How to Check Performance Day and Track your Super Growth in 2025 with Gemma Mitchell

Superannuation might feel like a “set-and-forget” kind of thing—but ignoring it could cost you tens of thousands in retirement. In this episode, Molly is joined by super expert Gemma Mitchell and Ladies Finance Club member Alana Prick to break down everything you really need to know about whether your super is doing its job.

We’re cutting through the jargon to help you:
✅ Understand if your super fund is actually performing
✅ Know what a “normal” fee looks like (and what’s too much)
✅ Get clear on the difference between index vs active investing
✅ Learn when and how often you should review your super
✅ Figure out the right investment option for your life stage
✅ And how to prep your super for retirement—even if it's just around the corner

If you’ve had your super on autopilot since your first job, consider this your sign to take a look under the hood. Your future self will thank you!

Are you on the countdown to retirement? Join our course now! 

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Intro & Why Super Matters
02:05 – Types of Super Funds Explained
04:35 – Is an SMSF Right for You?
05:38 – How to Know If Your Super Is Performing
06:52 – What to Look for in Performance Reports
07:56 – Index vs Active Funds: What's the Difference?
11:27 – How to Find Your Own Super Returns
13:06 – When to Review Your Super (It’s Not June!)
15:32 – Super Fees: What’s Too High?
18:43 – Insurance Fees vs Super Fees
21:16 – What’s the Right Investment Option for Your Age?
24:53 – Retirement Phase: What Funds Don't Tell You
26:53 – How Super Payments Work in Retirement
29:45 – Only 30% On Track for Retirement Goals
31:07 – Final Takeaways & Resources

LINKS AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE

APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority): https://www.apra.gov.au/
Industry SuperFunds Comparison Tool: https://www.industrysuper.com/compare
National Debt Helpline: https://ndh.org.au/

CONNECT WITH GEMMA MITCHELL

Website: https://courses.jessicabrady.com.au/
Instagram: jessbrady_financialadvice
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-brady-21165812/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552351622335

CONNECT WITH LADIES FINANCE CLUB

Join our free Facebook group - Ladies Finance Club Money Chat
Website: https://www.ladiesfinanceclub.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladiesfinanceclub/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ladies-finance-club/

TAKEAWAYS

• Superannuation types include retail, industry, and self-managed funds.
• Most people benefit from standard super funds rather than self-managed ones.
• Performance comparison of super funds is complex and requires understanding investment allocations.
• Long-term returns are crucial for evaluating super fund performance.
• Insurance costs in super are often mistaken for super fees.
• Understanding super fees involves looking at administration and investment fees.
• Younger individuals can afford to be more aggressive with their super investments.
• Retirement planning should include regular reviews of superannuation.
• Only a small percentage of people are on track for a comfortable retirement.
• Engagement with super funds is essential for financial security.

SOUND BITES

"This is a shit show."
"We've got a couple of different types of supers."
"How do I know if my super is performing?"
"It's really complicated and it's hard to compare."
"You want to be looking at a long-term return."
"What is too much fees?"

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Molly: Welcome to another episode of Get Rich, the podcast that helps you do just that. Get rich and stay rich. I am your host, Molly Benjamin. Hi, high. Hi, and I'm the founder of Ladies Finance Club, and my mission here at Ladies Finance Club is very simple. It's to help make women rich, and so if you want your superannuation, your retirement savings, looking as good as George Cleany does at retirement because, hey, he's looking pretty good.

[00:00:24] Then in this week's episode, I am joined by Super guru. I'm joined by Gemma Mitchell, and I swear she knows absolutely everything there is to know about superannuation and plus special bonus Alana Prick, who is one of our LFC members. And so we are talking about how to know if your super fund is actually performing, what's the deal with fees?

[00:00:46] What kind of fund should you be in? So there's a couple of different options generally with your supers balance growth, aggressive. What to do now if you're retiring soon, but you can't afford financial advice. Plus, we're gonna reveal the one month of the year. You should check in with your super and no, surprisingly it is not June.

