Fees and discounts designed for young Australians

Protecting low super balances

One of the of the biggest financial problems young people face is low super balances being eroded by fees.
Lots of young people get their first job over the summer holidays. Most will just leave it up to their boss to choose a super fund for them.
At the end of the holidays they might have a few hundred dollars in their super account. The super fund then charges them fees to manage their account, as well as other costs like life insurance. Because their balance is low, the fees and costs can quickly erode their super balance.
This can repeat with each summer job, especially if they open a new fund with every new job. Each summer a new account is opened, a small balance is deposited and the balance is eroded by fees.
It’s a problem experienced by too many young Australians.
Our solution is a discount for most fees for members with balances balance under $1000.
See our Fees & discounts page or PDS for details.

We believe in transparent fees.

You can see a breakdown of our fees on one page – our fees and discounts page.

Transparent fees

These are the administration and investment fees charged to you*;
Investment option
 
Dollar-based admin fee p.a.
 
Percentage–based admin fee p.a.
 
Investment fee p.a.
Your balance under $1,000^
All options
=
$0
+
$0
+
$0
Your balance $1,000 and over
Balanced
=
$78
+
0.926%
+
0.063%
Growth
=
$78
+
0.926%
+
0.033%
High Growth
=
$78
+
0.926%
+
0.022%
Three examples
Let's assume you chose the High Growth investment option;
1: And your balance is $800^
Your fees
=
$0
+
$0
+
$0
Percentage-based administration fees and costs, and percentage-based investment fees are rebated back to members at the end of each month using your month end account balance.
2: Or your balance is $7,000^
Your fees
=
$78
+
$64.82
+
$1.54
3: Or your balance is $25,000^
Your fees
=
$78
+
$231.50
+
$5.50
These examples don’t include the reduction in fees from our loyalty discount program.
* A buy/sell spread and investment transaction costs may also apply. Refer to the Additional Explanation of Fees and Costs in the Reference Guide for more information.
^ A buy/sell spread and transaction costs may also apply. Buy/sell spreads are deducted on a transactional basis every time you buy or sell units and are reflected in the unit price. Transaction costs are incurred when underlying assets are bought or sold, and are calculated net of amounts received by the buy-sell spread charged and if applicable charged via a reduction in the unit price. A buy/sell spread and transaction costs will apply to all accounts above zero.

Fee cap for balances under $6,000.

By legislation, if your account balance at the end of the financial year is less than $6,000, fees relating to administration and investment are capped at 3% of your account balance. Any amount charged in excess of that cap will be refunded to your account.

3 ways to save money on fees

1. We discount most fees for members with balances under $1,000.

Student Super is designed to protect early super balances with:
Zero fees for zero balances
— so you can get set up before you start work
We discount most fees for members with balances under $1,000.
— to protect your balance while you’re starting out
See our Fees & discounts page or PDS for details.

2. For balances under $6,000.

The government’s “Protect Your Super” legislation requires all super funds to ensure members with a balance below $6,000 do not pay more than 3% of their balance in admin and investment fees.
If during the financial year you do pay more than 3% in admin and investment fees, the difference will be refunded to your account at the end of the year.

3. Our loyalty discount program

We think members who stay with the fund should be rewarded for their loyalty!
You’ll automatically be enrolled in the program as soon as your balance reaches $1,000. If your balance falls below $1,000 for any reason in the future, you still keep your discount level.
Our loyalty discount program has seven membership levels with the fee discounts increasing over time.
The discount is calculated off your percentage-based admin fee.
Once you reach each membership level, as long as you remain a member of the fund for the next 12 months, the loyalty discount will be paid as a small refund to your account at the end of each 12 month period.
Refer to the Reference Guide for more information.

Loyalty program membership levels

Here are the seven membership levels, showing the reduced percentage-based admin fee you will pay, as well as what the level of discount is, calculated from the full percentage-based fee;
Level
Year
% based Admin Fee
Discount Applied calculated from full % based fee
Normal % based admin fee
0.9260%
0%
Bronze
1
0.9075%
2.00%
Bronze Plus
2
0.8893%
3.96%
Silver
3
0.8715%
5.89%
Silver Plus
4
0.8541%
7.76%
Gold
5
0.8370%
9.61%
Gold Plus
6
0.8203%
11.42%
Platinum
7
0.8039%
13.19%

Notes

The discount is calculated at each membership level as an additional 2% discount off your percentage-based admin fee.
In this table, for ease of display, the “percentage-based fee” column rounds the percentages displayed to 4 decimal places. The “Discount applied” column rounds the percentages displayed to 2 decimal places. The actual amounts can therefore differ very slightly as a result of this rounding.
The effect of the percent sign: It is important to remember that 0.92% is very different to 0.92. These numbers are 100 times different in size. When you add the “%” symbol, the number expressed as a decimal is 0.0092.
Percentage discounts off percentage-based fees can be confusing. Refer to the table to ensure you understand how the discount is calculated.