Did you know that recently passed legislation may trigger your superannuation owned insurance to be cancelled from 1 July 2019?
For many Australians the default cover they receive is the only cover they can access due to their health history, or due to their occupation or activities outside of work. If you’ve taken parental or other leave and subsequently haven’t received a contribution into your super recently, you may be impacted.
You may have received a letter from your super fund about the upcoming changes. That is, assuming you have kept your contact details up to date with your super fund. If you did receive a letter, it’s important you read it and not leave it sitting unopened somewhere because the changes are really important! If you haven’t and think you have a super account that has been sitting idle in the background please read on.
In short if your superannuation account is deemed to be “inactive” your attached insurance may be cancelled, or your account may be rolled over (effectively closing your account and cancelling any attached insurances).
So what triggers an account to be deemed as “inactive?”
- Your balance is less than $6,000, Or
- Your super fund has not received any contributions in the past 16 months regardless of the account balance.
If you don’t want your insurance to be cancelled or your super account automatically rolled over, how can you have your account deemed as ‘active?’
If you have less than $6,000, you can make your account ‘active’ by updating your details such as changing your investment options or your nominated beneficiary.
To retain the insurance cover within your super fund, you can notify your super fund in writing to continue the cover, or make a contribution as little as $1 before 30 June 2019. This can be from your personal bank account, your spouse or your employer.
One of the easiest ways to look up your super fund(s) is to log into your My.Gov.au account.
You’ll need to have the ATO as a linked service to your My.Gov.au account. Once you know which super fund(s) you have you can contact them directly to confirm if you are likely to be affected by the changes.
Lastly, we believe that getting professional advice is essential and it’s best to have an insurance strategy personally tailored. Not only will you be able to plan for the outcomes you want at claim time, you will likely save money and a good adviser can assist with the claim or any changes that may impact you.
If you would like to talk to someone about your plans to protect yourself or your family. Please get in touch and we’ll put you in touch with someone who can help.
Disclosure: This information is general in nature. For advice suited to your individual circumstances, please seek professional advice to tailored to your individual needs.
