Locate your lost super (superannuation)

Like many Australians, I have held multiple jobs over my working life and have had a different super fund for each one of them which seem to always accumulated a little bit of money before I move on. What does that mean? Lost Super.

Lost Super (Superannuation) is becoming quite a large scale problem in Australia, with a reported $10 Billion in unclaimed super. How much of that lost super is yours? $4000? $5000? Maybe even $10,000+  dollars due to inflation?

How does Super get lost

Super gets lost when an employee moves jobs or superannuation funds without notifying their existing account of the change. This works no different to having $5000 in a bank account and just throwing away all record of having it and not bothering to chase it up. Silly isn’t it!

Unclaimed Super

Unclaimed superannuation is pooled into one large account in Australia by the Government. The super is filed by tax numbers and stored for the owners to easily find. The Rudd governement has also implemented a new system that means when the government finds out about your new super fund it will automatically transfer the left over funds in your old super account if the tax file numbers match up.

Locate your Lost Super

There are a number of ways to locate your lost super – the easiest of which is thanks to modern technology – the internet! We can now search for our lost super via the internet on multiple lost super sites.

The way that I located my lost superannuation money was through the Super Seeker website provided by the ATO at the following website Super Seeker. This service is FREE OF CHARGE and very helpful to return your funds.

Why is it important to locate your lost super quickly? Read below.

Bad Lost Super Story

The reason I decided to share this story with you is because if you do not claim your lost super, it can sometimes create bad problems for you. I did not claim my super with a certain superannuation provider for over 4 years, and in that time they managed to lose my $4500 in funds (or atleast make the sum go from that to $130). The reason this happened was because they kept charging high admin fee’s and commissions while making very very small returns for me, all this while I was making no contributions for 5 years resulted in money wasted. Not happy!

Related Posts

• Finding Lost Super

  By 24, I had three super accounts. One, an industry superfund. The other, one of the big super providers. The third, specially a uni fund. I’m sure it’s a pretty common story. Here’s how to find and consolidate your super to save yourself some money.

• Host Plus Superannuation Fund

  Host Plus is a leading Australian industry superannuation fund. We have a little look at Host Plus and believe you may have money with them without actually knowing it.

• Super Co-Contribution Scheme Australia

  No I am not joking – the Australian Government is actually giving away money to low to middle income earners. This is through the scheme call the Superannuation Co-contribution scheme in which the government will match each dollar you put into your super with $1.50 upto $1000. As of 5th August 2008 this article is [...]

• The Basics of Superannuation (Super)

  This is an article I found on SMH.com.au today. It is all about the basics of Superannuation and I thought would be a great way to show everyone some very easy to remember and follow tips on Superannuation. What is Superannuation? Superannuation is a way of saving for your retirement. Both you and your employer [...]

• Your Super Contributions Will Increase To 12% – But Who Will Pay For It?

  The Government has increased the superannuation guarantee to 12%. Currently we pay 9% but who will pay the extra 3%. You or your employer?