Question for Australians and Superannuantion

[Jules13]

Hello Aussies,

My husband is an Aussie.  We moved to the states in 2002.  He had a Super of about $8k when we left.  He moved it into AMP and we all but forgot about it. 

It's up to about $30k now, but only earns something like 2.5% a year.  Since it's basically an extraneous fund, we want to move it into something more aggressive, but AMPs fees are a bit outrageous. 

I've been looking at Australian Super and their fees seem a lot lower and the website is MILES better than AMPs, making it a better overall experience anyway. 

But, wondering....any other advice for us?  I'm the one who manages our money for the most part.  Neither of us know very much about how superannuation works and the various options, other than you appear to get taxed quite a bit. 

Thanks for any advice!
Jules

[mrcheese]

If he is still an Australian citizen, he most probably won't be able to move it out of super until he reaches retirement age so I recommend you move it into a better fund until then.  I have had to deal with AMP from an employer payroll point of view, trying to get money IN to employee's super accounts and they were always just horrible to deal with - so my advice is somewhat slanted. 
If he was an American who left Australia for good he could cash it out but there is a big tax penalty when that is done and you lose 30-40% of the value.

[deborah]

Read The Australian Investing Thread - https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/australian-investing-thread/ AMP have a reputation as being traditionally one of the worst to be in.

Since he moved, there have been big changes in super. These include:
- easy transfer between funds - some funds used to need an incredible amount of paperwork AND took a couple of months to transfer the money - I don't think this was backdated, so you may find it incredibly difficult to change funds.
- some old funds used to have a fee structure where you paid a lot if/when you exited (AMP from memory was one of these, so he may have that problem) this has ceased for newer funds
- new basic super funds with very cheap fees - MySuper
- ASIC (see the MoneySmart website - https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/ - and the ATO (lost super) are now responsible for super
- speaking of lost super, I hope he has been responding to information, because if you ignore your super for a certain number of years, it can go into general revenue.
- ALL the terms and conditions of super have changed - see MoneySmart for information - what he knew is no longer current (it's a lot better).

[marty998]

I consider it a miracle your husband's balance has grown from $8k to $30k while being with AMP over 15 years.

Nonetheless, you would do well to move to Australian Super.

Just ensure (regardless of who you go with, that you either continually update your address whenever you move, or login regularly to your online account (easy to do on the Australian Super App).

If you don't, and there are no contributions made for a period of time, your Super has the potential to be deemed as a "lost account" and rolled over to the Tax Office.

Bit of a pain to claim it back from there.

[Jules13]

Thanks for all of the advice.  I will have a look at all of those links.

missbee, yes, he's a dually now, so still an Aussie citizen. 

Deborah, thanks for the update on the changes.  I will read up on those!  He had marked it as 'closed' before we left, meaning there would be no contributions, so it's all good and still there. 

marty998, your comment cracked me up.  I too find it a miracle that his balance grew that much.  Ha!

Thanks!!
Jules