or may not have dipped into it during COVID and that's so fine, but you would have been making consistent contributions. And I can almost guarantee that you're in a better place right now than your mom at her age. And that's a privilege. And I wanted to call that out. So I do apologize. But then back on track, we were talking about working out how

much money you need. If you want, you can make additional contributions. And if it's right for you have a chat to your payroll department about maybe signing up some salary sacrificing, which means it comes out before tax, which is quite sexy. And this allows you to send extra money to your superannuation directly from your pay, reducing your taxable income, which we like. But then also, do you know how, Bec, to make a contribution to your super? Like if you say had an extra 50 bucks and you were like, I want to put it in my super fee, do you know how to do that? It's pretty easy. If you log in, they kind of make it very, very clear. But I know that if if you don't even know where your super is, you don't know where to start. I guess like Googling

is the best option, but if you have a better. No, you are absolutely correct. So the best place to start would be the ATO website because you can log in and it will show you where everything is and you can go from there. If you've forgotten your member number, you can contact the super fund that the ATO says you've got money with and go through that process. But once you're able to log in and whatnot, transferring post-tax income. So whatever is in your bank account, if you go, I'd love that to be a super contribution. It's a BPAY. It is so simple. You could even save them as a payee so that if you were like, RV, I don't really know if I'm financially able to contribute more to my super. Well, why don't you just set yourself up for success? Why don't you just add

them as a payee on your bank account so that if ever you do decide to do that, you can then transfer the cash really quickly. Keep track of it though, because you'll claim it at tax time and you get the tax back on it. True. So if it's after tax, then you can claim it. If it's before tax, you can't claim it? Well, you can't claim it because you wouldn't have paid tax. Right. That makes so much sense. We can't claim tax we didn't earn or didn't pay. That's a real shame. It's a shame. I mean, people have tried, but it's not going to work. The last thing I want to say here, Bec, because I feel like I have yapped. And the second you let me talk about a topic that I'm passionate about, she goes on and on. I would consider getting financial advice if you're

really worried about this. So to make sure that you're super aligned with your long-term goals, if you haven't done all of the stuff that I've recommended, like you haven't sat down and been like, oh, well, how much should I contribute? Like there's heaps of free content on superannuation on our podcast. There's heaps of free resources floating around the internet. The Money Smart website is my favorite, but if you're super stressed about it, like get some financial advice and ensure that you're super aligned with your long-term goals. And one thing I will say is you can more often than not pay for your financial advice out of your superannuation.

There you go. And I'm not saying that you should just pay for everything out of your super, but if it's advice that's putting you in the best possible position, in my head, you're investing a portion of that into the advice so your super couldn't go further. That's actually a really good idea. I've got a few things to share, some hot tips or tricks.

Okay, so I feel. But I feel like that's probably enough from us, right? Yeah, I feel like it's a really good place to leave it. Do you feel satisfied? Not yet. I really want to yap on and on about super, but I feel like we should leave it there and leave some content for another day. Okay. Yeah. Perfect. Let's do that. Let's go have a little coffee. Absolutely, Bec. And the last thing I want to leave you with is

it is not complicated. I promise. When you log in, Bec said it before, like, oh, my super fund's really easy to understand. You just log in. They've got everything that you need. It's not hard. It's often the mental challenge of just taking a leap and actually just getting it done. but I promise future you is going to thank you. And then stick to the basics. So just check your balance, review your fees, maybe consolidate your accounts and choose an investment strategy that aligns with your values. So keep it simple, stupid, like that KISS methodology, I promise will pay dividends. And also while I'm here, I'm just going to say, don't forget to hit subscribe so that you never miss an episode. And it also really helps our show. And it also, I don't know,

low-key, should help with you staying on top of your money and making confident financial decisions. So like, what a better call out. Absolutely. That's a great notification. That's one you'll want to have on. Follow me, you be rich. Yes. Yes. That's a great motto. I love it. I'm going to follow you all the way. All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Have a good day. We'll catch you on Friday. Bye, guys. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and

should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.