Are you losing money in super? Who runs it?

As part of our continuous improvement for our online MYOB training courses and the development of our Payroll Level 2 course we explored the superannuation market. Superannuation was established as a way for ordinary working families (sorry to steal this catch phrase from Julia’s government) to contribute to their own retirement income and as a result gain tax benefits.

There was horrendous news and publicity about bad returns for many superannuation funds in the global financial crisis and we thought we’d explore these results a little closer. If you are reading this as an MYOB student, a bookkeeper, small business owner or employee you would be aware that superannuation is compulsory for most employees and you now have the choice of where you want this money to go. APRA is the government organisation which overseas the banks and banking regulation in Australia and they announce the rate of return for the top 200 superannuation companies each year.

If you want to take a closer look yourself, check out the figures from page 5 onward in the latest superannuation report from APRA. You can download the report as Excel or PDF format.

This brings up some interesting questions. Can a superannuation funds manager outperform the Index and how do you guarantee a positive return for your super every year? We’ll explore these questions soon…