[00:01:03] Look, if you're someone who's super has been on autopilot since your first job, then this might be your sign to get on top of it. And it's important to note that everything in this episode is education information. It is financial advice, and always seek independent advice before making any big finance or fashion decisions.

[00:01:21] All right, now listen up and of course if you wanna show us some love, hit that subscribe button. I. All right. On today's episode, as mentioned in the intro, we've got Gemma, who I call her kind of super guru, knows all things, super exponential advisor. And then we are joined by Alana, who is an LFC member.

[00:01:41] So we're gonna be breaking down super funds and we wanna keep this as practical as possible. So welcome Gemma and Alana. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be on the podcast. Well, let's jump into it. So we've got a couple of different types of super. So we've got my super retail industry, self-managed super funds, SMSF.

[00:02:05] So does it matter which one we go to?

[00:02:08] Gemma: It certainly does. So out of those four that you listed, you could really think of them in two groups. Three of them that my super, your industry super, your retail super, they're all managed by a r or like, um, governed, you know, regulated by a PR and then they're self-managed super funds who you have a lot more control.

[00:02:26] You do it yourself and pretty much a, the a TO are the ones kind of making sure that you're doing the right thing, whereas a PR. This massive organization is making sure that all the other super funds are doing the right thing on your behalf. So two very different areas. To be honest. Majority of people will suit their standard superannuation funds that are kind of managed for you.

[00:02:47] There's lots of options with them. Then you can have a lot of control. But then we do have self-managed super funds, which take it to the next level. They add a lot of complexity, but there are some benefits there. They do serve a purpose. It's not a hard and fast rule that they suit. I think they suit the minority, not the majority,

[00:03:06] Molly: so minority, not the majority.

[00:03:08] And with those self-managed super funds, I spoke to a financial advisor once and they were like, look, unless you've got over a million in assets, you wouldn't wanna maybe. Start one. And you'd have to do it via a financial advisor.

[00:03:20] Gemma: Yeah. You don't have to have a financial advisor. I think most people will say, you know, two 50, 300,000, you could consider one.

[00:03:26] But I don't think it has anything to do with the assets. I think, uh, sorry, like the, the balance, it has more to do with the assets, what you actually want. In there because our everyday super funds, like our industry funds are adding more and more options and more flexibility and control over what you pick or how you invest.

[00:03:44] The benefit of those, you know, they're able to meet a lot of people's needs, whereas a self-managed super fund people used to go to, so they had more choice on what they invested in. Now you can still. Make, like there's still assets like property that you would need to go to a self-managed super fund, but the needs getting less and less.

[00:04:01] So the, the benefit of going to a self-managed super fund is it adds a lot of complexity, but you have more choice around things like estate planning and some of the assets. So they do suit a lot of people, but I don't think it's so much about the balance. It's more about. Do you actually need the complexity of that, or can you get those needs met in one of these standard funds?

[00:04:21] But yeah, it's gonna add complexity. It's gonna add a lot of work and it's gonna add fees as well. But I'm finding more and more that it's less of a need for a lot of people if they have a solid estate plan and they know their options within the funds that they're in.

[00:04:35] Molly: Great. Okay, so let's talk performance.

[00:04:38] So people always ask like, how do I know if my super is performing? My super fund always says, oh yeah, it's performed well, but what does well mean and how do we actually like compare from fun to fund? And I guess Alana, I'm assuming you'd be in an industry or retail fund. I have multiple,

[00:05:01] Alana: yeah, with an industry super fund, but I also have a Smurf as well.

[00:05:06] Okay.

[00:05:07] Molly: And so I guess when it comes to performance, what should we be looking out for and how do we actually on a practical level compare? I.

[00:05:15] Gemma: Yeah, so this is what makes super so hard and why people hate it, is because it's really, really complicated and it's hard to compare. So it really depends on how you're invested.

