My current super balance is?

[TheRage]

What happens to your super if you die young?

On Death Superannuation is paid out according to the Trustees wishes of the Superfund unless you have a binding nomination which means that the beneficiary will be paid automatically. If you have a non-binding nomination or no nomination at all, the trustees will use their descretion as to who should be paid. There are cases where people have died without nomination and children from past relationships have laid claim to insurance and benefit. There are also cases where people have had binding nominations with divorced spouses and forgotten to take them off effectively leaving their superannuation to their divorced spouse. Binding nominations usually need to be made every two years to avoid this problem.

This is not financial advice

 

[dalek]

What happens to your super if you die young?

same thing that happens to all your stuff......someone else gets it.
but...I am (fairly)reliably informed if you have accumulated the most cash & toys by the time you die, you win !!

 

[bvbfan]

Check what type of fund you have because if you are a public servant most likely you are legislated to who your beneficaries are so nominating a beneficiary is not available.

 

[Flying Fish]

So at what age must i be now, to recieve the pension in the future. or will it be abolished?

 

[insider]

you can nominate who it goes to

How do you nominate someone when you're dead?

 

[Wysiwyg]

How do you nominate someone when you're dead?

Easy....you hide the will in your house somewhere and in your last breath tell someone that you hid the will in the house.

After you have died , the hopefuls turn the house upside down to find the will.This could take several weeks and once found the beneficiaries will be known after you`re dead.


p.s.the real kicker in that scenario is that you don`t hide the will in your house.That would be the epitome of frustration for the would be beneficiaries.

 

[Julia]

How do you nominate someone when you're dead?

You make a Will now, of course. Everyone should have a Will.
If you die without a Will (intestate) it is possible that any assets you have may end up with the State.
It's also a good idea to have a document called - depending on which State you live in - a Living Will, or an Advance Health Directive. This gives you the option of stating what treatment you do or do not want, whether or not to resuscitate you if you've had a life threatening event, etc etc. The form can be obtained at any newsagent for a few dollars and can prevent you being maintained on life support indefinitely if that's something you would not want.

 

[Gundini]

I'll Start
My Current Super Balance is "Who gives a rats ass as its my super"
Bye Bye

Think it funny that nobody has answered the question in 3 pages!

Super and finances are a personal issue with most people, but I don't give a rats, so I'll start....

My current Super balance is around $150K... I don't work for an employer anymore, so I don't contribute anymore.

It was about $100K more when I left my 20 year job, but I took my unpresserved amount to clear my debts.

The super fund is better than average, acheiving around 21% in the good times, with the worst year being around 6%.

Definately not enough to retire on, but I'm 45, and spend alot of time doing what I like. For me, there is a balance between wealth and happiness.

To be honest, when I started contributing ito Super in 1985, I never thought I would ever see it. I still may not!

Leaving your money in the hands of others is not always a comforting thought. But leaving it in my pocket is not always the smartest move either!

Life is a balance.....

 

[Julia]

Definately not enough to retire on, but I'm 45, and spend alot of time doing what I like. For me, there is a balance between wealth and happiness.


Life is a balance.....

I completely agree. Everyone will have a different idea about how much is enough, but after that point continuing to want more and more money seems like some sort of game.

I'd be interested in others' views about this. i.e. do you have a 'target' amount after which you will be happy to contribute to others or just simply enjoy spending as you wish. Or does the desire to make money become ingrained?

 

[disarray]

i'm 33 and have about $30,000 in a well performing industry fund. i don't particularly trust super and think it is entirely likely the government will pillage it further down the track. i also have no expectation for any kind of pension at all and so am trying to build an asset base to carry me to the grave in reasonable comfort.

30 years is a long time and so much can happen globally in that period. in times of crisis or national emergency (as has happened during wars) it is all too easy to grab these funds because it is an "emergency" and thats that. inflation, financial meltdown, mass migration of people and the sheer pace of change in the world makes we want to keep my wealth close at hand and quite liquid.

 

[krisbarry]

i'm 33 and have about $30,000 in a well performing industry fund. i don't particularly trust super and think it is entirely likely the government will pillage it further down the track. i also have no expectation for any kind of pension at all and so am trying to build an asset base to carry me to the grave in reasonable comfort.

