Women and super (Part 2): Strategies to boost your super in the lead up to retirement

These tips can help women in their 50s and 60s make the most of opportunities to close the gap.

1. Boost your contributions

If you’ve got some spare cashflow, now is a great time to give your super a kickstart prior to retiring.

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Concessional contributions (made via a salary-sacrifice arrangement with your employer or by claiming a tax deduction for personal contributions you’ve made from your bank account) not only boost your super balance but can also save income tax.

The usual cap for concessional contributions is $30,000 this financial year, but if your total super balance was below $500,000 on 30 June you may have unused cap space from prior years that allows you to contribute more. These additional contributions are referred to as carry-forward contributions.

If you don’t have space under the cap to make more concessional contributions, or your taxable income is too low for them to be tax-effective, you can also consider making non-concessional contributions.

Non-concessional contributions are personal contributions from your savings that you don’t claim a tax deduction for. The general cap for this contribution type is currently $120,000, but many people can contribute more using the bring-forward rule.

Non-concessional contributions can be an excellent way to move money from an inheritance, or savings you have accumulated outside super, into the tax-advantaged super environment and later use them to provide convenient retirement income.

2. Consider a transition-to-retirement strategy

A transition-to-retirement (TTR) pension allows you to begin drawing income from your super while you are still working. The maximum that can be withdrawn is 10% of the pension’s balance each financial year.

When you’re over 60 this income is tax free (unless you’re in a rare untaxed super fund).

A common strategy is to use this tax-free income to increase the amount you can afford to contribute to super via concessional contributions while still meeting your living expenses. If you can also carry forward unused concessional contribution caps from prior years, this strategy can be even more powerful.

3. Get your share in the event of divorce or separation

A divorce or separation later in your working life can put a real dent in retirement plans. You were planning as a couple and now need to make it alone. This is likely to increase the retirement income you need because you’re not sharing costs with another person.

Separating can be an emotionally difficult time and involve personal conflict, but it is critical to get your financial affairs in order. Ideally, you don’t want to compromise on your financial settlement just to keep the peace.

Make sure you have experienced legal representation and don’t overlook super during negotiations – it is likely to be among the largest assets you shared. If you were married or in a de-facto relationship, super can be split after permanent separation or divorce.

4. Leverage your spouse or partner

For couples, the super system permits you to contribute (after tax) to each other’s accounts and to transfer concessional contributions made to one person’s account into their partner’s.

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This can be of benefit if your super balance is lagging that of your spouse.

If you earn less than $37,000 in a financial year, your spouse can receive a tax offset of $540 in return for contributing $3,000 to your account. When you earn between $37,000 and $40,000 a lower tax offset is available. You don’t need to be employed to take advantage of this scheme.

In addition, spouse contribution splitting allows one spouse to transfer concessional contributions made into their super in the previous financial year into their partner’s account. This can be a valuable tool, not only to redistribute your balances in the interest of fairness but also to ensure you both make the most of the transfer balance cap on super transferred into a super pension account or the proposed introduction of additional tax on balances above $3 million.

5. Check the quality of your super fund

The last thing you need in the lead up to retirement is to be exposed to a less than stellar super fund. Make sure your fund’s fees are reasonable and its performance stacks up.

A quick and easy way to check is to look at APRA’s comprehensive product performance package. The package covers both MySuper and choice (trustee-directed) investment options and covers most super products in the accumulation phase.

Scroll down to ‘Superannuation product performance’ and select the type of investment option you have chosen for your super (MySuper or trustee-directed, platform or non-platform). If you’re not sure what category your chosen investment option and super fund fall into, you may need to check more than one list to find it.

After selecting the type of investment, you will find a page that allows you to select your super fund from an ‘RSE name’ dropdown box. Choose your fund and select the options to see all from the next two dropdown menus, and ‘metrics (expanded)’ from the last. You will see all the investment options offered by your super fund that fall into the category you have chosen (MySuper or trustee-directed/choice).

Find your chosen option(s) in the list and use the scroll bar at the bottom of the table to move to the right and see the investment return and fees, highlighted in a colour code. Lighter colours indicate good results, and darker colours indicate poor results. If your option is all white, you’re probably in a great place. If it’s red and yellow – it could be time to look elsewhere.

Take the time to check the measure for total fees associated with the account balance closest to yours to make an informed decision.

Now is also a great time to start asking your fund about how they help members preparing for retirement. What advice services are available? Are their pension products competitive? Do they have a product that is guaranteed to provide retirement income for life?

6. Run your numbers

It’s impossible to plan effectively and prepare for retirement without knowing what path you’re on. Putting your current situation into a retirement calculator is a good starting point.

The results may set your mind at ease that you’re on track for comfort or let you know that you’ll need to make some changes if you want to meet your retirement goals. Remember the output is not a guarantee, just an illustration of what is likely.

We currently prefer the tools offered by Mercer and TelstraSuper because they build in realistic variability in investment returns. You can learn more about how to use them with our guides.

Your super fund may also provide calculation tools.

7. Consider working longer

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, an Australian woman aged 65 in 2015 could expect nearly 17 more years of healthy life (and a further 5.5 years in less than full health). That’s a long healthy retirement to finance.

Working longer, perhaps part time or casually, reduces demands on the retirement savings you have accumulated and could give you time to save more.

There are no restrictions on accessing your accumulated super once you leave a job after age 60, or once you turn 65 even if you’re still working, so income from super and work can go hand in hand.

You can also receive the Age Pension while working, so long as your income and assets are below the relevant limits. In fact, age pensioners are encouraged to work by the work bonus which disregards some employment income when calculating Age Pension entitlements.

For more on closing the gap, see Part 1 and Part 3 of this series:

• How to grow your super in the early and middle years
• Making the most of super and other assets after retirement.