If you’re an average Australian adult, chances are you’ve accumulated superannuation in several places over the years and sometimes these super accounts have only small amounts in them. If ever there was a good time to consolidate all those super accounts, it’s now.
That’s because:
- Under proposed changes by the Government, if a superannuation account is considered ‘unclaimed’ for more than 1 year, and holds $2000 or less in it, it can be claimed by the ATO.
- At the end of 2015, this $2000 threshold could increase to $4000 and at the end of 2016 it could increase to $6000.
This can affect you in two ways:
- The money you have sitting in several small, unclaimed super accounts would be better off sitting in your main super account than being lost to the ATO. Especially when the amount that’s considered ‘small’ by the government may increase from $2000 to $6000!
- There may be insurance policies (such as life insurance) attached to these super accounts that you may be counting on. If the ATO claim these accounts, you may lose access to this insurance.
Paradigm Strategic Planning isn’t in the habit of using this blog as a promotional tool – but we really hate seeing people lose thousands of dollars’ worth of super that could otherwise be working hard for them if it was in the right place. We (and all good financial planners) can assist you in claiming all your super accounts, and if appropriate, consolidating them in one place.
If you want any help with this, feel free to contact us 🙂