Your super, your choice

I got absolutely belted for last week’s column.

My crime?

Innocently suggesting that people with uncomplicated tax affairs (read ‘employees’) could save themselves the $400 they spend on an accountant, and instead lodge via the ATO app on their phone, which does the job in a few minutes.

This did not go down well in accounting circles.

Neil, a suburban accountant, wrote to me saying: “You’re nothing but a government stooge for promoting their tools. You should be ashamed of yourself. You disgust me.”

WHAM! Neil sure wants to give me a bit of negative gearing alright, SMACK BANG in the kisser!

(On second thoughts, maybe Neil’s the accountant you want. He’ll FIGHT for every deduction.)

So, while I have Neil’s attention, let’s put another pot on the stove and get his blood boiling.

This week the Government has released another tool, this time for superannuation.

And you know what? It’s pretty darn good.

It’s called ‘YourSuper’ (ato.gov.au/yoursuper) and it helps you compare super funds.

Actually, its real value is that it’ll tell you whether you’re in a dud fund.

And that one bit of information is incredibly valuable: it can stop you from having hundreds of thousands of dollars of your retirement savings smoked by high fees and poor performance.

The fact that it took the Government 30 years to create a website that tells consumers this vital information is absolutely outrageous. Still, credit to Senator Jane Hume for pushing it through and finally getting it done.

If you access it through your myGov, you can check for lost super, consolidate your accounts, and shop for a cheaper fund (costs are the one thing that investors can control).

It’s another nail in the coffin for hopeless funds that should have been shut down long ago … and that’s good news in my book. It’s not perfect, and only covers MySuper products at this stage (more funds will be added over time). And the data on the dud funds won’t be out until later in the year … but it’s a great first step.

So here’s my tip: when you’re lodging your return in a month’s time, check out YourSuper … after all, it’s the same site, right Neil?

Tread Your Own Path!