What is your preservation age?

Superannuation laws can be confusing for everyone. These procedures often make it difficult to work out when you can retire or if there are any special conditions you need to meet before you can claim your funds. Every individual needs to be aware of their preservation age and regulations when accessing their superannuation benefits.

A person’s preservation age differs from the Age Pension. Age Pension is separate to your super and is a scheme which pays out a consistent income to help cope with the costs of living once you have retired. This age in Australia is 65 and not everyone is eligible for this system. Preservation age, however, is the age at which you can retire and access superannuation benefits. This age depends on your birth year.

• 55 – Before 1 July 1960
• 56 – 1 July 1960 – 30 June 1961
• 57 – 1 July 1961 – 30 June 1962
• 58 – 1 July 1962 – 30 June 1963
• 59 – 1 July 1963 – 30 June 1964
• 60 – From 1 July 1964

Normally, accessing super benefits requires an individual to meet two conditions; reaching their preservation age and retiring from the workforce. Those who reach their preservation age but don’t intend to retire must meet other criteria to have access to their benefits

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Becoming socially conscious of where you super invest

February 28, 2020

Whether you are a newcomer to the workforce or have been working full time for 30 years, you must have come across the concept of superannuation. Chances are, you’ve already been steadily building your retirement funds in one of the 500 Australian superannuation funds but are still unfamiliar with how exactly your super is being managed and where your super fund is investing your money in.

With the beginning of a new decade and social issues on the rise, it is time to take a more conscious stance on what you are doing with your super and what causes you are supporting through the employment of your money through your super fund.

A recent investigation into Australian super funds by the Australian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), released in February 2020, found that 50 of the largest super funds in Australia are proxy voting against local climate-change initiatives. These organisations are instead approaching climate change from a global perspective, whilst ignoring more pressing domestic challenges to reduce carbon emissions..

The lack of support from Australian super funds for localised climate action is growing problematic, as Australia fails to address its appalling record on carbon emissions and is falling behind new-age global goals to fight against environmental degradation and climate change.

In contrast, some of Australia’s most environmentally and socially conscious super funds lack the reputation to attract long-term users. To look for more environmentally friendly Australian super funds, the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) grades supers based on their ethical contributions and makes this information available to the public.

Instead of mindlessly joining Australian super funds that are neglecting growingly problematic domestic climate change issues, Australians need to become more conscious of our indirect actions and super investments. Rather than investing in an unethical super fund, looking into self-managed super funds may be another good option. We need to learn to take matters into our own hands and become more socially conscious of where exactly our money goes.

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