[00:05:26] So it's not as easy as going, right, all the super funds performed here because they've got different investment allocations. So think of it like a menu. You, there's a different menu on different investment options. And seeing, comparing that against another fund, we really need to be comparing what is actually, what we're invested in to see that's on par.

[00:05:46] So where I think the easiest place to look at performance is every year they bring out reports, like compare the market, find a. Even like the Australian Financial Review, like they all tend to do like the, hey, what were the top performing super funds. I think if you are looking and you're reading that kind of stuff where you can see, you know, maybe 10 funds compared against each other rather than you trying to do it yourself, that is just a really easy place to start.

[00:06:13] But it really is gonna depend on how your fund is invested. So if you know that you have, it's very aggressive, it's all the top shares. And it doesn't have a lot of other assets, then you could be looking at what the general market has done. That would be a really great place to start. But I think if you are in an industry fund, you know the main ones, you know, we've got the Australian Supers, the Host plus the Hesters.

[00:06:37] If you're in one of those types of funds, I'd be thinking about which of the funds that are most like it, and then just having a look at what their performance is. But we never wanna. Be looking at a year in isolation, or even three years, it really doesn't tell us anything. You wanna be looking at a long term return so that.

[00:06:52] Kind of seven to 10 years is ideal because it means that we've been through different market cycles and we wanna see how they perform in that kind of instance.

[00:07:02] Molly: So if I'm in a balanced fund and my twin sister's in a high growth fund, we wouldn't be comparing performance. Definitely not. It's a different, it's a different, totally different.

[00:07:12] Yeah.

[00:07:12] Gemma: So she might, in that case, with a balance fund. B having like 60% in shares and you might have 80 to 90 to 95. So what you could do if you wanted to compare against her fund is you could jump on the website of her fund and look at an investment that was similar to how's yours was. So you can see how the funds are comparing, but you can't actually just say, oh, let me look at your statement.

[00:07:35] Molly: Okay. Alana, how do you compare your performance

[00:07:38] Alana: for your super? Uh, definitely having a look at the returns, the net returns are really important as well. So I guess one of the questions that I've got for Gemma at the moment is, has a PR regulated the investment options so. Molly just used the term then aggressive.

[00:07:56] So some of the industry funds use categorizations such as high growth, balanced, conservative, but then you've got diversified, indexed, socially aware. And so that again, adds a whole other layer to being able to compare the market because there's no systemized way that you can sort of go, okay, this is comparing an apple with an apple.

[00:08:17] Gemma: Yeah, there is. Even if there is like a benchmark, there is still so much variety within that. So you really need to be diving into it because there's a couple of different ways that they will, so the super fund can have a guideline with, we are happy to have this investment up to this amount, and it's usually 10% variance.

[00:08:36] So they might say, we are happy. Like, if you invest in this, we are gonna go up to 10%, either more or less of what we are saying. So we can have 10% more shares or 10% less. And we don't have to tell you we are still within what you've picked. So you kind of need to be looking at a. At that as well. So what are they saying That if I pick this investment option, they have control to dial up and dial down.

[00:08:58] But actually during that time, what were they actually invested in? So there is more to it than a this blanket if you pick this one, because within that. They still have a lot of control, and that's generally what you're doing when you're picking an active manager. You are saying to them, okay, I'm happy within this range.

[00:09:16] You move it within that as much and you are paying them to do that. Whereas if you don't want them to have that control and you want that safety, you'd go for something more like an index that they said, we are in this percent and we are not changing it All. Right. And for someone who's listening and is like, what do you mean by index?

[00:09:33] There's two types of ways that you can manage an investment, and this is regardless if it's super or not. So an active manager is, imagine somebody sitting in a room doing research, going, oh, I think we can make this person more money if we buy this, share, sell this, put more here. And they're, they're just like working away.

[00:09:50] So you are paying someone's salary pretty much, whereas an index is you are just following whatever the index is. So the Australian the top. 200 shares or the overseas X amount and nobody is having control over, should we put more in, should we take it out? It's literally just doing whatever that market is doing.

