‘I was losing sleep’: Women urged to act now to fix their super

In 2014, Bernadette Janson wrestled with many sleepless nights.

At the root of her sleeplessness was the fact that she had so little saved for retirement and only $20,000 in her superannuation account.

After acting to fix her super, Bernadette Janson says it’s never too late to start to plan for your future and boost your balance.Credit: Nick Moir

“I’d lay awake until early hours of the morning with my mind in overdrive, the anxiety was debilitating. I’d think about all the things I wanted to do,” she says.

“With four young adult children, I wanted to help them one day buy property, but we had a mortgage too. When the alarm went off each morning, I woke up exhausted.”

At the time Janson was in her late fifties and running a cafe. On top of this her husband’s superannuation had taken a battering too, so they decided to come up with a plan.

“I was killing myself running a catering business and I knew I couldn’t keep this up. My husband would ask me why I was awake half the night and when I told him, he couldn’t offer a solution. He was in a high-pressure job and had no bandwidth for anything else.”

‘You have time. There are so many opportunities to create an income.’

Bernadette Janson

Janson knew it was now or never; something had to change. She thought about going back to her career in nursing, but she would need to retrain. Instead, the decision was to sell their home and downsize to get rid of the mortgage.

They turned to rental income to help with earnings and save for their retirement.

“We purchased a smaller property with separate dwelling on it to rent out. The dwelling earns between $30,000 to $50,000 per annum, and this plus, some Airbnb rent, has helped my super contributions grow over the decade.”

Janson wants other women to act now.

“If you’re in your 50s and feeling like life is almost over, really, it has only just begun. You have time. There are so many opportunities to create an income,” she says.

“If your only option is a poor-paying job, you can create a side hustle, just get started. I think the hardest part is facing up to reality, once you focus on the problem the solution often presents itself.”

Thirty per cent gender difference in superannuation

The Australian Tax Office’s latest superannuation statistics for the 2020/21 year reveal the average super balance for men aged between 55 and 59 years was sitting at $316,457. For women, the average is $236,530.00 – a gap of nearly $80,000 or almost 30 per cent. Sadly, many women fall short of having $236,530.

The reasons are varied as to why women fall behind men in super contributions. This is primarily due to a combination of taking time out to raise children, women in more levels of part-time work and lower hourly rates of pay compared to men during their working lives.

As Janson notes, it’s never too late to start to plan for your future and boost your super.

If you’re employed, the first place is to make sure you are being paid a percentage of your earnings into your super account. Regardless of whether you have a casual or full-time job, an employer must pay at least 11 per cent of your ordinary time earnings into your superannuation.

Beyond that, the government’s Moneysmart website has some helpful information to boost your super, including:

Self-contributions: By making extra payments yourself they add up over time and voluntary contributions can reduce the amount of tax you pay. If you’re on a low income, you may be eligible for extra contributions from the government.

Pre-tax super contributions – salary sacrifice: You can ask your employer to pay part of your pre-tax pay into your super account. This is known as a salary sacrifice or salary packaging.

Low income super tax offset: Earn $37,000 or less? You may be eligible for a low-income superannuation tax offset (LISTO) of up to $500 per year.

Spouse contributions: You can split your employer super contributions with your spouse. Contact your fund regarding contributions splitting. The Australian Taxation Office has more information.

• Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

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