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Home / How super works / Super for beginners

Super tips and strategies if you are in your 30s or 40s

October 6, 2020 by Janine Mace Leave a Comment

Reading time: 4 minutes

On this page

  • 1. Save on your tax bill
  • 2. Review your insurance cover
  • 3. Check your benefit nomination
  • 4. Boost your other half’s super account
  • 5. Review your investment option
  • 6. Set a super savings goal
  • 7. Consider personal tax-deductible or carry-forward super contributions
  • 8. Take advantage of free government money
  • 9. Consider starting a self-managed super fund (SMSF)
  • 10. Check your employer’s SG contributions

Super isn’t a set-and-forget investment, and it’s important in these crucial decades of your life that you keep an eye on your super account.

Your 30s and 40s can bring big life decisions – like starting a family or buying a home – so it’s important to ensure your super choices remain the right ones for your personal circumstances.

Not every tip in our list will be suitable for everyone in this age group, but they will help you start thinking about some of the super-related issues you should consider during this important life stage.

1. Save on your tax bill

If your salary is slowly increasing, these decades can be a good time to consider setting up a salary sacrifice arrangement with your employer.

If you can make extra contributions from your pre-tax salary into your super account, you not only increase you super balance, you could also reduce your annual tax bill, as concessional (before-tax) contributions are taxed at the lower rate of 15%.

For more information see the following SuperGuide articles:

  • Salary sacrifice and super: How does it work?
  • Your simple guide to Superannuation Guarantee contributions

2. Review your insurance cover

Now is definitely the time to check the insurance cover that comes with your super to ensure it’s appropriate for your personal financial situation. If you have a big mortgage or a growing family, it’s important to check you have sufficient insurance cover to look after the people that depend on you if you die or cannot work for a long period.


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By paying the premiums for death, total and permanent disability (TPD) and income protection cover from the money in your super account, it can be a cost-effective way to get insurance protection if your family budget is stretched.

For more information see the following SuperGuide articles:

  • Insurance inside super: A definitive guide
  • Life insurance through super: A definitive guide
  • TPD insurance through super: A definitive guide
  • Income protection insurance through super: A definitive guide

3. Check your benefit nomination

Most super funds encourage you to make a death benefit nomination that guides your super fund’s trustee on how you would like your death benefit to be distributed if you die.

Most super funds allow you to make a binding nomination, but these need to be refreshed every three years or they lapse. If this happens, the trustee of your super fund will be the one deciding who receives your super death benefit.

For more information see the following SuperGuide articles:

  • Who gets your super when you die? A guide to death benefit nominations
  • A simple guide to what tax is payable on super death benefits
  • Super strategies after losing your spouse: What are the rules?

4. Boost your other half’s super account

During these two decades a growing family takes priority and your spouse may need to take time off to care for new members of the family.

There can be valuable tax benefits in making contributions into your spouse’s super account, or splitting your contributions and placing some into your spouse’s account.

For more information see SuperGuide article Contribution splitting: How to boost your spouse’s super.

5. Review your investment option

As your personal circumstances change and you build assets outside super, it’s sensible to regularly review the investment option in which your super savings is invested.

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Although you are still many years from retirement and can afford to ride out investment market volatility, it may be worth reviewing how your total portfolio (which includes the money and assets you own outside super), is invested to ensure it remains appropriate.

For more information see the following SuperGuide articles:

  • How to benchmark your super fund
  • How to grow your super: Know your risk profile
  • Video: Which investment option is right for you?
  • Super control: How to change your investment option

6. Set a super savings goal

Spend some time thinking about how much you would like to have in your super account when you retire. If you have a clear goal, you are much more likely to achieve it.

Once you have set a goal, you can work out if you need to make additional voluntary contributions to achieve it, or if you super savings are invested in the correct investment option to accumulate sufficient money for retirement.

For more information see the following SuperGuide articles:

  • How much super do I need to retire?
  • How to plan for your retirement
  • Video: How can you plan your income needs in retirement?

7. Consider personal tax-deductible or carry-forward super contributions

If you make a voluntary contribution into your super account, you may be able to claim a tax deduction for it and pay less tax on your income. This type of contribution can also make a valuable addition to the balance of your super account in the run up to retirement.

