Q: Am I allowed to put money from my savings into my granddaughter’s super account?
A: It’s a great way, of course, to save for the kids. The one thing or the most common thing I hear is that the grandkids don’t really see it that way. They want to get their hands on the money when they can, not in 50 years’ time. But again, a nice gesture.
Now, I’m going to do something here that I hate people doing, and it’s saying, ‘it depends’. I hate it when I go to a webinar, or I go to get advice from somewhere, or I read a legal article.
Putting a contribution in for a grandchild is allowed. Of course, the grandchild would need to be a member of the fund to which the contribution is being made, and the fund would need to allow contributions to be made for a member by someone other than that member. Usually, wouldn’t be a problem. Why I say ‘it depends’, it’s probably more of a safety measure, because there are a whole number of real issues here that have to be looked at before you do anything. And it probably would be a good idea to get some advice on how these issues affect you. For instance, if you were a Centrelink (Services Australia) recipient, how could this affect your Centrelink entitlements?
What has the grandchild contributed to super, if anything? What are their caps? And what type of contribution will it be? Is the grandchild under 18 or over 18? There are some outcomes that do need to be considered before you do it, but in general, yes, it is allowed.
Leave a comment
You must be a SuperGuide member and logged in to add a comment or question.