Superannuation Fees

Superannuation is the way Aussies stash away money for retirement. Basically, Aussies chuck some of their pay check into a superfund, which charges members fees to invest the money, and members can only tap into it in their 60s.

Super fund fees can really vary. The ATO's comparison tool shows that the fee difference between the most expensive and cheapest super funds can be up to 0.83%.

If I pop $10,000 a year into a super fund with an 8% return, over 30 years, that 0.83% fee difference could mean a $160k difference in my super balance. So, it's important to keep an eye on those fees.

The ATO yoursuper-comparison-tool helps me check out different superfunds. It even lets me do a personalized comparison, which is pretty useful, but if I'm in a hurry, I can just go with a non-personalized one. This ATO tool only looks at MySuper options, which is the default option employers use unless employees choose something else.

The comparison results were useful for me (see below), but I also checked out other options from the superfunds that aren't MySuper products. Fees should not be the sole factor in choosing a superfund, I wanted to balance it with other considerations like returns and risks to find something that suited me better.