Asset Super

Personal contributions from your take home pay

Super’s an excellent way to save, so any extra money you can get into your account can help you achieve your long-term goals. Regardless of whether an employer is contributing for you, you should think about making personal contributions. You can do that at any age up to 74.

Putting more into super means that your savings grow faster. That means having a better standard of living when you retire - or perhaps retire earlier than you might otherwise.

You don't have to be working to contribute if you are under 65. If you're over 65, the only rule is that you can only contribute if you've worked at least 40 hours in a period of not more than 30 consecutive days during that financial year.

What sort of difference do you think an extra $20 a week in your super could make over 30 years? Would you believe $59,000? And that's in today's dollars.

In this simple example we've taken someone aged 35, earning $50,000 a year, whose employer makes the basic compulsory contributions under the Superannuation Guarantee. The graph shows how much their super is worth at age 65, with and without the additional voluntary contributions.

The extra $20 a week may not sound much, but with the power of compound interest the difference at retirement is over $59,000.



Source: ASIC Superannuation calculator
Assumptions: 9% SG contributions paid quarterly. Fund earns 6.25% p.a. net. No allowance for tax on end benefit. Member of Asset Super


What if i want to contribute more than $20 per week?

That’s great!  As long as you're under 65, you can make voluntary contributions to your Asset Super account regardless of whether or not you're working. You can also make contributions up to age 74 as long as you've worked at least 40 hours in a period of no more than 30 consecutive days in that financial year.

Use the Build your super calculator to find out just what effect your extra contributions can make. And remember, that can be regular contributions or once off.

You can make these contributions yourself or, if you're employed, you can ask your employer to make them on your behalf from your after-tax pay.

Are there any limits?

There are contribution options and limits and it is important to understand what they are and how they could affect you. Find out more here.