18 November 2020
Rest, one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, is changing its fee structure to ensure it can continue to improve its products and services for members.
On 28 November 2020 Rest Super, Rest Corporate and Rest Pension members will all move to the same new administration fee structure of $1.50 per week plus a monthly asset-based fee of 0.12 per cent of their account balance. The asset-based fee will be now be capped at $300, rather than $800 for superannuation products and $1,040 for Pension products.
While the majority of Rest members will experience an administration fee increase, the fund’s combined administration and investment fees will still be among the lowest in the industry.
No member in these products will pay more than $378 in annual administration fees.
Rest has also reduced the investment fees for most investment options including the default Core Strategy option. Core Strategy’s estimated investment fee and indirect cost ratio was reduced from 0.67 per cent to 0.61 per cent for the year to 30 June 2020.
For an account balance of $50,000 in Core Strategy, the combined annual administration and investment fees were $452.60 on 30 June 2020. From 28 November, these fees will drop to $443 per annum for the same balance.
According to SuperRatings, the median fees charged by the super industry on account balance of $50,000 were $660 (as at 30 June 2020).1
For the average Rest member with a balance of around $30,000, their combined annual administration and investment fees will decrease from $298.60 on 30 June 2020 to $297 on 28 November 2020.
This change will also simplify the fee structure for Rest Pension members. Rest Pension members with a balance of $100,000 will see their annual administration fees decrease from $248 to $198 on 28 November 2020.
The combined investment and administration fees for Rest Pension will continue to be in the top quartile for the industry.1
Rest has also launched a new Retirement Bonus to reward existing Rest members with Super, Corporate and Transition to Retirement accounts by providing a bonus when they open a Rest Pension Retirement account.
The Retirement Bonus is the member’s share of the money set aside to pay for future capital gains tax that could have applied when the investment assets in their super account were sold.
When the member opens a Rest Pension Retirement account, Rest no longer needs to pay capital gains tax on these assets and the savings are passed back to the member.
Rest will also remove the $50 family law split fee and the $60 contribution splitting fee.
1 SuperRatings Fee Benchmarking Review, August 2020.
