How Australians are losing Billions of Dollars through Compulsory Superannuation
Some people may love Superannuation, and others, like me, will hate it. Now, I’m not that proficient in the tax and Government world, but I do care on saving my own money.
But honestly, I think Compulsory Superannuation is a load of cock and bull, and I will be able to make more money without than with it, especially when you receive an email like this.
This is my example:
I started a new job that would only last a few weeks part time, so I set up a Virgin Superannuation account to put my Superannuation payments in. Here are my figures up to today.
This is my account balance and it shows that my current balance is $866.50.
My Point Superannuation is cock and bull
Now, let us have a closer look on how much money my employer has actually paid me in superannuation.
I’ve had four payments and this is shown where the dates are listed under Payroll Date. It totals to $1021.67. So according to this, by using Virgin Superannuation I have lost somewhere along the lines of $155.17. Where has this money gone?
Here I am thinking by the time you are ready to retire, you will have a nice positive balance that would have incurred a lot of interest. However, in reality, with Superannuation you would end up having less money in the account by the time you are ready to retire than what you have initially deposited throughout your working life thanks to account keeping fees, management fees and contribution tax.
So far, I have spent $24.30 in management fees, and $153.25 in contribution tax, which is a total of $177.55 in lost money. So for investing my Superannuation for 4 months, I have made a negative investment.
Why is Superannuation compulsory?
So why is Superannuation compulsory? Why can’t my employer give me that money, and why can’t I invest it myself? If I have invested that $1021.67 myself, even to just put it in a savings account earning 3.5% (which is low), I would have made more money, than I would have lost. Why can’t I invest that money myself, and instead be forced to pay account keeping fees and management fees just to give someone my money?
What are your thoughts regarding compulsory Superannuation? Are you for or against? Have you actually made any money?
Superannuation is absolutely nothing but a compulsory non withdrawable bank accout, that the government can dip into whenever it decides that they need a bit of cash. They have already shown that they are more than willing to take money away from the little guy, super makes it easier, and compulsory super means that you have no say in this what so ever.
What pisses me off even more, is that in the past ive always made sure i give extra payments, im not allowed to touch any of that either. Meanining, that $400 in one dormant account, that doesnt earn money because im being charged fees, i cant withdraw and re-invest in a seed capital investment that is likely to make me 10 times what i put in.
Crooks.
[quote]Superannuation is absolutely nothing but a compulsory non withdrawable bank accout, that the government can dip into whenever it decides that they need a bit of cash. They have already shown that they are more than willing to take money away from the little guy, super makes it easier, and compulsory super means that you have no say in this what so ever.
What pisses me off even more, is that in the past ive always made sure i give extra payments, im not allowed to touch any of that either. Meanining, that $400 in one dormant account, that doesnt earn money because im being charged fees, i cant withdraw and re-invest in a seed capital investment that is likely to make me 10 times what i put in.
Crooks.[/quote]
You’re exactly right. I have my superannuation account dormant for a little while, so let’s see how much more money it [s]makes[/s] loses.
Checking my Virgin Super account now, after not depositing any money into it, my account balance sits at $863.22. So in almost 1/2 a year, I have LOST $3.28.
Super is working really well.
I have been having trouble acquiring work, so the small casual position I did get was a godsend. I was still required to contribute an amount of my money to this monstrousity. I hated the compulsory contribution before. But earlier this year I received a notice (not unlike the one above) that tells me that I have officially nothing left. The amount I was paid was paltry, and with the monthly fees (at a set value, no less) I have actually, literally, no money from that venture. It wasn’t put aside — it was taken away. It was an additional tax that nobody but their wallets gets anything from. I’m mad. I wish I could punch the people responsible in the face — except the people responsible aren’t easily definable. Regardless, as soon as I see an option for acting against this idiotic additional income tax, I’m taking it.
The Government should make it easier to setup your own Superfund, so you can invest in your business, not others. Or put that money into [i]your[/i] house, rather than someone else’s house.
An update,
So far my employees have paid $2,095.64. Guess what Virgin’s Super Account Balance is? $1,790.35. By investing in Super, I have made a PROFIT of NEGATIVE $305.29 in a one year investment.