For many Aussies their superannuation is their biggest asset! Or their second biggest after their home
Can you remember your very first job where you were required to set up your superannuation, and select a beneficiary? Yeah… me either! Chances are you’ve floated through life without really taking a closer look at your super.
Now is the time to get more familiar with who your super is with, and how to manage it. Here is just one reason why!
A little fact about superannuation some people don’t know, is your super doesn’t automatically form part of your estate. This means you can’t just leave it to your beneficiaries as part of your Will with the rest of your estate.
Generally speaking, assets that are owned in your name- such as property, vehicles, investments, bank accounts etc make up your estate and can be included in your Will. This is used to do a final tax return, pay off liabilities, and to be divided to your beneficiaries or left to a specific person as a gift.
Your super on the other hand, is held in trust by the trustee of your super fund and governed by superannuation law so is considered a non-estate asset with its own rules and regulations.
While this is a little complicated, achieving the outcome you require is quite simple as your super fund trustee must comply with any instructions you give them.
Keeping both your Will and superannuation up to date is just sound financial management.
So if this is all news to you, here are some tips on making sure you have your Superannuation in order.
Firstly, make sure that the beneficiary(s) you nominate in your super fund are up to date. In fact, make sure you have actually NOMINATED a beneficiary at all. Many old accounts may not have one, or worse, it’s in an old flames name whom you haven’t seen in 15 years.
If you’re not sure who the beneficiaries of your super fund are and/or whether the nomination has lapsed, most organisations have easy to use apps for you to jump on and manage such things nowadays or a simple phone call will get you on track.
Secondly, get a binding death nomination. Again your super fund will explain all of this to you. When you do make a binding death benefit nomination to your beneficiary(s) you need to decide whether this is “lapsing” or “non-lapsing”. Stay with me here I know it’s a little dry but keep reading!
Lapsing nominations only last for three years and must be renewed. Non-lapsing nominations will remain in place until the trustee receives a new or updated nomination.
All super funds require you to complete and correctly sign (including witnessing) and to fill out a “death benefit nomination form” to record your intentions. Again, once you have this set up, it’s easy to keep track and manage.
Keeping both your Will and superannuation up to date is just sound financial management. To think we work all our lives to put money into our super for retirement, and don’t know who our beneficiary is, probably have multiple accounts and no clue who our super invests our money into is something worth getting on top of. So get your will sorted, tidy up your super, and recommend those you love to do the same.
At Our Wills Your Way our automated Wills platform, with documents written by lawyers and instantly downloadable from $99 will give you that peace of mind that you need.
