Under the current system many Australian employees receive 9% of their salary contributed to super by their employer. Although this may seem sufficient, compulsory super alone may not provide you with the retirement lifestyle you desire. According to experts at the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, you may need to save at least 12 to 15% of your salary for 40 years to achieve a comfortable retirement income*.

Boost your super now by making extra contributions

For instructions on how you can easily make extra contributions, click on Integra or Corporate Super.

There are many ways you can increase your super savings

Type of contribution	Key benefits
Voluntary after-tax contributions	After-tax contributions are those you make into your super account from income that has already had income tax applied to it. The advantages of making after-tax contributions are that they are generally tax free when you access your super benefits on retirement with only the investment earnings on after-tax contributions subject to tax. Visit our Learning Centre on the Member Super Centre to learn more.
Government co-contribution	If you are eligible and earn under $28,000 pa the Government will contribute $1.50 for every $1.00 you contribute to super (after tax), up to $1,500 per year. If you earn between $28,000 and $58,000, the co-contribution amount will depend on how much you earn and how much you contribute. For more information click here
Spouse contributions	You or your spouse may be entitled to a tax offset for making spouse contributions. The contributing spouse will be able to claim a tax offset for eligible spouse contributions where the recipient spouse’s assessable income and reportable fringe benefits total for the financial year is less than $13,800. The maximum offset in a year is $540 and is available where a $3,000 spouse contribution has been made and the assessable income plus reportable fringe benefits of the recipient spouse is $10,800 or less. For more information click here to go to the ATO website
Salary sacrifice	Salary sacrifice contributions are made by entering an arrangement with your employer where you agree to forgo a portion of your future gross salary which is then contributed to your super account as an employer contribution. The advantage of salary sacrifice is the significant tax saving that can be achieved. The ‘sacrificed’ portion goes into super and is not subject to your income tax rate, which could be up to 46.5% including the Medicare Levy, but generally subject to the contributions tax rate of 15% instead. Some of your salary is being paid straight into super rather than being taxed as assessable income, the amount of income tax you pay is reduced accordingly. For more information click here

To find out more about the best way for you to boost your super, speak to your financial adviser.

_{*Source: ASFA Retirement Living Standard, December 2004}

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