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  • Super boosterGetting the most from your super means understanding how it works and knowing how to choose the right fund. Super Booster brings both these crucial areas together in one place – designed to help everyday Australians unlock smarter saving, strategic investing, and more confident decision-making.
    • Super essentials
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  • Retirement plannerPlanning for retirement can seem daunting but putting it off can cost you a personally fulfilling, financially secure retirement. Superguide’s range of retirement planning resources helps you to understand the key issues and provide you with valuable guidance on strategies that can improve your retirement income, including case studies. It’s never too early to start preparing for a stage of your life that could last more than three decades – a long time to regret missed opportunities. You may like to begin using the seven easy steps in how to plan for your retirement which include imagining what your dream retirement looks like and thinking about how long it may last, what it will cost, whether your savings are on track, and what you can do to close the gap. And if you need a little help tailoring strategies to your circumstances, take a look at our guide to seeking financial advice.
    • Getting startedIn this section you can learn about the fundamentals of planning for your retirement. Whether you are an absolute beginner or want to refresh your understanding of the key concepts, you can discover articles that will help you understand better how to plan for retirement and what you need to consider.
    • Retirement planning strategiesIn this section you can learn about the most critical retirement strategies you should consider when planning your retirement. There are tips and strategies to suit a range of age groups, whether you have many years left to save or need to get ready to retire in a hurry, including approaches that can help make your savings last the distance. You’ll also find planning ideas if you’re thinking of retiring overseas or own a business.
    • Case studiesHere you can find worked examples of retirement plans for a range of circumstances. These will help you see how different strategies can apply in the real world. There are also reflections from current retirees who share their lived experience and what they might have done differently.
    • CalculatorsIn this section you can discover some of the calculators and reckoners that SuperGuide have developed to make superannuation and retirement planning easier to understand. We also show you how to use some of the other retirement calculators available, review how reliable they are, and give you tips on how to choose one the right one for you. See also SuperGuide’s Investment Performance Reckoners.
    • Seeking financial adviceAustralians are generally reluctant to seek professional financial advice, despite the financial landscape (including the retirement system) becoming increasingly complex. The right financial advice can help you to get the most out of your superannuation. Advice doesn’t have to be expensive, particularly if you have simple needs. Your super fund may even be able to offer you the help you require. It’s important to know whether any financial advice you receive is independent or not. Advisers are legally required to provide you with a financial services guide that will let you know this information. Independent financial advice can be broadly defined as advice that is impartial or unbiased. It is provided without any potential for a conflict of interest. The resources here explain the value of advice, how to access it, and what to avoid.
    • Preparing for retirementIt’s nearly time! After years of saving and (hopefully) planning, retirement is just around the corner. Here you can find strategies that could help you to give your super a last-minute boost and insight into the risks that could throw your plans off the rails – and what to do about them.
  • RetireeRetirement is meant to be a reward for hard work, a time to kick back and do a bit of what you fancy. It’s all that, but it is also a time when many decisions and choices need to be made. SuperGuide’s retirement articles cover everything from taking your super as a lump sum or an income stream (also called a super pension) to what happens to your super when you die. We even have a handy calculator to help you estimate how long you can expect to live. Along the way, we also examine working in retirement, a guide to the Age Pension eligibility and payment rates and eligibility for concession cards for seniors and pensioners. And if the very thought of all these decisions makes your head spin, we have a guide to seeking independent financial advice. Set out below are the key topics in retirement: Super lump sums Super pensions Age Pension Working in retirement Life in retirement Seniors concessions and services Aged care Estate planning Super death benefits As a first step, the following are key articles that tackle the big issues in retirement.
    • Accessing superConverting your superannuation to a pension is an option if you have reached your preservation age and met a condition of release. Your preservation age is between 55 and 60, depending on your date of birth. Standard conditions of release for super pension withdrawals are: retirement, beginning a transition-to-retirement income stream, ceasing an employment arrangement after the age of 60, even if you get a job with a new employer, turning 65 years of age, becoming permanently incapacitated, being diagnosed with a terminal medical condition. Your dependants can also be entitled to access your super as a pension when you die if you have arranged for this to happen, though there are likely to be tax implications. There are six main types of super pension: Account-based pension: This is the most common type of pension. The pension is paid from a super account held in your name. Annuities: Annuity payments are purchased with a lump sum and enable fixed payments for the remainder of your life or for a defined period. The value of account-based pensions on the other hand can rise or fall depending on the market value of the underlying investments supporting them. Transition-to-retirement pension (TTR or TRIS):…
    • Managing your retirement incomeManaging your retirement income is about more than just drawing a regular pension payment. It involves deciding how and when to access your super, understanding how long your savings might need to last, and weighing up whether to use lump sums, annuities, or other income sources outside super. The right strategy can help reduce tax, improve Centrelink outcomes, and give you more flexibility and peace of mind
    • Age PensionThe Age Pension eligibility age in Australia is currently 66 years and 6 months, increasing to 67 from 1 July 2023. In addition to the age requirement, your eligibility for the Age Pension depends on you: Being able to satisfy the Age Pension assets test, Being able to satisfy the Age Pension income test, and Meeting Australian residency requirements. You will be eligible to receive either a full or part Age Pension provided your assets or income don’t exceed the thresholds of the respective tests, and you also satisfy both the age and Australian residency requirements. It’s important to understand that your super may be included in both your asset and income tests, and can therefore affect your potential Age Pension eligibility. It’s possible to earn up to earn up to $300 per fortnight from paid employment without this amount being included in your Age Pension income test. This is known as the work bonus. Age Pension rates for singles and couples (married or de facto) are adjusted very six months based on changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), Male Total Average Weekly Earnings, and the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index. See also our seniors concessions and services…
