TO mark International Women’s Day last week, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission reminded women about the importance of having enough superannuation for retirement.
According to ASIC, women tend to be less involved in their super, despite the fact they probably have a greater need to ensure that their super will help them be financially secure.
ASIC has pointed to some simple things that women can do to boost their super, including:
• Find lost super, especially from casual or part-time work activities;
• consider keeping as few super accounts as possible, and keep them up to date with your current address;
• top up your super savings if you can afford it. Tax concessions and other government benefits make super an excellent way to save for retirement. In fact, most people would save more through super than any other way;
• get interested in super (eg. use ASIC’s super calculator on its consumer website FIDO to assess the long-term impact of life events such as taking time out from the workforce to have children or study, and the impact of fees or of making extra contributions; and
• avoid illegal schemes to access your money early. Sometimes people facing immediate financial trouble get lured into early access schemes, only to be ripped off by extortionate fees and face a big tax bill.
More information is available on ASIC’s consumer website at www.fido.gov.au