Alex

We acknowledge that we are recording this podcast from the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging and celebrate the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their ongoing connection to land and waters throughout Australia

Ange

Welcome to super simple chats, Rest’s very first podcast. I’m Ange..

Alex

And I’m Alex

Ange

And we will be speaking to industry experts about all things super.

Matt

Wait, what the hell is contributions as well?

Ange

I didn’t realise until recently, that super is invested, I thought it was like a savings account

Sarah

I’m not sure it’s helpful to talk about specific numbers, but it’s a lot less than a million dollars.

Person

This is actually really important to talk about, because I don’t want to miss out on those things

Ange

Trying to make it understandable and relatable for every day Aussies.

Alex

After all, it’s one of the biggest assets you’ll ever have.

Ange

Now this wouldn’t be a financial podcast, if we didn’t start by mentioning that the information discussed is general only and doesn't take into account your own financial situation, needs or objectives. This information and the relevant products are issued by Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd. Before deciding to join or stay, consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement and Target Market Determination at rest.com.au/pds and whether it is appropriate for you. While we have endeavoured to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided, there may be inadvertent errors or omissions. Before acting on any advice, we recommend you speak with a financial adviser.

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Alex

So for me personally as a finance writer, this was not something that I grew up knowing a lot about: superannuation or personal finance, and I took it upon myself to learn as much as I could. And with that, I realised how little people know, just like me, and how important it is for everyone to know this very simple information.

Ange

You know, I agree with you 100%, Alex. I mean, I've been working in super for about, I'd say close to four years now. And truthfully, I had I had pretty much zero to no knowledge about super other than the fact that I had it until I started working at Rest.

And then I realised just how important it actually is.

Alex

Oh yeah.

Ange

So for me doing this podcast, I'm just hoping that everyday Aussies like us can really get into the nitty gritty of super and understand just how important it actually is for them in their future.

So on that note, we're excited to kick off our very first episode, which, surprise, surprise is super 101. And joining us today is Matt from Rest.

Matt

G’day, thanks for having me.

Ange

Yeh we’re stoked to have you hear, Matt. And Matt is going to be demystifying just what's super is and why it actually matters.

First question, as we were just saying, super feels like a really foreign concept for most people. In fact, most people just assume it is glorified savings account for later.

But we know it's actually a lot more than that. So my first question is, if you were to explain superannuation to someone who is completely new to the idea, how would you explain it?

Matt

Yeah, it's a good question. I think most people it's it is a foreign concept as well. You guys are not alone in not knowing too much. It's not generally a topic taught at school or university TAFE things like that. So I think the message for me to every Australian is you're not alone in not knowing much about super, because it's pretty, it's pretty common. So what is super? I think he sort of did touch on it.

In short, it is savings for retirement. Saying that it's not like a savings account where you can just dip into and sort of, you know, if you're going on a weekend away and sort of take some money out here and there. In a way it is that those for savings for your retirement, and it is important because it's going to be a nest egg come retirement. Right? You know, you've worked hard for 20, 30, 40, 50 years. You want to have that little nest egg tucked away for, for when you do retire.

I think for me as well, a lot of people sort of in a way assume it's not real, it's not their money, which, you know, is, is interesting because, you know, you've been working so hard for this. It is your money. You know, I think people think it's not real is because you can't, you can't touch it. You can't smell it, you can't feel it.

And that probably just comes down to the lack of engagement with super. And it's pretty common across most Australians that they're pretty disengaged with their super, which is a shame, but pretty consistent with most Australians.

So in short, that's a really long winded answer. Sorry you've got me on today. I do talk a lot. A lot. Some of it's nonsense.

Ange

That's actually why we have you here.

Matt

But look, yet at savings for retirement. That's it, in short, the way you're going to achieve this, this retirement balance is through employer contributions. Your employer will make contributions throughout the lifetime of your career. Obviously, there's some certain criteria you need to meet as well. But, I'm sure we'll talk a little bit more about that today in terms of employer contributions and the power of those too.

Ange

Yeah, awesome.

Alex

I think disengagement is a really like the perfect word to describe how a lot of people feel about super, especially young people. Like it's very much seen as a set. And forget one day in the future, I'll think about this concept. So with that in mind, why should young people actually even care about their super?