    • Work and other incomeRetirement is a condition of release to access your super once you have reached your preservation age. Your preservation age is between 55 and 60, depending on your date of birth. Once you have made a written declaration to your super fund that you are officially retired, the contributions you can make into your super account are much more limited and depend on your age. However, it’s possible to return to work even if retirement was your condition of release. If you’re aged under 60, you can return to work provided you can prove that your intention to retire was genuine when you made it. For example, your personal circumstances may have changed since you retired. You may need to provide proof of these changed circumstances to the ATO or your super fund. However you won’t be able to access any further super benefits that you accumulate from that point in time until you meet another condition of release. You can still access what you had accumulated up to that date. A transition-to-retirement pension is also an option you can consider once you have reached preservation age. If you’re aged between 60 and 64 and retirement was your condition of…
    • Seniors concessions and servicesWhen you retire there is bound to be a tighter focus on living within your means, even if you are comfortably well off. With bills to pay and increasing health care costs for many retirees, any discounts or rebates are always welcome. And with cheap travel and bargains on products and services on offer, what’s not to love? The good news is you don’t necessarily need to be on the Age Pension to qualify for some handy concessions. You may not even have to be fully retired.
    • Life in retirementAdvice about retirement planning is often reduced to financial targets and your superannuation account balance. And that’s a pity. While a degree of financial security is necessary to live well in retirement, it’s not sufficient. Retirees and experts alike point to the importance of your health, relationships, social connection and the pursuit of new skills and interests for a sense of wellbeing in retirement.
    • Later life planningLater life planning brings together two often overlooked but essential parts of retirement: aged care and estate planning. It covers how you want to be cared for if you’re unable to make decisions for yourself, and how your assets should be managed and distributed after your death.
  • SMSFsAs if superannuation wasn’t complex enough, when you have a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) you take on considerably more responsibility, and it’s essential therefore to have a comprehensive understanding of the current super and SMSF rules. In this section you will find detailed explanations of the SMSF rules and the responsibilities for SMSF trustees. SMSFs for beginners SMSF administration SMSF checklists SMSF compliance SMSF investment SMSF pensions SMSF strategies SMSF Q & As As a first step, the following are key articles that describe how SMSFs work.
    • SMSF for beginnersIn this section you will gain an understanding of the basics of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs). We’ll take you through the key responsibilities in being a SMSF trustee, help you to evaluate if a SMSF is right for you, and give you an idea of how much it might cost to run a SMSF. You can also test your understanding of SMSF basics with our quiz.
    • SMSF admin and complianceAll Self-Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs) must have a trust deed, a document which sets out the governing rules of that particular SMSF. Trust deeds can vary from document to document, and can also be amended over time, so it is vital that you understand and abide by the rules governing your SMSF. In addition to the trust deed, SMSFs are subject to the provision of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993, which imposes legal obligations on how SMSFs must be operated. These laws and regulations may, in certain circumstances, take precedence over your trust deed, so a sound understanding of the rules is a prerequisite for any SMSF trustee. In this section you’ll learn how to comply with obligations such as: residency requirements, developing an investment strategy and ensuring that all investment decisions are consistent with it, considering member insurance needs, only accepting contributions from fund members, making super benefit payments only to members who have met a condition of release, monitoring total super balance and transfer caps, administration, reporting and record-keeping requirements, appointing a registered auditor, and lodging the fund’s annual return to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and paying tax, to name but a few compliance and administrative…
    • SMSF investingPeople who run their own self-managed super fund (SMSF) often do so because of the control it gives them over their investments and investment strategy. With that control comes lot of responsibility. You need to understand the nature of the investments on offer, and how they fit into your overall investment strategy. It can also be instructive to see what other SMSFs are investing in. Then there is the legal requirement for SMSFs to have a documented investment strategy. This should satisfy the sole purpose test and be used to guide trustee decision-making. See also superannuation investment strategies and our section on risk.
    • SMSF pensions and lump sumsSelf-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) can pay whatever benefits are allowable by their governing rules (trust deed). Most typically, this allows SMSFs to pay benefits as either lump sums or pensions. In addition to the different types of payments that a SMSF can make, in this section you will learn about the process of starting a pension, transitioning from the accumulation phase into the pension phase, and all the steps that are required as a SMSF trustee to commence a pension. You will learn all about the importance of exempt current pension income (ECPI) and how to ensure that you maximise this valuable benefit. You may also need to be aware of the transfer balance cap, and how to navigate these complex rules. For those who have reached preservation age and would like to commence a pension while still retaining a connection to the workforce, a Transition-to-retirement (TTR) pension might be worth considering.
    • SMSF estate planningSelf-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) allow for a high level of flexibility in the management of a person’s superannuation benefits upon passing. Careful planning can allow your SMSF benefits (which are not automatically estate assets) to be passed onto those dependants who you wish to benefit, in the most efficient and tax effective way possible. In this section you will learn the key concepts behind robust estate planning for SMSF trustees, and how to take advantage of the greater control accorded to SMSFs in passing on wealth from an SMSF.
    • SMSF strategiesIn this section you can learn about tips and strategies you can consider for your SMSF, including multigenerational SMSFs, how to make decisions at different life stages and what are your options when you would like to wind up your SMSF. Also covered are investing strategies such as assessing passive vs active strategies, rebalancing and which assets are popular with SMSFs.
    • SMSF checklistsIn this section you will find a series of handy checklists to help make running your Self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) a breeze. Our checklists will help you write or review the fund’s investment strategy, start a pension or just make sure you have all the important calendar dates you need to stay on top of things. You may also benefit from our how-to guides and our step-by-step guides.
    • SMSF Q&AsSuperGuide covers all aspects of SMSFs and also provides answers to common SMSF Q&As. SuperGuide Premium members can also submit questions through our Support section. Please note that we can only provide general information, and cannot provide any advice about your personal situation. See also our Superannuation Q&As section.
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Terms and Conditions of Use