30 years is a long time and so much can happen globally in that period. in times of crisis or national emergency (as has happened during wars) it is all too easy to grab these funds because it is an "emergency" and thats that. inflation, financial meltdown, mass migration of people and the sheer pace of change in the world makes we want to keep my wealth close at hand and quite liquid.

Same age as me, well done.

I would still consider you do some research and switch funds into a a geared share fund. You pay a little more in fees per year, but they tend to return much higher rates, almost double what you get now

 

[theasxgorilla]

30 years is a long time and so much can happen globally in that period. in times of crisis or national emergency (as has happened during wars) it is all too easy to grab these funds because it is an "emergency" and thats that. inflation, financial meltdown, mass migration of people and the sheer pace of change in the world makes we want to keep my wealth close at hand and quite liquid.

Sounds like a wise outlook to me. If you're a way off actually getting access to the funds (as I am too) it seems a bit risky to drive much more than you have to into super. I understand your reasoning for doing it STC, so please don't take this as a personal dig, as I think your idea still has merit. The risks I see going forward in Aust for the next 30 years is that we took a time of greatest properity due to our natural resource endowments and p1ssed it up against the wall without making any long-sighted infrastructure investments to solve big problems like water and transport and to hedge against times when global resource demand subsides.

 

[bean]

Being a public servant, I have a reasonable super.
However when I look at it point to pick.
Buying my first house wife young children and 5% of my salary taken away.
It made it a struggle.
Super is good but I believed when I first started paying I was getting ripped of as most of population did not have super and they had that money in there pockets to buy a dearer house or afford house they were buying easier.

My estimates of what my super was worth a few years ago has evaporated with inflation which is (rising house prices, rising everthiing).
They are changing it so I can work longer have more money, whoppie doo.

Your health and well being is greater than your super.
I am going to retire soon not much money but enough to live on but I will enjoy life (which is more than money can buy).

 

[Judd]

Being a public servant, I have a reasonable super.
However when I look at it point to pick.
Buying my first house wife young children and 5% of my salary taken away.
It made it a struggle.
Super is good but I believed when I first started paying I was getting ripped of as most of population did not have super and they had that money in there pockets to buy a dearer house or afford house they were buying easier.

My estimates of what my super was worth a few years ago has evaporated with inflation which is (rising house prices, rising everthiing).
They are changing it so I can work longer have more money, whoppie doo.

Your health and well being is greater than your super.
I am going to retire soon not much money but enough to live on but I will enjoy life (which is more than money can buy).

Goodness, get a grip. Lifetime indexed pension. A gift from the Gods (and the taxpayer.)

I'm an ex-public servant with 30 years service. In the latter stages I was paying $4000 pa (5% of salary) in after tax money to the CSS. When I took a redundancy (both my employer and I agreed that a "career change" would be to everyone's advantage), I preserved the funds in the CSS (sorry fellow taxpayers but I was not prepared to willingly give up an indexed pension.)

When I take that pension in 6 or so years time, all things being equal, it will provide about $55k pa. It means I will reap $4k * 30 ($120k) in less than 3 years.

How on earth can you complain about that return but instead whine, "Gee, I wish I had a bigger house?"

Missus and I are still in the same 3 bedroom house we bought 20 years ago (78k purchase, 36k down and 42K borrowed, paid off as if we borrowed the entire 78k.) It does what it is designed to do, put a roof over our head and does it well. What else does one need for heavens sake?

 

[bvbfan]

The CSS was a great scheme and for those unfortunate enough to be fooled into moving into the PSS what a shame.

It concerns my that in the PSS the scheme is set up so that it's still in the governments favour to screw the members out of what they should be entitled to.

For most people the biggest component will come from a CPI indexed employer component.
Now tell me the government wants to report the true inflation figures here.
I don't have the amounts paid in aged pensions but I suspect that any changes to the CPI will incur far greater liabilities for the government over the longer term when calculating the superannuation liabilities for those in the PSS and (possibly CSS too)