[00:10:09] So yeah, you pay more for active. 'cause kind of think of it as you're paying for all this research and somebody to, to hopefully do better. Whereas index is, you really have no control. It's just doing whatever that is doing. And what generally does do better? Oh, the age old debate. There's so much debate on this.

[00:10:26] It's very, very interesting. Like active can do really well, but if we look at long-term, usually we kind of see things leaning towards index that maybe active did well, but was it worth paying the extra in all of the periods is what it really comes down to. So I don't know. I'm a fan of, I'm index investing, but I'm not against having some active in there as well.

[00:10:49] I think it's whatever your risk appetite is, whatever you are comfortable with, and sometimes to get the investments that you want. Like you, you might be really interested in a particular area, maybe it's tech or healthcare or something that actually needs that. Active approach with somebody researching it so they can do better in that particular area.

[00:11:09] I think it really depends on what you wanna do, but I would say, you know, an indexed approach suits most people like your kind of standard super funds do. But it's totally up to you. I think the most important thing is just getting engaged with your super and start learning about all of the exciting things that you can do in it and the options that.

[00:11:27] You have because really super is just like any other investment share portfolio that we all get so excited about when it's in our own names, watching it grow. But nobody seems to get as excited except for me about super. But that's exactly how you've gotta

[00:11:41] Molly: think of it. And when I'm looking at my super statement like.

[00:11:44] I'm with one of those one. One of the funds you mentioned before, one of the big ones, and I'm just trying to find what was my return last year or for the last financial year, but I'm really struggling to actually find where it is, like whether it's 7%, 17%, 6%, where do you actually go when it comes to your, and I know all the platforms are slightly different, but should it say it on the statement or do I have to work it out myself?

[00:12:10] Gemma: Yeah, so they'll say it on the statement, but another easy way if you are just in one investment option. Yeah. So if you know you are in the balanced or the growth or whatever it is, you could just go onto the website at any time and they'll usually have a one month, a three month, uh, one year, five year, that kind of thing.

[00:12:26] For the investment options, it gets a bit more tricky. If you've put a percentage in lots of different ones, then you actually have to go to your dashboard, find out where it is. If you're really unsure, call the super fund. You are paying admin fees, so you wanna talk to them about, Hey, I wanted to stay on top of this, which is the quickest way based on the information that you give out.

[00:12:44] And ask them things like, is that before the fees that I've paid? Is that after? So you get really clear on, okay, this is how I do it for my fund. And now I know that each year maybe you put a reminder in your diary and you say, each year on the 1st of July, I'm going to jump on and I'm gonna follow those instructions that they told me.

[00:13:02] And that's how I'm gonna look at it.

[00:13:03] Molly: Nice.

[00:13:04] Gemma: Alana, do you have

[00:13:05] Molly: something to add?

[00:13:06] Alana: Yeah, I, I think one of the things that we get so excited about the end of financial year and you go, yes, end of financial year is here. I'm gonna start having a look at my tax and look at my position. September is such a good time to do that when, um, a PR actually mandates all of those industry funds to submit to their members, their statements, and also to submit the reports through to a PR.

[00:13:29] So I think some of the things that I've been doing while Choice and Finder and all of those wonderful comparison tools, even industry super funds, have a great. Comparison tool, A PR actually published those data sets now as well. So if you're a complete nerd and, and love looking up that type of thing, the, the data's publicly available, which is so great because now they're calling out that there was 80 funds that had significantly poor investments and 48 with significantly high admin fees.

[00:14:00] So that those start to. Shine some transparency and give people options and information to make good choices.

[00:14:07] Gemma: That's why you get a letter from your super fund saying, we've un underperformed, or there's been an issue a couple of years in a row. Like, you need to be reading this because a PR, the government is trying to help you as much as possible.