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE SUPERGUIDE WEBSITE.

Welcome to the SuperGuide website: www.superguide.com.au (‘Website’ or ‘SuperGuide Website’). If you continue to browse and use this Website, or if you subscribe to the SuperGuide membership service, you are agreeing to comply with, and be bound by the following terms and conditions of use (‘Terms and Conditions of Use’), which, together with our Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Copyright Policy, govern our relationship with you in relation to your use of this Website (including the SuperGuide membership service).

By using this Website (including the SuperGuide membership service), you accept these Terms and Conditions of Use and agree to be bound by them. For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions of Use, “us”, “our”, “we”, “SuperGuide.com.au” or “SuperGuide” refers to SuperGuide Pty Ltd ACN 142 266 359 as trustee for the SuperGuide Unit Trust and “you” and “your” refers to you, the client, visitor, or Website (including the SuperGuide membership service) user.

Amendment of terms

We reserve the right to change, modify, add or remove portions of the Terms and Conditions of Use at any time. Please check the Terms and Conditions of Use regularly prior to using our Website to ensure you are aware of any changes. We will endeavour to highlight any significant or substantive changes to you where possible. Your continued use of the SuperGuide Website (including the SuperGuide membership service), will be regarded as acceptance of the most current version of the Terms and Conditions of Use which will govern your and SuperGuide.com.au’s rights and obligations to each other.

