Glossary of terms
An easy-to-use glossary of superannuation terms to help simplify your learning process and make informed retirement decisions.
| 54/11 |
54/11 refers to ceasing employment shortly before reaching age 55, electing to defer your CSS benefit, and claiming a deferred benefit on or after age 55. |
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| AWOTE | A measure of earnings by Australians from ordinary time work each week, released regularly by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. |
| Accumulation fund | A superannuation fund where the benefit is an accumulation of contributions and investment earnings generated by the fund (less fees, taxes and any insurance premiums). |
| Active management | A style of investment management which seeks to attain returns above a set benchmark by the exercise of manager skills in asset allocation and stock selection and by making active judgments about future market movements. |
| Asset allocation | The weighting to each asset class in an investment portfolio. |
| Asset class | The investment industry refers to groups of similar assets as ‘asset classes’, e.g. shares, bonds, property, infrastructure. |
| Beneficiary | A beneficiary is anyone who is entitled to receive a benefit from your super fund when you die. |
| CMAPS | A Confidential Medical and Personal Statement is completed when an employee who is re-entering or starting a new Public Service Superannuation (PSS) membership. The form is provided by your employer. |
| Contribution | An amount of money placed into the Fund. |
| CPI | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is released quarterly by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, it measures household inflation and includes statistics about price change for categories of household expenditure. |
| Contributions Tax | Tax applied to certain contributions such as employer and salary sacrifice contributions when they are paid into a superannuation Fund. |
| Commutation | The technical term used to describe withdrawing some or all of your money from a retirement income stream in the form of a lump sum. |
| Deferred/Preserved Benefit |
When you stop contributing to a defined benefit fund, your account may be held for payment at a later date - e.g. until you meet a condition of release. |
| Defined Benefit fund | In a defined benefit fund your retirement benefit is determined by a formula instead of being based on investment return. |
| Early release | In very limited circumstances, you may be able to access your super before meeting a retirement condition of release. |
| Final Average Salary | Your Final Average Salary (FAS) is calculated as the average of the last three years of your superannuation salary as at your birthday. |
| Invalidity | Generally caused by a permanent medical condition which is likely to stop you from working again. |
| Marginal tax rate | The tax rate payable on the top proportion of a person's income. |
| Maximum Benefit Limit (MBL) | An upper limit on the benefits a scheme can pay. Once your total benefit (your Member benefit plus the Employer Benefit) reaches this upper limit, your contributions will stop. |
| Passive management | A style of investment management where the manager's aim is simply to replicate benchmark returns without making any judgments about future market movements. |
| Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) | A document that financial service providers must provide to you when they recommend or offer a financial product. It must include information about the product's key features, fees, commissions, benefits, risks and the complaints handling procedure. |
| Pension | A regular periodic payment, either as a superannuation benefit or by the Government (e.g. age pension). |
| PAYG | ‘Pay as you go', this means tax is deducted in instalments from periodic payments. |
| Preservation age | The age you can access your super if you are retired (or transitioning to retirement). |
| Rollover | When a customer transfers some or all of their existing super between funds. |
| Sustainability | The sustainability of a company is its ability to maintain long-term growth, taking into account the impact of its operations on the environment, society and stakeholders around it. Sustainability means taking into account both short term profitability, as well as potential risks that may not have been priced in but could affect the value of a business in the longer term. |
| Salary sacrifice | An arrangement with your employer to reduce your taxable income by paying part of your salary or wages into your super account instead of your bank account. |
| SIS Act | Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993. |
| SIS Regulations | Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994. |
| SIS Upper Limit | The cash amount you would have received as a lump sum if you were made redundant on 1 July 1999. |
| Transfer Balance Cap | A lifetime limit on the total amount of superannuation that can be transferred into retirement phase. |
| Taxed sources | A source where tax has previously been paid, including additional personal contributions, Government co-contributions, salary sacrifice contributions, transfer amounts and any earnings on these contributions. |
| Taxable (Untaxed) source | Some parts of a defined benefit are subject to tax, but not taxed while you're in the growth phase. You may have to pay tax on these amounts when you claim your benefit. |
| USI | Unique Superannuation Identifier is a number used to identify a super fund or scheme. |
| Unit Price | A ‘unit’ represents a part of the total pool of investments that you own for the option you've chosen. When the total value of investment grows, this is reflected in an increase in each unit price. |