[00:14:19] Make this easy to understand. So if you are getting a letter, there's something that it needs your attention. Um, and that letter might be that they're merging, that they're changing investment options that they underperformed, but this is your. Reminder that this is your money and you need to take action.

[00:14:35] So yes, I love that. You know, if you're gonna review your super, you should be doing it in September when that statement comes out. But we wanna earmark stuff like diarized stuff throughout the year. So it's not, doesn't have to be on our mind all the time. And then we have more mental load. So for most of my clients, I recommend.

[00:14:51] June 1st, a reminder to look at super contributions, 'cause that's a great time. You've already worked 11 months of the year, you know what your salary's gonna pretty much look like. And then you can go, Hey, do I have any spare money? I wanna chuck into Super. Does it make a difference? And then you've got like 30 days, or you know, 20 ish to make that contribution.

[00:15:11] So that's a great time to look at contributions. I think June 1st, hard and fast every year. And then September, probably end of September, you would've got your statement, had time to have a look at it. Got any other letters that you should know about? So that should be another great time to check on some.

[00:15:25] Yeah, just how's things going with the super fund if all is going well? Great. You don't need to think about it again until June next year.

[00:15:32] Molly: Awesome. And fees. So as mentioned, if your super hasn't been performing or they're charging, is it high fees? You'll get a letter from them, a naughty letter from them.

[00:15:44] But how do we check ourselves is 'cause people are always like, well, what is too much fees? Is it 1%, 2%, 3%? Like is it 0.5%? Like what are high super fees and how do we compare?

[00:15:57] Gemma: Yeah, so that's another tricky one. But it is getting easier and I think while there's lots of fees and they're kind of sneaky and they're called different things, there's only a couple that you should really focus on just to get started because otherwise we make it too hard.

[00:16:12] Um, but one thing that I do wanna say on that is. I hear so much. My Superfund is so expensive. The fees are huge and when I look at it, it's usually insurance. So insurance is, you are paying a premium and it's coming out and you see it on your like transactions. A lot of time people think that that's their super fees.

[00:16:29] It's not. That's totally optional and that that's something that you have control over. But in terms of fees, what you wanna look at. So the main ones are an administration fee, and that's for the actual super fund, regardless of how you're investors. So think of that as you paying Kohl's to go in and shop.

[00:16:47] You can buy any products, you can invest however you want, but that's just to pay them to like to be the call center to do your statements, all that kind of stuff. So you've got your administration fee where I see these. These days, they're usually 50, 70, $80 a year. They're not usually huge. And then there's a percentage sometimes.

[00:17:05] So it might be, you know, that's 70 or $80 a dollar a week or something, and then 0.1 or something percent. So that's usually pretty common. Now that administration fee is, if you have multiple super funds, that's where you're gonna pay double fees. So you know how you hear people go, oh, don't have more than one super fund, you'll pay extra.

[00:17:24] That's really only where you pay extra. So I think it's more than, okay. Have more than one super fund because usually that fee is pretty small. Now the next one is the one that you actually want to compare. That's the harder one to like, that has the most variance in it, and that's your investment fee. So that's you've, you've got the menu of all the things you could be investing in, and you've picked, balanced, high growth, whatever it is.

[00:17:45] Now that one can range pretty significantly. If you are in one of those index funds, that really there's not a lot to do because it's just following that might be as low as 0.2%. Like they get very, very low. Whereas if it's an active manager where you are paying somebody to really do their best for you, you know you might be paying up to the 0.8 Seems to be a bit reasonable.

[00:18:08] Some of the older super funds that we still see hanging around might be 0.5 Point are really getting up there. But I think kind of anything under a round 0.8 I think is quite reasonable, but you need to see what you're getting for the value and if it is actually worth it when you look at the performance.

[00:18:23] So was it worth you paying that fee? Yeah, at the net result. They're the two that I'd focus on. There's heaps of other little ones. Buy, sell, spreads, indirect costs. That's great when you're a super pro and you are more into it, but for now, keep it super easy. Look at your admin fee. There's not much difference in them these days, but look at your investment fee.