User Requirements

You must be over 18 years of age and have capacity to enter into a legally binding agreement with us to use this Website (including the SuperGuide membership service), and to purchase any goods or services for this Website (including the SuperGuide membership service).

For certain campaigns or promotions, additional terms and conditions may apply. If you want to participate in such a campaign or promotion, you need to agree to the relevant terms and conditions of this campaign or promotion. In case of any inconsistency between such terms and conditions and these Terms and Conditions of Use, those terms and conditions will prevail.

Limitation of liability

For the purposes of the Australian Consumer Law as set out in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), SuperGuide.com.au’s liability for any breach of a term of these Terms and Conditions of Use that cannot be excluded by law is limited to: in the case of goods – replacement of the goods or the supply of equivalent goods, repair of the goods, the payment of the cost of replacing the goods or of acquiring equivalent goods, or the costs of having the goods repaired; and in the case of services – supplying the services again, or payment of the cost of having the services supplied again.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, and except as otherwise provided in these Terms and Conditions of Use, you agree and accept that SuperGuide.com.au is not legally responsible for any loss or damage you might suffer in relation to your use of the Website (including the SuperGuide membership service), regardless of how the loss or damage arose, including from errors or omissions in our documents or information, any goods or services we may offer or from any other use of the Website (including the SuperGuide membership service). This includes your use or reliance on any third party content, including links, comments or advertisements. Your use of, or reliance on, any information or materials on this Website (including the SuperGuide membership service) is entirely at your own risk, for which we will not be liable.

It is your own responsibility to ensure that goods, services or information available through this Website (including the SuperGuide membership service) meet your specific, personal requirements. You acknowledge that such information and materials are of a general nature and may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law. For full details of this limitation of liability see our SuperGuide Disclaimer.

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SuperGuide.com.au may from time to time provide on its Website (including the SuperGuide membership service), links to third party websites, or third party advertisements or third party information deriving from third party websites for your convenience. This does not necessarily imply any sponsorship, endorsement, approval or other arrangement between SuperGuide.com.au and the owners of the third party websites. SuperGuide.com.au takes no responsibility for any of the content found on the linked third party websites and does not guarantee the availability of any third party website or content as that is subject to change without SuperGuide.com.au’s knowledge.

SuperGuide.com.au accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any information, advertisements or advice linked from the SuperGuide Website (including the SuperGuide membership service) or provided to you directly by third parties. We are not the author of any information hosted on third party websites, and we are not making a ‘recommendation’. SuperGuide is not providing any recommendation and does not take any responsibility for any recommendation received in this regard.

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SuperGuide’s offers is a digital subscription membership service accessed at SuperGuide.com.au. To gain access to the SuperGuide membership service you will need to purchase a subscription by credit card, debit card, PayPal or bank transfer. If you pay by credit card or debit card or PayPal, SuperGuide’s payment providers (Stripe and PayPal) will activate a subscription to enable automatic payment of future subscription periods through the same card or account.

You can cancel the automatic renewal at any time, either through your account or by contacting us. To cancel future subscription payments you need to do so before the current subscription period expires. You will be sent an email notification at least 3 days before your subscription period expires (for monthly subscriptions), 7 days before your subscription period expires (for 6 monthly subscriptions) or 30 days before your subscription period expires (for annual subscriptions).

When you cancel your subscription you still have access to the SuperGuide membership service for the remainder of the current subscription period that has already been paid for.

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Subject to these Terms and Conditions of Use, physical goods will be supplied as shown on your order confirmation. Delivery is subject to different postage and handling charges which may be varied by us at any time. Deliveries are processed promptly upon receipt of full payment. Delivery may take between 2 and 14 days, depending on the delivery option. We will use our best endeavours to meet any stated delivery timeframes, however, from time to time, our service provider, Australia Post and/or any other reputable courier company we may engage (‘Delivery Service Provider’), may suffer delays beyond our control. Unless otherwise agreed by us, damaged or lost orders should be resolved with the applicable Delivery Service Provider directly and we are not responsible for goods that are damaged in transit or not received and any replacement of damaged or lost items is made at the discretion of SuperGuide.com.au.

Delivery of goods are delivered immediately, upon confirmation of payment. Please be aware that there are inherent risks associated with downloading any software and digital goods and we are not responsible for any loss or damage you suffer as a result of acquiring digital goods from the Website. Should you have any technical problems downloading any of our goods, please contact us by emailing contact@superguide.com.au so we may try to assist you.

