Sick of being ripped off on my super

S

schowzas77

Member
Hey guys,
I was just after a bit of advice as to what to do with my super, I am currently with amp superannuation and all I seem to get from them is fees, fees and more fees.
I was just wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction as I have had no experience in this type of thing and SMSF go way over my head so I suppose my question would be does anybody have any super companies that they could recommend or point me in the direction at least.
Thanks in advance and sorry if I have asked something stupid :)
 
try esuperfund.com.au..its not way over your head,sit down and read it for a week or two and grasp the fundamentals. Or give me $100000 of your money and let me invest it for you cause thats exactly what your doing going with a company. Set up your own fund
 
Agree, start your own SMSF if you can. Because the onus is solely on you, it means you'll have to really analyze where you're putting your cash and pay more attention to what's going on economy wise.

It would be prudent to seek out someone who has had success in managing their SMSF and look into doing some courses to boost your financial IQ. Pretty sure Meetup.com would have something relevant for you
 
People will say it doesn't matter (and I agree to an extent) but it will depend on how much money you have in super and what you actually want to do with it. If you want it in cash earning interest then you may be better off not using eSuper but a low fee bank product.

Most of the big banks / funds have products where you can park the money in deposits earn 2.5 - 3.5% and pay pretty much nothing in fees (as there is no management associated with choosing investments for you).

eSuper is a minimum of $1,000 a year in operational costs (accounting plus audit plus ATO levy on tax return). With $10,000 in there you need to earn better than a 10% return on your capital just to break even in an eSuper SMSF. Non eSuper SMSF's and the costs will be quite a bit higher than that (more in the first year due to set up costs and then about $1,500 to $2,000 a year thereafter). Obviously with $100,000 better than a 1% - 2% return is easily achievable.

It all depends on how much weighting and what value you put on your time, your ability to choose good investments, risk of financial / bank collapse, the education you will receive from running it all yourself and a few other things.

As always, this is not financial advise and you need to do your own due diligence.
 
Thanks guys I am starting to get my head around this and I have got a lot of research to do I will look into all my options and go over more of threads on here and decide
Thanks again
 
Good onya showzas77.

Doing your research is the best way. Everyone is different. SMSF's aren't for everyone. Many start them up to have more control and versatility in their investment classes.This doesn't necessarily mean you'll save on management fees.

You may find an existing industry fund that already has the lowest fees and minimum input required by you.

Just do your own research... no one is going to be able to hand you an answer... without a large consultancy bill :D
 
If there is an industry fund in whatever area you are working in then consider it as they usually have lower fees.

Are you with AMP because that's the fund your employer uses by default ?
 
Elemental said:
People will say it doesn't matter (and I agree to an extent) but it will depend on how much money you have in super and what you actually want to do with it. If you want it in cash earning interest then you may be better off not using eSuper but a low fee bank product.

Most of the big banks / funds have products where you can park the money in deposits earn 2.5 - 3.5% and pay pretty much nothing in fees (as there is no management associated with choosing investments for you).

eSuper is a minimum of $1,000 a year in operational costs (accounting plus audit plus ATO levy on tax return). With $10,000 in there you need to earn better than a 10% return on your capital just to break even in an eSuper SMSF. Non eSuper SMSF's and the costs will be quite a bit higher than that (more in the first year due to set up costs and then about $1,500 to $2,000 a year thereafter). Obviously with $100,000 better than a 1% - 2% return is easily achievable.

It all depends on how much weighting and what value you put on your time, your ability to choose good investments, risk of financial / bank collapse, the education you will receive from running it all yourself and a few other things.

As always, this is not financial advise and you need to do your own due diligence.
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Not to take anything away from this good post but Michael West from SMH (imo one of the few good journos from SMH) has done some investigating/reporting how the big banks still manager to rip their customers off by putting investors into their own CMF (cash management funds) instead of from a competitor that might have a better rate. So while there is no direct cost there is a hidden fee in there in the form of a lower return.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/bank...p-on-cosy-super-cash-deal-20140123-31abo.html

My view is a SMSF is a good option but not the only option especially for those not financially literate. Of course there is no excuse not to get some financial knowhow and go it alone but there are low cost options out there that still let you control the investments to a high degree.

As Elemental writes - do your own due diligence.
 
Don't use eSuper. They have too many restrictions and absolutely shite advice.

You could try a member here called redwood i think.
 
Depending on how much you have, look at a Heritage Bank Secure Super Account: http://www.heritage.com.au/Superannuation/Secure-Super-Account.aspx

It's basically just a bank account so your super is 100% cash earning the current RBA cash rate + 0.5% p.a.

(Actually, it's a very rare financial product called a Retirement Savings Account which is technically a superannuation fund account, but it consists solely of an all-cash investment. They were introduced years ago when super became compulsory as the I-don't-really-care-just-put-it-in-the-bank option but then everyone got all fancy with "diversified, balanced growth" stuff and there are only a few places left that still offer them).

Think of it as a holding account where you can dump money without getting hit with fees while you get your balance up to the point where a SMSF is worth the setup and running costs.
 
mmm....shiney! said:
Don't use eSuper. They have too many restrictions and absolutely shite advice.

You could try a member here called redwood i think.
Click to expand...

If you know anything about Money,Stocks,Shares and Real Estate you should not be seeking advice anyway,i have had no problems in setting up thru ESuper
 
aussiesilver said:
mmm....shiney! said:
Don't use eSuper. They have too many restrictions and absolutely shite advice.