[00:18:43] Molly: Awesome. Alana, how do you

[00:18:45] Alana: compare

[00:18:45] Molly: fees when

[00:18:46] Alana: you are looking? Yeah, exactly that way. So looking at the administrative fee and the investment fee, I, I definitely look at insurance to be quite separate and it can be quite cost advantageous to put your insurance through your super. So that's a really nice way to have a look at that one.

[00:19:03] But yeah, going through what the admin fee is, what the investment fee is, and then making sure that you're comparing the net performance of your fund with other funds is really important as well.

[00:19:14] Molly: I mean, for someone like me, who I've been in the industry for a little bit, so I get it, but when I go, okay, I have to work out what the admin fee is, I have to work out what the investment fee is like, I would probably, just to be honest, wouldn't, I'd just be like, oh, that sounds like a lot of hard work.

[00:19:32] Is there someone who would do it for me? Or is there a website or a calculator?

[00:19:36] Gemma: Yeah, so there are lots of comparison sites that'll do it for you. But if you are jumping onto your website, to your Superfund's website to look at the performance, it'll be there and it's getting easier. Like if you are really struggling, just call them.

[00:19:50] If you had to call them once a year to ask them all these questions, you are paying an administration fee to them to have somebody there to answer your questions. But yes, you can jump on comparison sites and it'll for you. But if you are on their website, just have a look and yes. There's lots of other fees that are a bit hidden, but the ones that are pretty clear to see are administration and investment.

[00:20:11] And I think you should just start there.

[00:20:12] Molly: Yeah. And I think as well, like I remember calling up my super fund a few years ago and they're trying to up, I, I'm, I was like in the basic, basic index fund and they're trying to upsell me to a more expensive fund where I could easily see the fees were more. And I was like, I'm good with my index fund.

[00:20:30] But so I guess like they're helpful, but sometimes they might be a little bit biased.

[00:20:35] Gemma: So you can see an intrafund financial advisor with these kind of industry funds, but that has to be giving you advice based on your age and what's right for you. So I don't think they should really be doing that based on a quick conversation of you asking fees and stuff.

[00:20:52] They should be a bit more to it, but maybe they might encourage you to either. See one of their advisors or do an online tool where you can go based on this information we recommend. But yeah, there'll be different things, but like maybe actually going to that active, that more expensive one gives you a better net return and needs better for your age.

[00:21:09] So I think it's something to consider. But if you're already with the fund, they shouldn't be very salesy 'cause you're already with them.

[00:21:16] Molly: Okay. Good to know. And investment options. So. As mentioned before, Alana was saying like sometimes these are called different things in different funds, but generally there's like a conservative where more of the assets are in cash.

[00:21:30] Then you've got balance. It's a mix, and then you've got high growth, and then sometimes you've got like aggressive and the language is always very aggressive and it's very boring and male and pale, stale, quite blue. So when we are looking at conservative balance, high growth, or aggressive for our age group.

[00:21:49] Rule of thumb, I'm assuming the younger you are the more aggressive you can be. But what does young mean?

[00:21:57] Gemma: So this is where people get really, I would say, a bit stuck. So when we talk about that, we are looking at your timeline until you need this money. So imagine if you were just creating a share portfolio in your name.

[00:22:11] Someone would say to you, well, you know, is it to buy house? Is it this? Like, is your timeframe five years, seven years, 10 years? And then you decide. That's pretty much what they're saying. So if it's aggressive, we are really saying, you know, it's 10 years plus till you need this money. And again, if you go on the website for your super fund, they're gonna say, if you're in this one, we recommend seven to 10 years or whatever.

[00:22:34] They'll say it on there, but it's really just the timeframe you have until you need this money. Now the big misconception is that your timeframe is between now and the date you retire. For most of us it's not. So if you think of this big bucket of money that we are building up while we're working on retirement date, not many people pull it all out of the market.

