redundancy and your super
Facing redundancy or losing your job can be extremely difficult. Along with the stress of finding a new job, you usually need to make some important decisions about your short and long-term financial future.
One small but significant step you can take is to combine your super accounts.
Combining your super could mean you’ll stop paying multiple fees and insurance premiums across multiple super accounts.
Your super is your money. Just like a savings account, the more that’s in it – the more it could earn.
That’s why it’s important to consider keeping all your super together.
Combine online – it’s easy
Find other super you have and easily combine into your HESTA account.
You just need to log in to your account and go to the ‘Combine’ tab. It only takes a few minutes. Make sure you have your identification details handy.
Before you get started, make sure you review any other benefits, such as insurance cover, that you have through your other fund.
Members receive automatic insurance with HESTA when they become eligible, unless they choose not to have it. Automatic insurance includes Death Cover, which provides a lump-sum benefit to help look after your loved ones if something happens to you, and Income Protection Cover, which pays a monthly benefit to support you if you can’t work due to illness or injury.
Once your insurance cover starts, it continues throughout your HESTA membership unless you cancel it, become inactive or don’t have enough money in your super account to pay your insurance fees.
If we don’t receive any contributions or roll-ins into your account for a continuous period of 16 months, it will be considered inactive. Your cover may also stop if your balance falls below $6,000. And if this happens, we won’t be able to provide you with insurance cover unless you’ve told us you want to keep it.
Tell us if you'd like to keep your insurance cover
To keep your insurance cover, just log in to your account, go to the Preferences section and choose ‘Please keep my insurance cover if I become inactive’.
Check your cover
You may like to check if your cover is still at the right level for your changing circumstances. Start by checking your current cover in your online account and decide if it’s the right cover for you.
Super is typically only available if you retire.
However, if you’re finding the financial strains of retrenchment or losing your job challenging, you can apply for early access to part of your super.
Find out more about accessing your super or contact us on 1800 813 327.
While you're not working, your spouse or partner could add a bit extra to your super.
On top of boosting your balance, your partner may even be eligible to get a tax offset if your income is less than $40,000 per year.
Eligibility criteria applies. You can visit the ATO website to find out more, or seek financial advice about your own situation.
Your partner may be able to pay some of their before-tax super contributions into your account (or vice versa) to keep your super growing.
There are limits on how much super your partner can split into your account. The maximum amount of your partner's super that can be split is the lesser of:
- 85% of the before-tax contributions made in the financial year OR
- the before-tax contributions cap for that financial year*.
Contribution splitting is available to people in same or opposite sex de facto relationships – you don’t have to be married.
Your partner would need to contact their super fund to check they also offer contribution splitting and whether any fees apply.
* For members with a total super balance of under $500,000 at the end of the previous financial year, you may be eligible for a higher contributions cap through unused concessional contributions.
If you’ve been retrenched or lost your job, you’ll be earning less than you usually do. That could mean you’re eligible for a co-contribution from the government if you make after-tax contributions to your super account. That's where if you put some money in, the government could too.
If your total income is less than $60,400 (in a financial year) and you make an after-tax contribution to your super, you could be eligible for a super co-contribution of up to $500 from the government.
our super specialists can help
Need help figuring out the best strategies for you (and your super) if you've been retrenched or lost your job? We can help. There’s no extra cost to see a super specialist: it’s all part of being with HESTA.