individual,

Why indeed. There are many critics among people who know what they are talking about who have been questioning the sense of compulsory superannuation right from the beginning. They are still questioning it.

I've been retired for over 20 years, and have little interest in it these days. My only comment on it was how workers are enriching the elites with it. But as always, the average drone doesn't seem interested in the fact that they are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer off their (the drones') backs; they are so used to relying on remote politicians and bureaucrats leading them by the noses that they are incapable of thinking for themselves. Modern civilisation is not that much different now from ancient Roman civilisation - bread and circuses provided by the Caesars to keep the plebs, ignorant and complacent and under control.

The lethargy of the mob will see things getting much worse from January next year when the Great Reset gets started in Lucerne. Our own PM, a great one for pretending to be sincere about Australian independence, is already looking like changing his tune on global domination.

individual asks, "Why do we need Super in the first place ?"

Well Paul1405 above has covered the fiscal reality of it quite well. But there is also more to the political/moral dimension of this question. Now since this is the political/moral aspect I acknowledge that it purely a subjective view-point based opinion. And that for some, in their opinion, the pension is the better solution to the problem of funding retirement than superannuation. But for me, I prefer superannuation over the pension.

For I believe that one of the most central tenets to being a responsible citizen is that you take care of yourself and your dependents. While a good government is one that imposes limited demands on its citizens. So the best solution would for there to be neither superannuation nor pensions because we all lived by these ground rules and thus each voluntarily saved for our own retirement. This would leave the government to need only assist those that fail to save enough due to exceptional circumstances (such as someone who is incapacitated due to injury or someone who looses their savings due to criminal behaviour by others). But, I admit that in reality this is simply not going to work because a sizeable portion of the population are absolutely hopeless at planning ahead for the future let alone looking after themselves in the present. You only have to read about the billions spent on illicit drugs each year to appreciate how incapable some are at spending wisely.

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So since my preferred option is not really practical the second best option, available to date, is compulsory super. But thsi does come at a cost to some. For instance it has cost me personally. This is because when young and first working I used to save and invest aggressively. I saved considerably more over and above just the obligatory super. My investmenst in the main paid better than the returns I received on my super (due to the factors like super funds having red tape overheads and being required to be quite staid and boring in their investments). So effectively I lost potential wealth by being forced to invest in super instead of being allowed to invest the money myself.

Thinkabit.

Well spoken from somebody who has ridden on the sheep’s back.
But yours is not a typical story.

The atypical story is, most retirees now, are the cohort of workers who entered a manufacturing based economy in the cities, or rural based economies in the regions, at an early age; mostly at age fifteen , which was the minimum school leaving age.

Unemployment was around three percent, and everybody who could work did work.
This was a situation where the PAYE tax rate was over thirty percent; a high taxing economy sustained Government spending without debt burdens now through the roof.

What happened then? things were fine before Keating and Hawke took to meddling with the leavers.
under their watch, our manufacturing base was gifted to China, and other cheap labour Asian countries. As a consequence, unemployment rose, jobs became insecure and the populace less wealthy.

The immigration levers were set to wide open, which did two things.
One was to overstimulate the housing market, making the choice of home ownership less achievable for most, and a “loser system” emerged, where the ever increasing homeless are plundered for profit by wealthy property investors.

Worse, the profiteers are further enabled in their plunder by Government subsidies, in the form of special tax breaks.

So now we have a clear winners and losers society. The wealthy class of investors, pandered to by fawning Government subsidies, and the losing classes, comprising the younger and endlessly educated, with higher expectations because of it.

So the above is the society we view, with limited ability and scarce resources, to actually think long term about superannuation and investment.
Those that manage to achieve homeownership as an investment, are lured into debt traps and reside in those suburbs where home values are generally stagnant.

Their situation is tenuous, as evinced by the “too many” who took the opportunity to cash in on their super accounts during the current COVID crises.

You need to catch up.

Dan.

The treasurer is responsible for the safety of the money received by the club and for obtaining maximum benefit from any deposit or investment.

A treasurer, as a custodian for the resources of the club/group, should also budget carefully to ensure there is always sufficient cash at the bank to cover cheques and expenses paid by bank transfer.

It is highly recommended that the club, led by the treasurer, establish a computer-based bookkeeping process utilizing appropriate security software and systems. Along with this, an online registration process, including the payment of fees due should be established. The treasurer’s 10 commandments
Maintain secure computer-based accounts and banking systems. Record receipts and payments clearly and accurately.
Issue receipts for all monies received
Promptly bank all monies received
Seek out the safest and most productive place to bank the organization’s cash
Do not pay out any money without the authority of the committee
Do not issue petty cash without receiving a voucher
Clearly distinguish between capital, revenue, and expenditure
Make sure the balance shown on the bank statements can be reconciled to the balance in the cashbook
Report the past, present, and future financial progress and position of the club to all committee meetings and the AGM
Faithfully discharge your responsibilities to the committee of the club, its members, its sponsors, and others with whom it does business

There are Retirees & then there are pensioners, I think we all know who is costing the Taxpayers more !