Yes, you can change your investment option as often, or as little, as you like.

A buy/sell spread may apply when switching your investment options. 

The easiest way to change your investment options is by:

• logging in to SuperOnline
• choosing “Investment choices”
• clicking “Update investment choice”.

You can choose from a broad range of options to ensure that your super savings are invested in the option that best suits you. 

For more information on the investment options available to you, visit the investment options pages. 

  What are your investment options?

Checking your super balance is easy. You can find out how much super you have in two ways:

1. Online via SuperOnline
   Access your current balance any hour of the day. Simply log in to SuperOnline and choose 'Balance'.
2. Call us on 1300 033 166
   Our Member Services Consultants can provide you with your current balance during business hours, visit Contact us

Of course, your annual  statement also provides a record of your benefit. You can choose to receive your statements online.

You can also access historical statements via your SuperOnline account or by calling 1300 033 166. 

In a super account there are three types of beneficiaries you can nominate – a binding or a non-binding beneficiary, or a reversionary beneficiary (RetireAccess income stream account).  There are two ways you can update your beneficiaries:

1. Download a Nomination of Beneficiaries form to make a binding or non-binding nomination. Return the completed form to TelstraSuper. At PO Box 14309, Melbourne Vic 8001 or email to [email protected]
2. Log in to your SuperOnline account to update or change your non-binding beneficiaries online.
3. A reversionary beneficiary nomination can only be made at the commencement of a TelstraSuper RetireAccess account via the TelstraSuper RetireAccess Application form. Once a TelstraSuper RetireAccess account with a reversionary beneficiary has commenced, you can only change or remove your reversionary beneficiary nomination by closing that account and commencing a new account with a new beneficiary nomination.

Am I eligible to set up a TelstraSuper RetireAccess income stream?

You can use your super to open a TelstraSuper RetireAccess income stream provided you have at least $10,000 in your account and you meet one of the following criteria:

• you have reached preservation age (the age the Government allows you to access your super)

Or

• you have applied and been approved to receive a Total & Permanent Disablement benefit.

You can open a RetireAccess income stream even if you’re still working and have met your preservation age through a transition to retirement strategy.

Find out more about a TelstraSuper RetireAccess income stream.

Yes, you can remain a member of TelstraSuper throughout your life. When you leave Telstra we’ll automatically change your membership type from corporate to personal. Just make sure you update your personal details including email and postal address in SuperOnline so we know where to find you. You can then have your new employer pay your super into your TelstraSuper account. Simply fill in our quick online form which will send your new employer the information they need to start contributing to TelstraSuper. There will be some changes to your insurance when you cease employment with Telstra, you can read about those here.

Update your Personal Details

Nominate TelstraSuper

When you left the fund you were issued an exit statement with details of your account at the time of closure, however if you would like copies of previous statements please complete our Contact form or call us on 1300 033 166.

Yes you can. By putting your super into one account you will pay just one set of administration fees, competitive investment fees and reduce the headache of having your super in different accounts. Plus - we won't charge you any fees for transferring your money into TelstraSuper. Save yourself the hassle - consolidate your super today.
If you are a Defined Benefit member, any super you transfer from another fund will be rolled into your Voluntary Accumulation Account (VAA). If you do not already have a VAA one will be set up for you.

Find out more about how to consolidate your super and get your super under one roof. 

Locate and combine your super accounts

You’ll need to give your new employer the details of your TelstraSuper account. You can do this by either emailing your employer using our online form or completing a print form and giving it your employer directly. If you have any problems you can call us on 1300 033 166.

Nominate TelstraSuper

There are a few easy ways to contribute to your super account. The type of contribution you should make depends on your circumstances.  If you earn below a certain salary post-tax contributions could be more suitable and you may be eligible for a government co-contribution.  Whereas if you earn above a certain salary, pre-tax contributions may provide tax savings. 

• Pre-tax contributions: if you’re working, speak to your payroll area to set up ongoing contributions into your TelstraSuper account. You just need to let them know how much you want to contribute each pay period. 
• Post-tax contributions: make contributions by BPAY or cheque. You can set up ongoing contributions with your BPay. 

To find out more about the different types of contributions you can make, visit the contributions page of our website. To see what kind of contribution may suit you best try our pre vs post tax calculator. 

Boost your super

Calculate Pre-tax vs post-tax contributions

Contributions credited to the TelstraSuper’s bank account are generally applied to the relevant member’s account within 3 business days. Any interest earned on the balance of the TelstraSuper’s bank account is credited to the TelstraSuper’s Administration Reserve, which is used to support administration services provided to members.

