consolidate my superannuation funds

Done. Well my bit is. I managed to roll 3 previous funds with reasonable amounts in each over into my new one and have applied to receive balances of three more funds as cheques (because they were under $200). Phew.

It’s taken 5 months…
but this goal is finally finished!

I got the letter today to tell me the final super fund had rolled over. So now, instead of 4 super funds (I found an extra during the process), I have 1!

So, I’ve saved paper,
I’ve saved time (because I won’t have to think about what to do with all the envelopes full of crap!),
and I’ve saved money- because I’m only going to pay account keeping fees on one account!

Onwards and upwards to more interesting goals!

But I can’t keep making landfill out of the the unopened envelopes I receive from each of my 7 (count them: 7!) super funds. Once I sort this out I’ll be able to go back to rolling my eyes and changing the subject when anyone mentions the s-word. Which, imho, is the only healthy response from a 24 year old!

OK. So. I have at least 7 super funds (and a vague memory of a government one from when I worked at the ABC, but no paperwork). Realistically though, if I just managed to roll 3 of them over into my new fund with ANZ (2 from jobs I had for over 2 years part-time and 1 from a job I had for 1 year, full time) I’d be happy, because that would be the bulk of the $. I did start by emailing all the funds I wanted to leave and asking for them to send me paperwork but I think I might have a better chance asking for the forms from the super fund I want to join. So tomorrow at work I’ll look up that account number and get in touch.

This is so, so depressing. I feel like I’ve lost whole minutes of life I’ll never get back :P

While I was getting all my stuff together to apply for jobs, I found a copy of my marriage certificate, and decided to copy it again, and send off the copies to prove to the Super people that I had changed my name.

This morning, as I wandered towards Starbucks, to get my coffee before Sunday School, I thought it would be good to stop off at our Post Office Box…
And inside was a letter from one of the two remaining un-rolled-over Super Funds- to say they had rolled over $800 worth of super for me… I didn’t realise I even had that much super!

So, now there is only one super fund left to roll over.
And by the end of the financial year, I will have only one Super Account, and I will be saving LOTS of trees, by not being sent lots of statements and reports and stuff.

Would be nice to sort this out by year end!

oh, that’s right…. I STILL can’t find my marriage certificate…

hopefully in this weekend’s great clean up, it might just turn up! Or else, I might have to pay for a new one…

and I haven’t done it yet!

That’s because I’ve filed my marriage certificate in a safe place, and I can’t exactly remember where that is…
so I can’t prove I changed my name…

(And I don’t think I can convince the super people the way I convinced the people at a local club… I changed my address with them, and then a few weeks later showed them my driver licence and said sweetly “but can’t you just change it based on the fact that all the other details match?”- they printed me a new card with my married name on it!)

So, I’m giving myself an extension of a week.

I have now recieved 3 letters- one to say “okay, we’ve sent your money over to your new fund”,
And another one to say- “please prove that you’ve changed your name”. So, I really must do that. I’m giving myself until the end of February to get that done!

One of the funds I have tried to consolidate into my chosen fund has sent me a letter. It’s a “we need proof that you’ve changed your name” letter.

So this week, I will get one of the people upstairs at work who is a JP to sign off yet another copy of my marriage certificate. While I’m there, perhaps I should get a copy of my uni transcript signed off, so I can join Speech Pathology Australia as a “practicing member”.

Then it will be one fund down, 2 to go.

This afternoon I filled out the forms- to consolidate three of my super funds into a fourth one.

I was sure there was another super fund somewhere, but I haven’t found any paperwork for it, so maybe I imagined it.

So, tommorrow I will post the forms, and if all goes well, I’ll have only 1 super fund, instead of 4.

I’m not sure if that is where I want to keep my super…
but if it’s all in the same place to start with, it’s easier to move it later!