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SuperGuide offers a 30 day money back guarantee. To claim a refund please contact us.

All goods sold on the SuperGuide Website (including the SuperGuide membership service) come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. You are entitled to a replacement for or a refund for a major failure and compensation for any other foreseeable loss or damage. You are also entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a major failure.

Should you wish to return your order, please notify us within 30 days of purchase with your reason for the return. We will investigate your claim and advise you whether the goods may be returned and, where required, provide you with instructions on how to return the goods. Once the goods are returned, we will inspect the goods and investigate your reason for the return. Where required by the Australian Consumer Law, we will provide the appropriate remedy in relation to the goods.

Refunds will be processed promptly and will be issued using the same payment method used for the purchase, including any store credit. All refunds requested for change of mind are made at the discretion of SuperGuide.com.au.

Disclaimer

To the fullest extent permitted by law, SuperGuide.com.au absolutely disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied by contract, conduct or otherwise, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose. SuperGuide.com.au gives no warranty that the information published, documents made available, or goods or services sold will be available at all times, free of errors, or that defects will be corrected, or that our website or its server is free of viruses or any other harmful components.

Whilst we at all times endeavour to have the most accurate, reliable and up-to-date information on our website, we do not warrant or make any representations regarding the use or the result of the use of any document, good, service, link or information in its website or as to their availability, completeness, correctness, suitability, accuracy, reliability, or otherwise.

Please also read our SuperGuide Disclaimer carefully (click here to access SuperGuide’s Disclaimer).

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At SuperGuide.com.au, we are committed to protecting your privacy. If you provide us with any personal information our Privacy Policy will govern how we will use and disclose that information (click here to access SuperGuide’s Privacy Policy).

SuperGuide takes all reasonable steps to ensure your information is secure and uses HTTPS (connection security) as well as third party payment providers, such as Stripe and PayPal, to facilitate and process any payments to SuperGuide.

No commercial use

This Website (including the SuperGuide membership service) is for your personal, non-commercial use only. You may not modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, commercially exploit, create derivative works form, transfer, or sell any materials on or goods or services contained within this Website (including the SuperGuide membership service). You may not use this Website (including the SuperGuide membership service), or any of the materials on the Website (including the SuperGuide membership service) to further any commercial purpose, including any advertising or advertising revenue generation activity on your own website.

Unacceptable activity

You must not do any act that we would deem, in our absolute discretion, inappropriate or in competition with us, is unlawful or is prohibited by any laws applicable to the Website (including the SuperGuide membership service), including but not limited to:

  • any act that would constitute a breach of either the privacy (including uploading private or personal information without an individual’s consent) or any other of the legal rights of individuals;
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We reserve the right to exclude and deny any person access to our Website (including the SuperGuide membership service), services or information at our sole discretion. SuperGuide.com.au will hold you fully responsible for any loss that we may sustain and may also hold you accountable for all profits that you might make from such unpermitted and improper use resulting from a breach of these Terms and Conditions of Use.

General

These Terms and Conditions of Use, along with our Privacy Policy, our Disclaimer and our Copyright Policy, represent the whole agreement between you and SuperGuide.com.au concerning your use and access to SuperGuide.com.au’s Website (including the SuperGuide membership service) and your use and access to the documents and information on it. All implied terms except those implied by statute and which cannot be expressly excluded are hereby expressly excluded.

If any part of these Terms and Conditions of Use is found to be illegal, void, or unenforceable then that part will be deemed to be severed from the remainder of these Terms and Conditions of Use and the severed part will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining terms.

If we do not exercise any right or provision under these Terms and Conditions of Use, it will not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. A waiver of any provision under these Terms and Conditions of Use will only be effective if it is in writing and signed by us.

Jurisdiction

This agreement will be governed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of Victoria, Australia and you irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in the State of Victoria, Australia.

SuperGuide is Australia’s leading superannuation and retirement planning website.

Superguide Pty Ltd ATF Superguide Unit Trust as a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR) is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Independent Financial Advisers Australia, AFSL 464629.

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All information on SuperGuide is general in nature only and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether any information on SuperGuide is appropriate to you before acting on it. If SuperGuide refers to a financial product you should obtain the relevant product disclosure statement (PDS) or seek personal financial advice before making any investment decisions.

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