[00:22:56] Like it stays in there. For most of us, yes, you might take a big chunk out of it to buy, uh, to pay off debt or something, but for most of us, the timeline is another 20 or 30 years. Past that, so it's not as if you go from, well, I'm aggressive for 10 years before and then I'm conservative because I'm using it.

[00:23:14] I find that a lot of people still suit like a lot of growth and things in their super fund. It just depends. But we get a little bit more conservative when we are starting to use it, and that when we know that the bucket's not constantly filling up, it's going down. So we don't have the timeframe to write out, but also sleep at night test.

[00:23:35] We don't wanna see our money bouncing around like that when we are living off it. So it's pretty common for people to step down to be slightly more conservative. But in my experience, it's not usually a lot if you have a stomach for investing beforehand. Doesn't change it all that much in retirement because retirement isn't your end of investing.

[00:23:53] Most of that money is is there for another, yeah. 20 plus years. Yeah. That's a really

[00:23:58] Molly: good point. Alana, how did you choose your investment option, and do you wanna, you can share if you want, you can share. Which are you in a aggressive, very aggressive,

[00:24:07] Alana: balanced. Yeah, very aggressive. The time horizon's there, right?

[00:24:12] Molly: Yeah.

[00:24:12] Alana: And I think that's around your risk tolerance and education is really, really important. Make sure you understand. But then when you do understand and you see those risk tolerances, you realize that, okay, that that time horizon is there. You've got time to ride out those bums. So I feel really confident in where that's sitting at the moment.

[00:24:33] So, yeah, I genuinely think that until you are much, much closer to retirement age. I won't be reconsidering that strategy until then. And then even then, I think I'll be having a look at and going, okay, well some of it does need to go into conservative, but then you can split it as well. You can put your percentages and and have a look at how that works as well.

[00:24:53] There was a question that I wanted to ask, and this is something that isn't coming out so much from a PR, which would, I would love to see it start coming out. That's around the metrics around which funds are actually great to work with in that pension phase. There's so much around the growth and accrual phases, but the metrics around what do they like to deal with when you get to pension phase, how's their customer service, what's their app interface like, and how do they work with people?

[00:25:21] That would be such a great metric to see coming through. Have you heard anything on that horizon, Gemma?

[00:25:26] Gemma: I haven't, no, but I've been kind of out of giving. I've been in education for about five years and not so much actually giving the financial advice, but I remember before then, so five plus years ago, I was dealing with a lot of retirees and there is a particularly good performing low cost industry fund that.

[00:25:46] I would've loved to put a lot of people in, but one of the conversations I was having with them is, this fund is impossible to deal with as an advisor, but also you dealing with them directly, they are a nightmare. And how do you feel about that as a trade off? I. Four. And so that was a real conversation that we had to have because a lot of people, you know, you will, you might get a bit more nervous and, and want more interaction with your fund than you had previously.

[00:26:13] Now, I don't know where that fund sits at the moment, but that was a real conversation that I had to have with people like. Is lowest cost, always the best. And there has to be a trade off. So even though their performance was great, are you gonna panic when it takes them three weeks to turn around a withdrawal form and you can't get them on the phone and, and they won't deal with your advisor and you know, so that, yeah, that's a consideration.

[00:26:34] But I, now that I kind of. I kind of think all the funds, the main ones that I think have like, they seem to have really good interfaces and digital. They seem to have intrafund advice, but yeah, maybe some advisors who are still actually dealing with them all day every day are like, Ooh, there's some on the naughty list.

[00:26:50] But yeah, that is absolutely a consideration.

[00:26:53] Molly: And so when you do hit that retirement age and you are getting. You know, you're getting access to your super. Is that something that you just automate? So like on the first of every month it gets paid out to you? Or is that again something that you need to then get advice on, on how to be tax efficient about it, blah, blah, blah?