Yes, there are limits on the amount of pre-tax and post-tax contributions you can make to your account.

Limit for pre-tax contributions for the 2023/2024 financial year is:

• $27,500 per year

Find out more about pre-tax contribution limits, and what’s included in the cap and how your contribution is taxed.

The post-tax contributions cap for the current financial year is $110,000 pa per person.

If you are under 75* years of age at any time in a financial year, you are able to bring forward two years of post-tax contributions and make a lump sum contribution of $330,000 in one financial year. So if you make a $330,000 contribution during the 2023/2024 financial year, you will not be allowed to make any further post-tax contributions until the 2026/2027 financial year.

Find out more about post-tax contribution limits, and what’s included in the cap and how your contribution is taxed.

Managing your contributions

*Includes the period up to 28 days after the end of the month in which you reach age 75.

To make post-tax (non-concessional) contributions to your super account you’ll need your unique BPAY reference number. You can get this by using your member number and our BPAY code generator. You only need to do this once – the number remains the same every time you want to use it to make a contribution. You can get BPay numbers to make post-tax contributions into your account (these may be eligible for government co-contributions) and spouse contributions.

Start contributing with BPAY

You can make contributions into your partner's account (often referred to as spouse contributions but you don’t need to be married to make them). You’ll need their unique BPAY reference number. You can get this by entering their member number into our BPAY code generator. You can then make BPAY contributions into their account using this number at any time. Spouse contributions may be eligible for a tax rebate depending on your partner’s salary.

Start contributing with BPAY

The best approach depends on your personal and financial situation.

Pre-tax contributions, also known as concessional contributions can have significant tax savings. Benefiting from making pre-tax contributions will depend on factors such as your marginal tax rate.

Post–tax contributions, also known as non-concessional contributions, are any contribution made after your salary is taxed. There are advantages to making post-tax contributions, such as the government co-contribution scheme and spouse tax offset. The benefits you receive from these depend on you and your spouse's income earnings.

Try our Pre-tax vs post-tax contributions calculator and Retirement Lifestyle Planner to compare the difference each type of contribution will make to your final balance.

Calculate Pre-tax vs post-tax contributions

Launch the retirement Lifestyle Planner

Your defined benefit is calculated according to a particular formula. Here’s how it works:

• Accrual % rate is linked to your elected contribution rate
• Your benefit multiple is based upon the rate or rates at which you contribute to your defined benefit and for how long you contribute at that particular rate. (see the question “How is my multiple calculated?” for further clarification)
• Final Average Super Salary (FAS) is calculated using the average of the last three years of super salary at your birthday. The benefit payable to you must be equal to or greater than the benefit required under Superannuation Guarantee (SG) legislation. This means that the benefit payable to you will be the greater of your defined benefit and SG benefit. The SG benefit is the minimum amount of superannuation support your employer must provide to you by law.

TelstraSuper Division 2 defined benefit members may elect to contribute between 0% and 10% in multiples of 1%. The amount you contribute will impact the accrual percentage rate used to calculate your retirement benefit, as shown:

Everyone’s situation is different, so how much you should contribute is a personal choice. However, in most situations, maintaining an average contribution rate of 5% over the period of your defined benefit membership is the optimum amount to contribute to maximise your employer support and benefit. As Table A shows, when your average contribution rate falls below 5% there is an opportunity to ‘catch up’ by making contributions between 6% and 10%. Table B shows that once you reach an average contribution rate of 5%, additional contributions above 5% don’t attract additional employer support.

It’s important to realise that the notional employer superannuation contribution amount won’t change if you elect to change your contribution rate.

When considering what contribution rate you should elect, you need to consider:

• your current average contribution rate;
• your potential future salary growth; and
• any potential loss in grandfathering of your notional taxed contributions.

There is further information about grandfathering in the TelstraSuper Division 2 Super Guide.

A TelstraSuper Financial Advisor can assist you in choosing the right contribution rate for you. Call us on 1300 033 166.

Everyone’s situation is different so it’s important to consider your own personal situation when deciding whether to stay in defined benefit or move to an accumulation account and seek appropriate financial advice.

You should consider:

• your current average contribution rate, particularly if your average contribution rate is below 5%
• the cost against your package compared with the accumulation scheme
• your expected growth in super salary and subsequent expected growth in Final Average Salary (FAS), as this will impact the growth in your defined benefit value
• your desire for certainty of benefit versus risk of investment loss
• your appetite for exposure to the investment markets to achieve potentially higher returns
• insurance cover
• if you’d like to start a Transition To Retirement income stream, if you’re still working

TelstraSuper Financial Planning can help you consider your situation. Call 1300 033 166 to speak with an Adviser.

