Superannuation Fees

All superannuation funds charge fees to look after your retirement funds. The amount of fees charged varies depending on each individual provider. The annual fees paid are provided as part of your member statement to keep you informed of how much you are paying and should also be available on the providers website, product disclosure statements or member portals.

If you have more than one account, you are likely paying fees for this as well and you may want to consider consolidating your funds into one account. Prior to doing so, ensure to check for any insurance policies attached to your fund or you might lose your cover.

Now let’s look at the other types of fees that are commonly charged.

Administration Fees

These charges cover general costs of managing your super accounts. These fees may be fixed or charged as a percentage of the total balance of the fund.

Investment Management Fees

This cost is incurred to cover the cost of managing your investments in super and is paid to the investment managers or external parties managing the investments within your fund. This will vary depending on the investment option and is charged as a percentage of total balance.

Investment Switch Fees

These costs are incurred and charged by some super funds when changing/rebalancing investment options.

Buy/Sell Spread Fees

Buy/sell spread fees cover the difference between the buying and selling price and are charged by some super funds when making contributions, withdrawals or changing investment options as units in the investment are bought and sold.

Other Fees

Some funds charge additional performance fees if certain investment/performance benchmarks have been exceeded. Advice fees for personal advice on superannuation by a financial adviser may be deducted via super. Personal insurance such as Life, Disability and Income Protection cover can be funded via superannuation as well.