Matt

Yeah, I look it's I mean, the amount of times I've gone into a workplace, I do a lot of, sort of super education in the workplace. The amount of times I sort of go in there and talk about exactly what we're talking about today. So super 101. Whenever I have these conversations with people, you sort of have those light bulb moments ago. Oh, okay. That's why I should do it. And I think, in short, the earlier you can look at it, there's this thing called compound interest.

And what compound interest is, is basically interest upon interest. So, you know, as contributions go in there earning interest. And over the lifetime of your, you know, your work life, that's just going to compound to hopefully a nice juicier balance. So there's some small things you can do earlier, which we'll touch on at a bit more detail like, you know, potentially adding additional contributions to your super, watching that compound over the lifetime of your work career, looking at different investment options, having a look at your insurances and whether you need them, whether you want to dial them up or increase them, or what have you.

There's this there's plenty of things you can do at an earlier stage in your career, which will be so much more beneficial, you know, by the time you retire, the amount of times is, well, we've I've been into a workplace and I'll be chatting to somebody in their 40s, 50s or 60s and they often say, oh, I wish I'd done this earlier. And you know, you know, ideally you've got somebody a little bit younger.

Ange

It's like super FOMO, right? It's realising it too late.

Matt

Totally. What I will say, if you are in your 40s and 50s is never too late. It's, you know, it's never too late. You know, there's always something you can do there to help you balance. But obviously, you know, I work at Rest and a lot of our members are actually sort of 18, 19, 20.

So I got that really fantastic opportunity to sort of chat with them and help them out, some really, really basic things. That you can do, you know, just to sort of help yourself out that, you know, you know, to get engaged with you, with you super. Which I can't stress enough is really important.

Ange

So what I'm hearing from that is it's never too late. But the earlier you start, the better it could be for your outcome.

Alex

I like the way that you described it as a light bulb moment. So this idea that something like compound interest, someone had that. Oh yes. Now I should..

Ange

Cha-ching!

Alex

Are there any other light bulb moments that you've seen register with people?

Matt

The there's plenty. I mean, I think for me, one of the biggest things is how do people, you know, engage with their super and, you know, most funds I will say have an app.

Ange

Is that a shameless plug there Matt? I think it is.

Matt

A little bit. Look, I'm obviously slightly biased working at Rest. But you know we have an app and I've worked with other funds in the past and now you'll have apps as well. But, I didn't know there was an app. I didn't know I could see my balance. I didn't know I can see my contributions. There's so many things. It's like one thing will lead to another because, you know, once you get on a bit of a roll and these words start making sense, things you might have heard on TV or, you know, your parents or a mate at a barbecue that knows everything, you know, it starts to resonate a bit more and then naturally, you're more engaged. So I think for me, those light bulb moments are very rewarding for me. And I know most, you know, my team that that works in the same space as well. So

Ange

That was really great to know. So we've actually gone and spoken to everyday Aussies about this topic.

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Sinem

What do you know about super?

Person 1

I don't know anything at all.

Person 2

A 401K for Australians.

Person 3

It's for the retirement

Person 4

They told me that I will get super

Person 5

Something that you contribute to so that you have something to retire on

Person 6

It's mandatory in Australia.

Person 7

I believe it is a very good thing for everybody in Australia,

Person 8

Investments are made on my behalf

Person 9

And it's for later. You can't have it now.

Sinem

Do you check it often?

Person 2

I tried looking at it once,

Person 5

Yeah, I do, I do.

Person 4

Yeah. Every now and then

Person 7

Not often, as I should.

Person 6

I do keep a tab on the how much I've got.

Person 8

Probably not as often as I should,

Person 9

Sometimes I do, and I get really excited because I'm like, I can't wait to grow old

Sinem

Back to you Ange

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Ange

So you did mention employer contribution. Now I've heard this used interchangeably with the term super guarantee. For those of us at home who are listening and have no idea what super guarantee is they might have seen on a pay slip or something, and gone, what is this 11.5% thing that they're taking out every week? Can you explain to us what super guarantees?

