I agree completely.

Most young folk I know, including my kids, would be much better off with all their money in their pockets, while buying houses, funding kids & getting established, rather than giving it to some rip off super fund, who will manage it less well than my great aunt Dillbury.

I have found you don't need very much money to have a great old age, provided you are debt free, own your home & all the things, necessities & toys, you may need, & have no desire to impress the neighbours.

This desirable state is much easier to attain if you have all your money to use at the most expensive time of your life.

Super is perhaps of some use to wastrels, who would piss all they got up against the wall. That there are these no hopers in the world is no reason to penalise all the more prudent folk. Most could more usefully manage their money than any fund manager.

By the time today's 30 somethings get their hands on any super the managers have got left, there will be so many restrictions on what they can get & how they can spend it, it won't be much use to them anyway, if current trends continue.

Dear Kirby483,

You wrote;

“If you think insurance companies , by offering you insurance without a medical or any health check are ripping you off. Try getting insurance when you are ill.”

With respect I think you are missing the point. I have no issue with insurance and pay for various forms of it, but as revealed in the Crikey article the Superannuation companies make much greater margins and fees on insurance policies than they do ordinary super contributions. This is why the default to them. If I want insurance I can apply for it but it shouldn't be forced on me by stealth nor by a company that is suppose to be assisting workers to put away for their retirement.

My child started started working full time just recently but had been doing part time work through university. Checked their fund and yes most had been once again gobbled up by a default insurance policy. They're young, healthy and just starting their working life. With extra income they jacked the policy from one to three units thus clawing more out of her future retirement fund. The Crikey article detailed that this can mean $100,000 less when it matures.

Thieves!

Dear rehctub,

Full agree about the paperwork around employing people. It has the capacity to drive me absolutely bonkers and is a real disincentive to employing people for short periods of time when there is a rush on so you end up flogging yourself to death doing the work yourself. About 15 years ago I proposed a different scheme and had the blessing of the ACTU and other groups. Couldn't get it up though.

Regarding super, there should be a return to a government super fund for part timers so that the contributions are protected.

Dear o sung wu,

The parasites have so terribly ransacked the superannuation sector that I would love to see it return to government running it. Count your blessings. There are many things I think are done better by the private sector but this is clearly not one of them.

SUPER,the greatest rip off in Australian History.
TRILLIONS invested in the Stockmarket,was just paper now electronic.
The young are told to invest because by the time they retire there will be no aged pension.
Poor parttime and casual employees are the BIGGEST LOOSERS.
Their super is invested into different funds by different employers and when they tell the employer to invest in a particular fund,the wages clerk ignores them.
They then wait three months to find if the employer has put it in the fund.
Having found the few dollars they then have to show birth certificate etc,etc,etc to get the few dollars transferred.
By this time fees have been added and the employee has a zero balance.
My young son has worked and had $2000 stolen in fees.He is now 21 and does not have one cent in Super.
GREAT SCHEME when the financial crash happened billions were LOST.
Robin Hood robbered the rich and gave to the poor.
The Sherriff of Nottingham started the Australian Super scheme.

Kirby 483 while property is out performed by shares investors are less likey to realize their losses in property.

HASBEEN you've spoken the most prophetic and significant words I've heard in this debate thusfar, when you said:-

'...I've found you don't need very much money to have a great old age, provided you are debt free and own your home & all the things, necessities and toys, you may need, and have no desire to impress the neighbours...' !

Absolutely correct. You cut your suit according to your cloth. Accumulation of unnecessary debt over a lifetime, without the ability to adequately service that debt, is an easy way in which to advance along that road to economic perdition !

An alarming trend with super is to use ones super money to provide income protection.

While this may appear to make good sense, being insured against illness and all, what it is actually doing is depriving peoples super of its maximum potential as the credits are often being all but eaten up by these insurance policies, policies that are only beneficial if one makes a claim.

I think governments need to crack down on this practice and even look at allowing insurers to pay premiums via salary sacrifice, external to their super funds, as the benefits would be less people on the pension because where we are headed is a situation whereby many will have little in super due to their PI insurances.