An important media release relating to superannuation for women was issued yesterday. JustInvest have been offering specialist advice in this area for many years – see our page on financial well being for women:

 http://www.justinvest.net.au/for-women/

On the eve of International Women’s Day, ASIC today reminded Australian women to start planning early for their financial future. Research shows the average woman needs an extra $400,000 to fund a comfortable retirement from their superannuation. According to the ASFA/Westpac Retirement Standard¹ a single woman wanting a comfortable retirement will need $40,407 per year, or a lump sum of $526,000. The current average superannuation account balance for women at retirement age is only $112,000² . If the average Australian woman does not have money outside of her super, she will fall $400,000 short of the amount of money it takes to live a comfortable retirement from her super savings.

ASIC’s Senior Executive Financial Literacy Delia Rickard says, ‘International Women’s Day is a good time for all women to think about their superannuation because unfortunately it is one area where we lag behind men. ASFA’s Superannuation Statistics released this month show on average men have $85,000 more than women at retirement age.

‘Women have less super than men because we are paid less, take time out of work to raise our families and are sometimes running single-parent households. Women also tend to live longer than men, making it even more essential for us to accumulate enough superannuation to last through retirement,’ Ms Rickard said.

Moneysmart.gov.au is a website that provides information and tools to empower people to make better financial decisions. The Superannuation Calculator helps you work out how much super you’ll have when you retire and how fees affect your final payout. The Retirement Planner helps you work out what income you are likely to have after you retire and how you can increase your retirement income.

Tips from the MoneySmart team to grow super include:

• Make extra contributions. Use MoneySmart’s free online super contributions optimiser tool. You simply input your income and how much extra you want to contribute (e.g. $20 per fortnight). It gives you guidance and an action checklist that can be provided to your payroll department.
• Take advantage of spouse contributions if you’re the lower income earner. Your spouse can claim a tax offset of up to $3,000 on super contributions paid to you, if you have a low income or no income at all.
• Pay lower fees. Shop around for a fund that suits your needs and charges you less fees. Saving 1% on fees now can result in up to 20% more super at retirement.
• Consider working longer or working part-time before retiring completely.

Notes:
1. http://www.superannuation.asn.au/resources/retirement-standard

2. ASFA Superannuation Statistics, March 2012, http://www.superannuation.asn.au/resources/superannuation-statistics

See MoneySmart’s guide to Super for women:

https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/information-for/women/superannuation-and-women