How to resolve AdBlock issue? Jen Richardson’s 123 approach to ‘fixing’ superannuation
By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>
WHAT’S THE BEST way to increase superannuation?
Jen Richardson, the founder and sole director of the successful financial services company 123 Financial Group, has a number of answers.
First, there is the gender pay gap in super.
Ms Richardson said a lot of businesses, depending on their industry, employ male workers who are by-and-large better paid.
“We tend to work fewer hours when our children are young and we also work fewer hours in our latter years when we are caring for parents, so we do end up with less going into our superannuation because superannuation is a product of our wage – unless you take proactive approach, and that’s what I do with the education of women,” Ms Richardson told Talking Business. 
“You’re not going to get enough in your superannuation to sustain your life if you don’t take a proactive approach to superannuation either by putting in a pre-tax contribution or a post-tax contribution or non-concessional, that is, one not being claimed as a tax deduction.”
Give female employees good info on better managing super
Ms Richardson said employers needed to educate women that they can employ such strategies.
“That discussion from an employers’ point of view to their staff is, do you want to do some salary sacrificing?” she said.
“A lot of staff don’t know they can do that through their payroll system
“Just that knowledge will build their superannuation. It also makes them a more valuable employee because they can see they’re getting financial benefits over and above what a lot of other people are getting “
Ms Richardson said employees could either salary sacrifice or do post-tax contributions and then claim deductions in their tax return.
“The thing I love about the salary sacrifice is it’s gone before you can make a decision,” she said.
“The salary sacrifice takes it out of your control and your payroll department will do it
“The other side of it is you get the tax benefit straight away.”
Ms Richardson said a lot of tradies did not have enough contributed to their super.
“A lot of tradies are sole traders, so there’s no compulsion to have superannuation,” she said.
“If you have a block of chocolate, you’re going to eat that chocolate. So the tradies look at the money coming in and it’s all spent with the cost of living and there’s nothing that gets put aside when they’re an employee.
“So then conversations I have with my clients is ‘treat your income like you are an employee and put that superannuation away every week, or at least every month when you are paid’.”
Ideally, put money into super every week
Ms Richardson said, ideally, that money should be allocated into super every week.
“It’s just because if you put away $20-$30 every week, at least it’s something,” she said.
“$20-$30 a week you’re probably not going to miss. But if you have to find $1000 at the end of the month, you will struggle to find it because you will have spent it.”
Ms Richardson said the key to doing this was simply to set it up as an automatic payment.
“As humans, if we have to do something, we tend not to do it whereas if its automated, then it just happens in the background and you don’t have a choice.,” she said. 
“So set your superannuation up so that every Friday or every Monday morning a certain amount comes out and that way, at least, it happens regularly.”
Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness
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