Residents’‘lost’ super tops $24m

City of Greater Geraldton residents have lost track of more than $24 million in superannuation, according to new figures from the Australian Taxation Office.

According to the ATO, 3678 superannuation accounts have been registered as lost within the City of Greater Geraldton, holding a total of $24,403,141.

Geraldton Greenough Financial Services principal Graham Greenaway said he did not find the figures surprising in the least.

“It’s daunting for people to chase their super and that’s why that $24 million doesn’t surprise me, ” he said. A superannuation account is considered lost if its holder cannot be contacted or has made no contributions or rollover amounts to the account in five years.

The latest figures from the ATO reveal 49 per cent of West Australians have two or more superannuation accounts.

Mr Greenaway said young people and those in hospitality and retail industries were typically more apathetic towards superannuation, but warned leaving lost funds untouched for years would cost them immensely as they approached retirement.

“When you’re paying multiple sets of administration fees and management fees on each super fund, that’s just wasting money that could be going into your pocket,” he said.

“The record we have at the moment is one chap had 15 different superannuation accounts we were able to track down.

“The pure quantum of the fee is probably between $50,000 and $60,000 in his particular case and then the lost earnings of that money is probably another $30,000.” According to the ATO, the median fees and charges on a low-cost superannuation account are about $532 a year.

Mr Greenaway advised anyone with lost super to either visit the ATO website or contact a local financial planner.

Lost super has cost the State $1.6 billion this year, with the Goldfields-Esperance, Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Bunbury recording $45 million, $30 million and $28 million respectively.