Superannuation is an important part of your retirement savings – however, not everyone knows about their accounts or how much money they have saved. According to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), in 2018 Australians had $17.5 billion of lost super from more than 2.9 million lost and ATO-held accounts.
It can be easy to lose track of your super – if you’ve changed your name, job or address, chances are you might have some money waiting to be found and claimed. This is how you can find your lost super and look after it from here on out.
You can find the details of all your super accounts, including those you may have lost or forgotten, by creating a myGov account. Once you have linked your myGov account with the ATO, you can see all the super held by your super funds or the ATO. If you recently opened a new super account, it might take up to six months for it to appear on myGov.
From then on, you can manage these super accounts – for example, you can consolidate multiple accounts into a single fund for convenience. Transferring the balance to a different fund can be done by filling out a form online, which is available on myGov.
Make sure to double check the fine print before combining different funds – you may be liable for administration or withdrawal fees or lose some benefits and entitlements.
Do you have any super money you haven’t claimed? Share with us in the comments.
