Nearly 30 years ago the government implemented a new and exciting way to help people become more self-reliant in their retirement. They could see that as the population aged and people were going to live longer in retirement, the arrangements in place at that time would not be economically viable in the future.

In the simplest form Superannuation is a tax environment for your retirement savings where the earnings are taxed at a generous rate of 15%. The government provides this generous tax rate for your retirement savings as a return for forgoing access to this money until you meet a “condition of release”, which is basically your retirement from paid work after a certain age.

Fast forward to now and the system has become a lot more complex. It is not just a simple tax environment that your employer pays into which builds funds that, once you have retired, you use as an income stream. We need to dive deeper into what that money is doing and checking how well it is  working for you.

There are the questions of:

• Do I know where all my Super is?
• What fund is the best?
• Which investment option should I be in?
• Should I be putting more in my Super?
• Do I have insurances through my Super?
• Should I have insurances through my Super?
• Where will my Super funds go if I die?

And the newest question:

• If I meet the requirement due to Covid-19, should I take the $10,000 out of my Super?

With all these questions being highly personal, there is no one right answer for everyone. Utilising an adviser to help you answer these questions can make a huge difference to what the financial picture for your retirement will actually look like.