Matt

Yeah, it's basically just the contributions that your employer has to make on your behalf. So this is the money you've earned, and it goes into your, you know, designated super fund. Now at the moment, you're right. It's 11.5%. When I first started working in super, it was around about 9%.

Ange

Is that telling us about how long you've been working in super?

Matt

It’s been a little while now, it was even less a lot, you know, before I started working in super. But, yeah, at the moment, 24/25 financial year, it's 11.5% is actually increasing the 12%, next financial year. Which is great. Obviously that's more money going into your little nest egg. That savings for retirement.

Ange

So I'm going to take us back a little bit, back to when I was 16 years old.

So a bit of a reminiscence, thinking about my very first job was actually younger. I was like almost 15, I think I was 14 to 9 months, like, my parents just straight. Didn't love that. So I worked in retail. That was my first job. And when I first started, they hand me a bunch of paperwork, filled it out, handed it back a few weeks later, got a letter in the mail, and it was from a company called Rest. Never heard of them. No one told me what it was going to be.

Matt

Great fund.

Ange

There was a number on it, and they said I was a member. So I was like, oh, well, this is probably important. And I was one of those teenagers that was really organised. So I had a life admin folder.  

Alex

Can’t relate

Matt

That’s so weird. That was not me.

Ange

I don't know how many 15 year olds have a life admin folder. I mean, I put it in there and then just by some magic, okay, it was huge fluke, but I just somehow knew that I had to take it with me every time I start a new job and just fill it in.

Matt

You, you are a miracle.

Ange

Yeah. Miracle, right? And it's really lucky because to this day, I'm still with Rest for that exact reason. But my understanding is most people don't do this yet. So yeah. Which I will probably touch on, but we'll touch on that next. Alex. But can you tell listeners what is it that they need to know about super when they do start their first job and then when they start moving from job to job?

Matt

So you're definitely a freak of nature, keeping that admin in file.  That's unbelievable. Yeah, for me, I think back to my first job was working at Hungry Jacks, and I would have been probably around sort of 16, maybe a bit older, I think, as well. And yes, same thing I  on-boarded with them and got a piece of paper that said super. And, you know, I had no idea what that meant, and I certainly didn't keep that in my admin folder. That's, that's for sure. But what that bit of paper was, was something that's referred to the Standard Choice Form. So when you start with, with any workplace, you have the option of say it is your first job, you have the option of, of either joining the employer's default fund to default funds is the fund that they've selected to give to new employees.

Ange

So that's how I ended up in Rest.

Matt

Totally. So that's how you would have come to Rest initially. But, you know, in this day and age, employees have choice. So if you, you know, if you're somebody that you know, has done your research and you wanted to come to this workplace, with your own super fund, you know, there's a lot of comparison tools out there available these  days.

Some via the ATO. In fact, you can actually bring your own fund to, to that workplace and say, hey, I want you to pay contributions to this. But if you don't, a lot of people don't. A lot of people would just go, yep I'm just going to tick this box because it's easy. I don't want to, upset my employer, which is weird.  You know, you won't be upsetting your employer by, you know, selecting your own super fund. You know, you can. It's your choice.

Ange

Do you reckon it’s because they think that they're going to be like the odd one out, like everyone's default fund, and so I'm going to be the weird one out.

Matt

100% Think about any job that you've ever started your first day. You know, it's chaotic. It's mayhem in terms of your mind just rattling around and all these, you know, forms. You got to fill out a thousand OH&S forms that you've got to fill out in this day and age as well, I think you got some of this is super as well. So yeah, I think mostly people would probably just tick that, that default box, which is fine.

So yeah, they, you sort of you sort of options in terms of when you, when you start and the form.

But I think it is really, really important when you do move, from job to job to, to keep track of all of your super details. Technology is our best friend now, you know, it's so much easier now to keep track of your super funds. I mentioned before about apps probably the easiest way.

Ange

So you don't need a life admin folder, where you carry a piece of paper for 20 years because I only threw it out like a few weeks ago.

