UniSuper: Growing your super for retirement
No matter how near or far off your retirement is, topping up your super now can be a great way to help maximise your balance tomorrow.
Salary sacrifice contributions
Salary sacrifice contributions allow you to ‘sacrifice’ part of your take-home pay and add it to your super instead. It means your employer pays a portion of your salary before-tax directly into your super, rather than your bank account. You can set this up through your employer, and may get some tax benefits too.
These type of payments are known as ‘concessional’ contributions and there are limits on how much you can add each year. Learn more about salary sacrifice contributions.
After-tax contributions
You can also grow your super with extra contributions from your take-home pay or savings. After-tax super contributions can be a great way to invest the extra money from a pay rise, bonus or inheritance.
These type of payments are also known as ‘non concessional’ contributions and can generally be made via BPAY® (depending on your super fund). You can choose between a one-off payment or regular contributions.
There are limits on how much you can add each financial year. Read more about after-tax contributions.
Super and your spouse
Saving for retirement with your partner? If your spouse is out of work or on a low income, there are two main ways you can help grow their super.
Spouse contributions – this is when you add money to your spouse’s super account on their behalf, or vice versa. You can top up your partner’s account at any time by making an after-tax contribution on their behalf and if you’re both eligible, you could be entitled to a tax offset of up to $540 based on the amount contributed.
Contribution splitting – another way to help boost your partner’s super is by transferring up to 85% of your own before-tax contributions to your partner’s super account. Unlike spouse contributions, which are made from your after-tax savings, contribution splitting takes place before tax is taken out.
Please note, there are limits and eligibility criteria before you can split your contributions. Find out more about how you can save for retirement together.
Need help?
Before making any decisions, consider contacting your super fund or seeing a financial adviser.
Whether you’re a UniSuper member or not, we can help with general questions and advice about super, retirement and the age pension at no additional cost. Book a time to chat now.
The information is of a general nature and doesn’t consider your personal circumstances. Before making decisions, you should consider whether the information is appropriate for your circumstances otherwise seek financial advice.
UniSuper Advice is operated by UniSuper Management Pty Ltd ABN 91 006 961 799 (USM), which is licensed to provide financial product advice. USM is also the administrator of the fund UniSuper ABN 91 385 943 850 (UniSuper). UniSuper Limited ABN 54 006 027 121 is the trustee of UniSuper.
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