Amid your 2024 money goals, have you included your financial 'adulting' tasks?
I'm talking about attending to things like your superannuation, insurances and will. And in case you are wondering, even if you have a will, there are some things worth checking regularly and updating if needed.
I know this all sounds about as thrilling as brushing your teeth, but if you'd like to avoid the financial equivalent of a (painful and costly) root canal, consider them essential.
Fortunately, unlike brushing your teeth, you don't have to do them every day. Once a year is enough.
Here's how to get four of your most critical financial adulting tasks sorted:
1. Check (and perhaps change) your superannuation
The wrong superannuation fund means you're giving more of your hard-earned money to super fund managers at your own expense, leaving you with less cash at retirement. They win, you lose.
Checking whether your super is in a good spot just takes a few clicks, and there's no need to sign up for a comparison site.
Log into the ATO portal via your myGov account. Head to Super > Information > YourSuper comparison to see how your fees and performance compare with a handful of alternatives.
The balance shown might be lower than your current total as it's only reported to the ATO once a year for June 30, but that's fine for comparison purposes.
If your fees are high and/or performance is low, you might consider choosing a different investment option within that fund, or switching to another fund entirely.
2. Check — and perhaps change — your insurances
There is no blanket rule about what insurances you need. The best fit will depend on factors such as who depends on your income, how you feel about public healthcare, and your debts.
There's also the option to pay for some insurances, like life, total permanent disability (TPD) and income protection, with your super. That means the cost of the premium for those doesn't come out of your take-home pay.
When working out where to spend your insurance dollars, it can help to prioritise anything potentially catastrophic. I like to think of them as the 5Ds:
- Death (e.g. life insurance —this is for the people you leave behind rather than yourself),
- Disease (e.g. Income protection, Total Permenant Disability or TPD and private health insurance),
- Divorce (no policy available, but a binding financial agreement and/or marriage counselling might be considered insurance),
- Disaster (e.g. home, contents and car insurance), and
- Redundancy (e.g. redundancy insurance).
You can find suitable options using independent comparison sites like privatehealth.gov.au. Please use caution on commercial comparison sitesas they don't always show every available policy. Or, you can talk to an insurance broker, noting they may make money through commissions on whatever products they sell.
If you've already got insurances, there's usually a loyalty tax for staying with the same provider year after year. They've already got you as a customer, so they don't have to offer you deals. Get comparison quotes and ask your insurer to match them, or consider switching to another insurer if they won't.
3. Write or update your will
A will doesn't necessarily help you manage your money better today. The purpose of a will is to help the parents, partner, children, and/or trusted friends you leave behind.
If you don't have a properly signed and witnessed will, you are deemed to have died 'intestate'. This means more work for the bereaved and can cause substantial delays and cost in transferring assets. It also means you have no say in where your assets and belongings go.
Your will appoints an executor — someone to direct the distribution of your assets and belongings — and outlines where everything should go. If you have children under 18, it should also include instructions for their guardianship and care.
Ensuring your will is worded correctly and legally valid is important. You may like the assistance from a lawyer to get it right, or you could consider using the public trustee in your state. The latter may be a bit cheaper up front, but please note they take significant fees if appointed as executor and may take longer to wrap up the estate than a relative would.
It's important to know that super doesn't automatically form part of your estate even if you mention it in your will. Getting your super to specific people requires you to…
4. Nominate a beneficiary for your super
The only way to guarantee your super will go to the person you want it to is to make a binding death benefit nomination (BDBN) through your super fund. Ensure you've either made a non-lapsing nomination, or renew it every three years when it expires.
If you want to leave your super to someone who is not defined as a dependant, you'll need to make sure your BDBN directs your super to your legal representative (for example, your executor) then instruct them where you want it to go in your will.
If you make a non-binding nomination — the kind you make when you first set up the account — or don't nominate anyone, the super fund decides where the benefit will go.
With self-managed super funds (SMSFs), the trustees you appoint to the fund have the decision-making power.
Having recently managed my mother's estate including her lapsed BDBN, I can say this is an avoidable source of misery.
If you know where you want your super to go, on behalf of future executors everywhere, I implore you to make a BDBN and keep it up to date.
Your bonus task
Once you've ticked these four tasks off, you can consider yourself accomplished at financial adulting.
Now, pop a note in your diary for the same time next year to do a similar check on your super and insurances, and refresh your will and BDBN if your circ*mstances have changed.
Future you will thank you!
Lacey Filipich is a financial educator and the author of Money School.
This article contains general information only. You should consider obtaining independent professional advice in relation to your particular circ*mstances.
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