[00:27:10] Gemma: Yeah, so I would hope that most people that move into retirement are getting financial advice at that time, just to make sure that they're doing all the right things. They're taking advantage of all of these cool things that are kind of, um. Open up once you're retired that you can do with your super.

[00:27:24] But once it's done, for a lot of people I see it pretty set and forget, you know, like once you know, maybe you do put it into a pension and you're getting a fortnightly or a monthly pension that's covering your, like, it does kind of become a lot more automated. I see for most people. Some people are still gonna have very complex situations, but it can be as easy, you know, as you need it to be a really common way that I would see retirees.

[00:27:47] Set it up is that they have like their bare minimum what they need to have a comfortable everyday life coming out to them. Usually fortnightly if they were paid fortnightly, monthly, if before, and then perhaps they have a new car that comes up or a holiday and they might just do a one-off withdrawal from the super fund as they need it.

[00:28:04] That seems to be the most common kind of thing, but yeah, it gets pretty automated and, and that's why having a budget and managing your cash flow is really, really important because when. The money's not endless. You still wanna make sure that you have, you can work to this regular income coming in and be really, really comfortable and the money's gonna last.

[00:28:22] Molly: God, that must be terrifying for people who run out of money far out. And then just thinking, and for those who are listening, who maybe, I mean, that's why we've got the pension there to cover those kind of basic, um, costs. But I guess for those people who are listening and they're like, I actually can't afford financial advice, but I am retiring soon.

[00:28:41] That's when they might wanna get in touch with their super fund because their, as you said before, their super has financial advisor.

[00:28:46] Gemma: Yeah. A lot of the super funds do. Otherwise they should have some resources, like some free education, start reading books about it. Start like doing all of this as early as.

[00:28:56] Possible to understand your super. You know, like yes, it's terrifying if you run outta money, but it shouldn't actually be a surprise. 'cause you should know well in advance that, Hey, can I sustain my living expenses? And maybe, you know, initially you are self-funded, which means you are living off your own assets and super.

[00:29:12] And then maybe there's a crossover where some age pensions coming in so you don't have to rely on your own money as much and it stretches it out. And then maybe, you know, wow, within three years I'm gonna be completely on the age pension it should be. Even if you're gonna run outta money, it should be progressive enough that you can take proactive steps to be changing your lifestyle, getting the support you need, you know, national helpline, different counseling services.

[00:29:38] It shouldn't be a surprise. We should be really proactive about what the next year, let alone, you know, 10 kind of years looks like. Yeah.

[00:29:45] Molly: Awesome.

[00:29:46] Alana: It's a really interesting one, isn't it? I did a little bit of research last night, and the Association of Superannuation Funds Australia says that currently only 30% of people are on track to reach or exceed the comfortable standards in their super fund.

[00:30:01] We're on track though for 50% of the population to reach a comfortable retirement by 2050. So it is something that's gonna impact a lot of people and there's resources out there that can, that can help you prepare for that as well.

[00:30:16] Gemma: Yeah, and I love those statistics and things because they give us a kind of a benchmark.

[00:30:20] They get us thinking about it, but we've also gotta consider that what they consider to be comfortable might not be comfortable for us. So that's a bit more on the doom and gluten side, but then there's also this. Like Unresearched area that potentially, it just means these people have assets outside of super that we are not looking at.

[00:30:38] You know, maybe they have a, a second property or maybe they've, they're so far ahead of their home loan repayments that they're gonna have, you know, they're gonna be much more ahead. So I love that we have a benchmark that we can compare where we think our super should be. But it doesn't take into account that yes, you might have.

[00:30:55] Be, well, yeah, well ahead in your property journey or this or that. It's such an individual thing. But yeah, it's good that we start thinking about it, but you need to also be looking at it from your unique

[00:31:07] Molly: Gemma Alana, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. It's great to be here. Thank you.

KEYWORDS

 superannuation, super funds, performance, fees, investment options, retirement planning, financial advice, self-managed super funds, industry funds, retirement strategies