7 July 2016
Give your future self a pay rise
Super crusade to encourage Australians to supersize their future.
With many people not on a path to achieve or maintain a comfortable lifestyle, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) and Money magazine have launched Super Booster Day to encourage Australians to contribute a little extra to their super now.
The Super Booster Day campaign will run from 7 July to 15 September. The campaign connects Australians with their super, encouraging them to make a pledge to boost their super at www.superboosterday.com.au, either on a regular basis or a one off, by September 15.
“We want to help Australians achieve their lifestyle goals when they stop working and this requires some forward planning”, explained Super Booster Day Ambassador, Pauline Vamos.
“Topping up your super early, can turn into huge rewards for your future, it’s almost like paying yourself forward. It’s the small things, just cooking an extra meal at home each month could add $38,796* to your super nest egg”, Ms Vamos said.
“Unfortunately there is a huge gap between the current average super balance, $112,000 for women and $198,000 for men, versus ASFA’s Retirement Standard of $545,000 for a single person or $640,000 for a couple to live a comfortable lifestyle in their retirement.”
A comfortable standard of living in retirement enables an older, healthy person to be involved in a broad range of leisure and recreational activities and to have a good standard of living through the purchase of such things as; household goods, private health insurance, a reasonable car, good clothes, a range of electronic equipment, and domestic and occasionally international holiday travel.
Currently only 7 per cent of Australian employees are making extra contributions to their super, the majority of these people aged over 55. This amounts to around $8.2b a year (March 2016 figures, APRA Funds). With ASFA finding that less people are making additional contributions to their superannuation compared to five years ago as a result of changes to contribution caps and the SG.
There are also other benefits to making additional contributions to your superannuation with many people paying less tax on these contributions.
Super Booster Day is strongly supported by the industry with eight super fund supporters including ANZ, AMP, BT Investment Management, MLC, Q Super, REST, sunsuper and UniSuper.
To pay yourself forward and for a range of information, tips, checklists and links to SuperGuru Calculators on how to better manage your super, Australians are urged to visit www.superboosterday.com.au before 15 September 2016 and follow the 3-step guide to make their pledge.
#payyourselfforward
#superboosterday
*Calculation made using superguru.com.au calculator and based on a 30-year-old person putting an additional $35 each month into their super account, assuming 5%pa growth over 35 years.
For further information, please contact:
Katrina Horrobin, 0451 949 300.
About ASFA
ASFA is the peak policy, research and advocacy body for Australia’s superannuation industry. It is a not-for-profit, sector-neutral, and non-party political national organisation, which aims to advance effective retirement outcomes for members of funds through research, advocacy and the development of policy and industry best practice. For more information visit www.superannuation.asn.au
About SuperGuru
Super Guru is an independent website that helps you understand and maximise your superannuation. It is a site for Australians of all ages and stages of their life, whether you’re studying, working, have kids or retiring. Super Guru is an initiative of ASFA. For more information visit www.superguru.com.au
About Bauer Media
Bauer Media publishes 60-plus magazines in Australia, selling more than 60 million copies each year. They include some of the longest-running and most successful mastheads, such as the country’s biggest-selling monthly magazine, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Australia’s number-one weekly magazine, Woman’s Day, Dolly, NW, TV Week, Cosmopolitan, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Australian House & Garden and Wheels. Integral to the company’s success are vibrant, information-packed websites, mobile apps and social media platforms managed by Bauer Xcel Media, Bauer’s global digital division. BauerWorks leads the way in creating branded cross platform editorial content for major clients including Telstra, Myer and Weight Watchers.
For more information visit http://bauer-media.com.au
