Togetherness can boost your savings

While combining accounts is not possible, couples who coordinate their efforts are likely to be better off

- By Vita Palestrant

Couples have joint bank accounts to pay off their mortgage, their credit cards and other bills, and put savings aside to build a secure future. This requires mutual goals, planning and an overview of their combined financial position.

But when it comes to super, it’s a different matter: there’s no choice but to have an individual account.

While compulsory super is a success story, many fund members remain disengaged for a variety of reasons.

People are defaulted into their workplace super, where their employer’s contributions accumulate and remain locked in until retirement.

To complicate matters further, a new default account is opened every time someone moves to another job, giving rise to multiple accounts and more fees. Although people have the right to choose their own super fund, most don’t.

But even if fund members are engaged and do all they can to maximise their super by picking a good-performing fund with low fees, they do not have the option of opening a joint or linked account to oversee their pooled savings.

Better picture of future
Submissions to the federal government’s Retirement Income Review touched on the issue. Actuarial firm Rice Warner argued such accounts would lead to higher levels of engagement and higher levels of empowerment.