Matt

Yes, I know we've printed off a few bits and pieces here today, but realistically, I can't remember the last time I've used a printer myself, you know, so everything's online these days. If your fund doesn't have an app, I'm sure that will have an online portal. You know, like your online banking type thing so you can keep track of it. There. And it's just a matter of when you move from one employer to another. Keep a lot of those details and certain details you'll need to share with them and including the form. In saying that if you don't actually know what super fund you were with before by some chance, maybe you, when you're onboarded with them, you use an email address, you don't have access to. And if also any statements or any, you know, information that's, that's gone to an inbox you have no access to.

In this day and age, employers actually have to do what's called a stapled search. They actually have to go out and try and find any existing super funds that you already have out in the super multiverse. I mean, using the multiverse language at the moment, because I'm a bit of a Marvel nerd. But, you know, there's tools that the employer can use to locate any existing super funds that you have out there as well.

Ange

I just have this image of like someone stapling your super fund to your shirt. You're just like taking it around with you.

Matt

Yeah, well that’s it. These were, these were only introduced these laws in in 2020.

So I think 2020.. I'm pretty sure it is.

Ange

Someone fact check the man.

Alex

Like put the right stat here (motions to a space beside her).

Alex

It was actually 2021.

Matt

It was a good change because you know working in super for yeah I think 12 or 13 years now I have seen so many people accumulate so many different super funds because of that. I think just that mindset of you join an employer, you just sign up to their default fund and then before you know it, you got 4 or 5 …

Alex

Guilty.

Matt

Is that you? But you know, look, and we can talk about this in a bit more detail later, but so easy to consolidate them these days. There's so many digital tools available to you as well to be able to sort of help you through that process. Yeah.

Ange

I want to know why Alex is guilty.

Alex

Just for this or for all the crimes? Just for super today? It's just so, like, my first job was a waitress. I was maybe about 16 or 17. I wasn't very good, but I gave it a crack. And one of the first things they did was that same process of nominating a super fund and being 16 and not really caring. I just went with the default fund and then completely forgot about it. Few years pass, I eventually get, you know, a big girl job and then I go, okay, super that thing, default fund. And then carried on and it wasn't until, yeah, I was a lot older that I realised that I had multiple funds open. So Matt, if you are like me and you find out that you have multiple super funds, how can you find your lost super?

Matt

Yeah. This day and age it's, it's easier than ever in a sense that you can actually just do this via your MyGov. So where you log in and do your tax every year or if you've got, you know, somebody that helps you do that every year. There's actually a little superannuation portal in there which you can actually locate any lost or other super funds out in that, that super multiverse that we're talking about. So, yeah, really easy to locate them. And you can consolidate them within there if you want to.

The other way you can do it as well is actually just engaging with your, your own super fund. So most super funds will have some sort of online portal or even via an app you might be able to consolidate via there as well. So it's yeah, it's technology's your best friend when it comes to consolidation. You know, all the tools are available at your disposal and yeah, no paper based stuff is required these days, which is even better.

Alex

If it was your own fund and you like, fund A and you want to stay with fund A and you have B and C over, you would go to fund A's website and have them do the hard work of consolidating for you.

Matt

So you if you've got your sort of I suppose your core fund, you'd probably go with that fund and then get them to bring over the other to type thing. So

Alex

Easy peasy.

Matt

It's super, super easy, right.

Ange

But consolidating isn’t right for everyone, so it’s best to seek financial advice, right?

Matt

Yes that's right

Ange

Oh, this is really great to know. Honestly, I wish younger Ange knew a whole lot more about this. So thank you so much for joining us today, Matt. It was really great to have you on our first episode.

Matt

Oh, you're very welcome.

Alex

Yes. Thanks for being our very first guest.

Ange

And I'm sure we'll bring you back in for a few more episodes if you're open to it.

Matt

Sounds good. Any time.

Ange

Fantastic.

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Ange

So please make sure to like, follow and subscribe

Alex

For any more information on the things we spoke about today there’ll be some links in the description below.

Ange

And that is..

Ange&Alex

Super Simple!

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Ange (VO)

Before combining your super, consider which fund is right for you. Check out the fees and costs of your funds plus any benefits that would be lost, such as insurance cover. Make sure your other fund(s) knows about any contributions you intend to claim a tax deduction for, before combining your super. If you have any questions, speak to a licensed financial adviser or visit the ASIC MoneySmart website for more information.