Superannuation

The federal government has been accused of politicising the Future Fund by changing its mandate, but its investments have always been tangled up in politics.

A former insider calls it the "side hustle" of Australia's superannuation funds – where the handling of thousands of death and disability claims from injured workers and grieving families falls to underpaid, overworked staff away from the main game. 

Just 18 days before Russell Wayne Hirst died of a cardiac event in November 2021, superannuation giant Cbus cancelled his insurance policy, leaving the beneficiary of his account in a year-long fight to have her claim approved.

The scandal threatening to engulf Australia's superannuation industry has spread to another major operator, Australian Ethical, which has apologised for taking almost a year to process a widow's application to access her dead husband's retirement savings.

ASIC's decision to sue Cbus, alleging systemic claims-handling failures, after lengthy delays in death and disability claims, could be a watershed moment to revisit a sector that sits in a privileged position of looking after Australians' retirement savings with little scrutiny.

ASIC says it has done a thorough investigation into all super funds in the country and more court action is likely.

Small improvements in your superannuation's performance or fees can make a significant difference in retirement.

A survey finds around three-quarters of retirees with a mortgage owe more than they have in superannuation. More people are facing their retirement years with a home loan and the trend is expected to continue as the age of first home buyers rises.

Small actions, especially early on, can make a meaningful difference to your final superannuation amount.

Unable to chew food properly, Daniel withdrew $67,000 from superannuation to fix his teeth. But he didn't realise that tax rules would drain an additional $19,000 from his retirement savings.

Parents accessing the government-funded paid parental leave will receive an additional 12 per cent of their payments in super from July next year, after the federal government's legislation passed parliament.

It's not just older generations who think younger people are doing it tough. The list of people concerned about the impact of inflation on households includes economists, the boss of the Commonwealth Bank, Matt Comyn, and the Reserve Bank.

When financial planner Rebecca Pritchard was starting her family, she used a little-known strategy called contribution splitting to keep her superannuation ticking over.

The shadow assistant minister for home ownership says the Coalition would consider withdrawing GST payments to "hit the states hard where it hurts" and encourage housing supply.

Workers at a major Melbourne train station are furious they've been exposed to high levels of pollution over the last decade — and they've accused industry superfunds of being part of the problem.

When Australian investors tipped millions into a large investment fund, they probably didn't expect it would go towards an event with boxer Floyd Mayweather or a penthouse for the wife of a property developer whose fortunes are tied to the fund. But that's exactly what the corporate watchdog has alleged.

Billions of dollars in super contributions go unpaid every year. Here are some tips on how to keep track and recover your super if need be.

New analysis released by the super industry has found one in four workers is missing out on compulsory superannuation payments, with women and those in lower-paid jobs worst hit.

We should be reviewing our wills and estate plans every two to three years, estates lawyer Gillian Hunter says.

Concerned shareholders are using their small financial stakes to push companies like McDonald's to confront the issue. Here's what happened when a group of Texan nuns and an Australian super fund did just that.