Fund members still super confused
Australia’s superannuation system remains as baffling as ever to the people that use it, a survey has found.
Australia’s superannuation system remains as baffling as ever to the people that use it, a survey has found.
And it seems most members of superannuation funds have not taken steps to clarify the system. Almost 70 per cent of superannuation fund members have never contacted their funds’ trustees to ask about their member statement although many failed to un-derstand it, the survey found.
The study, conducted by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), found 77 per cent of the 1,200 respondents had read their last super fund statement, but nearly one in five were unsure of its meaning.
Two thirds of those who did read the statement had never queried their super fund manager about it, and one in 10 had not read the document at all.
In response to the findings, ASIC has resolved to undertake a joint project with the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) to investigate simplified disclosure for superannuation funds.
Speaking at the ASFA conference in Melbourne, ASIC deputy chairman David Knott said the project would examine examples of simplified short-form disclosure docu-ments.
The two bodies will look especially for the information people are given about the nature of the superannuation product they have, the risks associated with that product, its fees and charges and the product's investment performance.
Other results from the survey showed that respondents in the 50+ age bracket were most likely to have contacted their fund manager at some stage, while those in the 18-24 age bracket were the least likely to have made contact.
Three in five respondents said they had either a very good idea or knew around how much money they had in the account. Just over half of the respondents who said they didn't know how much money they had in their super accounts were aged between 18 and 34.
Those in full-time work and those from households earning more than $50,000 annu-ally were the most knowledgable about their superannuation balances, the study showed.
Nearly seven out of 10 respondents had an idea of how much their main fund had earned, with 80 per cent of those aged over 50 having an idea of their main fund's in-vestment performance.
The survey also revealed one in 10 part-time workers and one in 20 full-time workers said they did not have superannuation accounts.
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