No, the notional employer superannuation contribution amount can’t be reduced to the minimum Super Guarantee rate to receive more cash salary. The only way to do this is to leave the defined benefit scheme and move to the TelstraSuper Corporate Plus accumulation scheme.

If you leave Telstra, whether to retire or to go to another job, your account balance will be transferred into our accumulation product, TelstraSuper Personal Plus. If you’ve retired, the funds can be used to set up a TelstraSuper RetireAccess income stream account. If you’re leaving Telstra because of redundancy you can find out what will happen with your defined benefit.

Here’s how it works

Your account	Your insurance
Benefit calculated on final day of employment at Telstra
Transfer automatically to TelstraSuper Personal Plus	Base default and top-up death and TPD cover transferred to TelstraSuper Personal Plus
Defined Benefit portion invested in Cash option for 90 days, then invested in MySuper lifecycle default or the Voluntary Accumulation Account previously elected investment option	Premiums become member paid
VAA investment option stays unchanged	Can apply for income protection when continuously employed with new employer
Benefit calculation details mailed out

The Cash investment option invests in a combination of bank deposits, negotiable certificates of deposit and other money market instruments. In order to optimise investment returns, some of these investments may have maturity dates of up to 12 months or slightly more into the future (although most are much shorter than that), so they are technically classified as Fixed Interest securities for the purpose of the Portfolio Holding Disclosure regulations. All of the securities held in the Cash portfolio are of high credit quality and highly liquid, and are commonly included in cash investment portfolios.

The Direct Access investment option allows members to invest in any Australian shares that form part of the S&P/ASX300 Index. The individual stock choices are made by the members themselves and the individual shares are not selected by the Trustee of the Fund. Therefore, the thermal coal exclusion does not apply to the Direct Access option.

As required by legislation, Portfolio Holding Disclosures are provided in a single CSV file format that includes all tables, asset classes and reporting requirements. As the reporting requirements for a particular asset class may differ from other assets classes, where a requirement is not applicable to a specific asset class, some headed columns will still be shown but are left intentionally blank as no relevant information is required to be inserted.

There is no switching fee for changing your investment option/s.

However, when you switch investment options, a buy-sell spread may apply. A buy-sell spread is a cost to recover the transaction costs related to the sale and purchase of assets.

The buy cost or sell cost ranges from 0.00% to 0.10%, depending on the investment option. The cost of the buy/sell spread is deducted in the calculation of unit prices at the time of the switch.

Buy-sell spreads don't apply to the Direct Access investment option. However, other fees such as activity fees may apply, which reflect transaction costs, brokerage or other services associated with investing via the Direct Access investment option. Please refer to the Direct Access PDS for more information regarding fees

Buy-sell spreads don't apply to the automatic, age-based investment switches within TelstraSuper's MySuper arrangement.

The easiest way to switch your investment is by:

• logging in to SuperOnline
• choosing “Investment choices”
• clicking “Update investment choice”.

A buy-sell spread is the cost of buying and selling investment units in the different investment options. It's similar, for example, to the brokerage costs you would pay if you were buying and selling shares - the cost of the transactions when you change your investments. The buy and sell prices of a particular investment option may differ due to the variable costs associated with buying or selling any underlying securities or assets. The difference in buy and sell prices (which is the aggregate of any buy cost and sell cost) is used to determine the buy-sell spreads.

The Property option is different to other investment options due to the illiquid nature of the underlying assets and the transaction costs associated with property investments.  

The fees and costs you pay depends on the membership category you're in.  As a not for profit fund we work hard to keep our fees competitive when compared to other super funds. There are no hidden fees. 

Find out more about possible fees and costs that you may be charged.

Fees and Costs

ABN stands for Australian Business Number and it’s used as a unique identifier – sort of like a tax file number but for a business. Businesses with an ABN are part of the Australian Business Register which is operated by the Australian Taxation Office.

Our ABN is 85 502 108 833.

USI stands for Unique Superannuation Identifier.

You might be asked to provide TelstraSuper’s USI when providing the details of your super account to a new employer. It can also be referred to as a “SPIN” or Super Product Identifier Number.

Our USI/SPIN is TLS0100AU.

As a not for profit fund we don’t charge entry, exit, contribution fees or commissions.  If you are coming from another fund, you may have a withdrawal fee in that fund, so you might want to refer to your current fund's product disclosure statement for details. 