You – or your partner – could also consider making a carry-forward contribution if either of you are not using the full amount of your annual concessional contributions cap. Unused cap amounts can be carried forward for up to five years and could allow you to make a larger concessional contribution in a particular year.

For more information see the following SuperGuide articles:

  • How do tax-deductible superannuation contributions work?
  • Carry-forward contributions: How to use your unused contribution caps to boost your super

8. Take advantage of free government money

Depending on your income, you could be eligible for a government co?contribution into your super account of up to $500 a year when you make personal contributions to your super fund.

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There is also free money on offer if you are eligible for the Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset (LISTO), which was previously called the Low Income Superannuation Contribution. If you’re eligible and earn up to $37,000, this is a payment of up to $500 from the federal government directly into your super account.

For more information see the following SuperGuide articles:

  • How a government co-contribution can help boost your super savings
  • How LISTO works (Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset)

9. Consider starting a self-managed super fund (SMSF)

For some people in their 30s and 40s, it can be worth establishing your own SMSF if you are interested in taking more control of your retirement savings. SMSFs allow you to tailor your investment strategy and can be a useful tool if you plan to buy your own business premises. However, it’s important to remember SMSFs must adhere to lots of rules and you will have the ATO looking over your shoulder.

For more information see the following SuperGuide articles:

  • What is a self-managed super fund (SMSF)?
  • How to evaluate whether an SMSF is right for you
  • How much super do you need to set up an SMSF?

10. Check your employer’s SG contributions

Your employer must be making SG contributions at least quarterly, so it’s important to check with your super fund (or the ATO’s online services through your myGov account) that employer contributions are being paid regularly into your account.

Given the tough conditions facing many businesses in the wake of COVID-19, it may be tempting for your employer not to prioritise paying your super contributions. If you have checked on your SG contributions and the business fails, you are less likely to lose your super contributions as well as your job.

Having up-to-date employer contributions (including salary sacrifice contributions) is also important if you plan to make extra personal super contributions before financial year-end. Otherwise you could accidentally go over your contribution caps.

For more information see the following SuperGuide articles:

  • What to do if your employer doesn’t pay your super
  • 10 ways myGov can help you master your super
  • What to do if you exceed your contribution caps

Bonus tip: Even if you’re still in your 30s or 40s, it’s possible to access some of your super early if you are suffering severe financial hardship – provided you meet strict eligibility conditions.

You can also apply for early release based on compassionate grounds.

On 22 March 2020, the federal government announced a temporary measure allowing individuals impacted by COVID-19 to withdraw up to $10,000 in 2020/21. This temporary withdrawal rule has strict eligibility criteria.

For more information see the following SuperGuide articles:

  • Early release of super due to severe financial hardship
  • Early release of super on compassionate grounds
  • Early release of super due to COVID-19 (coronavirus)

Are you with a top performing super fund?

Click here to compare more than 90 Australian super funds, including returns, fees, features, awards and more.

Learn more about super contributions strategies in the following SuperGuide articles:

What super contributions are best for me?

July 8, 2020

What is a re-contribution strategy and how can I use it with my super?

July 6, 2020

A super guide to understanding the bring-forward rule

July 1, 2020

How carry-forward (catch-up) super contributions work

July 1, 2020

Contribution splitting: How to boost your spouse’s super

July 1, 2020

How a government co-contribution can help boost your super savings

June 19, 2020

Why it can be a good idea to put as much into super as possible

June 1, 2020

Salary sacrifice and super: How does it work?

January 13, 2020

Making downsizer super contributions: 10 things you need to know

December 16, 2019

Capital gains and super: Using super contributions to reduce your CGT bill

February 2, 2019

Learn more about super housekeeping strategies in the following SuperGuide articles:

Life insurance through super: A definitive guide

January 18, 2021

Super tips and strategies if you are in your 20s

October 6, 2020

Super tips and strategies if you are in your 50s

October 6, 2020

Super tips and strategies if you are in your 60s or 70s

October 6, 2020

The easy way to find and consolidate your lost super

October 1, 2020

What to do if your employer doesn’t pay your super

September 18, 2020

10 points to check on your annual super fund statement

September 2, 2020

10 EOFY housekeeping tips for your super

May 1, 2020

10 key super fund fees: What are they and why am I paying them?

November 20, 2019

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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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