You could try a member here called redwood i think.
Click to expand...

If you know anything about Money,Stocks,Shares and Real Estate you should not be seeking advice anyway,i have had no problems in setting up thru ESuper
Click to expand...

Who is talking about stocks, RE and money??? We are talking about alternatives to industry/mainstream superfunds.

If you ring eSuper and ask them advice about SMSF they will tell you one thing but act differently when it's audit time. They impart restrictions upon what you consider should be appropriate investment strategies and they are inconsistent - if you play the typical SMSF game aussiesilver they'll be happy to take your money, if you want to try something different, they don't like it and terminate your account without any further correspondence.

Avoid eSuper.
 
mmm....shiney! said:
aussiesilver said:
mmm....shiney! said:
Don't use eSuper. They have too many restrictions and absolutely shite advice.

You could try a member here called redwood i think.
Click to expand...

If you know anything about Money,Stocks,Shares and Real Estate you should not be seeking advice anyway,i have had no problems in setting up thru ESuper
Click to expand...

Who is talking about stocks, RE and money??? We are talking about alternatives to industry/mainstream superfunds.

If you ring eSuper and ask them advice about SMSF they will tell you one thing but act differently when it's audit time. They impart restrictions upon what you consider should be appropriate investment strategies and they are inconsistent - if you play the typical SMSF game aussiesilver they'll be happy to take your money, if you want to try something different, they don't like it and terminate your account without any further correspondence.

Avoid eSuper.
Click to expand...

My Self Managed Super Fund that was setup by ESuper about 4 years ago allows me to buy Shares,which i know plenty about,it has allowed me to purchase three investment properties which i also know plenty about so i dont need ESuper advice on anything. It is a means of accessing my super to play the typical SMSF game,i dont need to try anything different as it meets all my needs and ticks the boxes,doesnt suit everyone,but a SMSF is something that the original poster should perhaps look at.
 
My SMSF which was set up by eSuper about 3 years ago worked wonderfully for one year until the day I rang them asking if it was allowable under their terms and conditions to purchase a certain asset and they said yes, but come audit time they said we had transgressed their terms and conditions and would not be acting as our accountant.

Funny though, they had audited and accepted as appropriate the aquisition of an identical asset the previous financial year. :rolleyes:

In short, my current accountant has managed to "sort out the eSuperFund mess".
 
I rang eSuper a bit over a year ago doing my shopping around and 'ping-pong' on the other end of the line didn't have a clue what the company did other than selling the product & setting up the fund...but not what the product was.

I figured I'd got a bad saleman and called a week later to someone that sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher. :-(
 
schowzas77 said:
Hey guys,
I was just after a bit of advice as to what to do with my super, I am currently with amp superannuation and all I seem to get from them is fees, fees and more fees.
I was just wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction as I have had no experience in this type of thing and SMSF go way over my head so I suppose my question would be does anybody have any super companies that they could recommend or point me in the direction at least.
Thanks in advance and sorry if I have asked something stupid :)
Click to expand...

G'day schowzas77 (spelt it right?),

You are in the same position as many Australians at the moment. Remember that letter from AMP increasing fees, that caused an uproar at that organisation as it was not appropriately reviewed.

As someone here kindly mentioned, I am a SMSF Administrator, and represent Redwood Advisory - SMSF Specialists, we have a number of clients from SilverStackers and like to keep all our clients happy as a positive client experience provides important referrals.

What we do is help Australian's such as yourself with the education required around Self Managed Super. This includes the benefits and more importantly the risks of SMSFs. We spend 30 mins up front, with both sides of the story and the difference between Redwood Advisory's SMSF Administration and that of industry funds, and even why we are better than Esuper. Across these, we are fee competitive and when you have a question you can pick up the phone or email and not be sent a consultancy bill.

The issue with industry funds over the last 5-7 years is that they continue to charge their management fees, and produce poor returns in asset classes you have no idea about. Thats why many Australians come to us, they want control and take the risk themselves to produce a positive return in whatever asset class they choose. For example, many of clients borrow to buy property through their SMSF, as they see this as a safe investment.

What you can do is give us a call and we will be able to assist without any 'buy' pressure. We are based on integrity and trust, its your decision, we know once you start thinking about superannuation, you will talk to us, think about it and when the time is right, join us.

Note - We are not Esuper, nor do we want to be. We are independent and privately owned, and we donot make money off kick back from the banks. You can open a bank account or broking account with anyone, you can purchase a property from anyone, you can take a loan from anyone......after all you want 'control'. More importantly, you can call us anytime or email us and we will answer your queries. Thats our niche and our promise. We have on average a fund a fortnight transfer from them. It works for some but not for everyone, especially clients that need a little tender loving care.

I have attached a blog on the 'WHY SMSF' have a read (if this breaches the rules please remove)
http://redwoodadvisory.com.au/start-self-managed-superannuation-fund/

Hope that helps, and let us know if you need some help on the education component

Cheers, Ivan
 
mmm....shiney! said:
Don't use eSuper. They have too many restrictions and absolutely shite advice.

You could try a member here called redwood i think.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the kind referral mmm....shiney! so you are from Queensland, our team have been up here since Thursday. Plenty of opportunities in QLD particularly on the property front, great to see many of our clients from GC to Brisbane to Buderim to Noosa.

Cheers, Ivan
 
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