Find out about the benefits of joining TelstraSuper, including our extensive range of value-added products and services.

Benefits of Joining

This is one of the most common questions we get asked.  The answer’s a personal thing. What’s enough for one person will differ for another.

To achieve the retirement lifestyle you want, it's best to plan early. However, everyone is different, so it’s important to consider things like:

• the age you want to retire
• the lifestyle you want to enjoy
• the income you want 
• other financial assets you have.

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) gives a guide for how much a person needs for a ‘modest’ or ‘comfortable’ lifestyle in retirement.  A comfortable retirement means you can have an annual holiday in Australia, eat out, buy good clothes and own a reasonable car.  If this sounds like what you’ll want when you finish work, then it’s a good starting point for what you’ll need saved in your super.  If you think you’ll want to do more (such as travel overseas every year) you’ll need to save more.

ASFA says to fund a comfortable retirement as a couple you’ll need $690,000 saved in your super. For a single person you’ll need $595,000.  TelstraSuper Financial Planning has estimated a guide for how much you may need, depending on when you want to retire and your annual income needs. 

Once you’ve got an idea of how much income you may need, you can then look at the different options available to help you get there. These include considering:

• your super and the retirement income options available to you,
• any other personal investments you might have, plus
• your eligibility for the Age Pension and other government benefits.

Have you tried our retirement income projector? It’s an industry-leading retirement income calculator, which allows you to estimate your projected super balance and whether you are likely to have an adequate retirement income.

Launch Retirement Lifestyle Planner

Preservation age is the age the Government allows you to access your super.  Your preservation age depends on your date of birth.  

Date of birth	Preservation age
Before 1 July 1960	55
1 July 1960 - 30 June 1961	56
1 July 1961 – 20 June 1962	57
1 July 1962 – 30 June 1963	58
1 July 1963 – 30 June 1964	59
After 30 June 1964	60

If you have reached preservation age and are considering withdrawing your money you should carefully consider the consequences, particularly given that super is tax-free on withdrawals from age 60 (provided your super is from a taxed source). You can open a retirement income stream – RetireAccess which will provide you with regular payments – much like the salary you earned while working.  This allows you to enjoy your retirement rather than worrying about managing your investments. 

TelstraSuper Financial Planning can advise you how best to maximise your super in line with your personal circumstances and obligations.

To make an appointment, call TelstraSuper Financial Planning on 1300 033 166 or request an appointment online.

Super is designed to support you in retirement so generally your super must stay in the system until you’re retired. 

You’re defined as "retired" if you’ve reached:

• preservation age (the age the Government allows you to access your super) and are retired permanently from work; or
• the age of 60 and have stopped working; or
• the age of 65 (whether you're still working or not).

When you retire you can take your super as a retirement income stream or a lump sum.  Although you’ll have access to your money, there may be tax implications if you remove it from the super system.

 You should carefully consider the consequences of withdrawing your money, particularly given that super is tax-free on withdrawals from age 60 (provided your super is from a taxed source). You can open a retirement income stream – RetireAccess which will provide you with regular payments – much like the salary you earned while working.  This allows you to enjoy your retirement rather than worrying about managing your investments. 

TelstraSuper Financial Planning can advise you how best to maximise your super in line with your personal circumstances and obligations.

To make an appointment, call TelstraSuper Financial Planning on 1300 033 166 or request an appointment online.

Talk to an adviser

Retirement income?

Transition to Retirement is a strategy that allows people to access an income stream once they reach preservation age (this is the age that the Government allows you to access your super – it’s based on your date of birth) and are still working.

The Transition to Retirement legislation was introduced to help people ease into retirement; by cutting back on working hours and supplementing any reduced income through their super. It also allows people who are approaching retirement but still working to salary sacrifice into super while at the same time receiving tax-effective income payments from a retirement income stream.

Through this strategy you can maintain your income, reduce your overall tax bill and increase your super.

To be eligible you must:

• have reached preservation age but be under 65
• be currently employed
• roll over some or all your funds to a retirement income stream such as TelstraSuper RetireAccess.

Visit to Transition to Retirement for further information.

TelstraSuper Financial Planning can help you develop a strategy that suits your lifestyle. To make an appointment, call TelstraSuper Financial Planning on 1300 033 166 or request an appointment online.

Learn more about Transition to Retirement

 

TelstraSuper has an alliance with leading health fund HCF, to give our members access to quality health cover at a lower price. Find out more about member discounts and offers.