How to choose a super fund

1. Service and support

Managing your super, finances and insurance can be tricky. When you need help or have a question, you want to know there’s a friendly, reliable and capable team you can contact or drop in and see for a chat.

Our Member Service Promise sets clear expectations for the consistent, high-quality service we aim to deliver. We monitor real member experiences and report openly on our performance, ensuring we continually improve and provide the support members need throughout their super journey.

Call 1800 692 877 if you have a question about super or your BUSSQ account. We're ready to help.

2. Education and advice

It’s important to get your head around super while you’re still working, and to know that support is available when you're ready to start planning for retirement, and throughout retirement itself. Choosing a fund that can support you at every stage, in a way that suits your needs, can make a real difference.

At BUSSQ, we’re here to help you make informed decisions about your super and finances and plan confidently for retirement. To support you, we offer practical tools, resources and calculators, events and seminars hosted by our friendly team of experts, and personal financial advice — often at no extra cost.^{^}

3. Insurance

Default (automatic) insurance that meets your needs can be vitally important if you get sick or injured and can’t work for a while – or to support your family if you pass away. Many super funds give you a base level of default cover automatically and you can then apply to change your insurance. The option to personalise your insurance means you can apply for the level of cover that’s right for you and your family.^# 

Types of insurance in super 

There are three main types of insurance in super – Death cover, Total and Permanent Disablement (TPD) cover and Income Protection cover.  

If you need some help understanding insurance or want to work out how much cover you might need, give us a call on 1800 692 877 or try our insurance needs calculator.

Dangerous occupation exception  

Default cover can be even more important for people who have dangerous jobs (e.g. building, construction and civil). Because of this, there’s legislation that super funds can choose to apply that protects people with dangerous jobs by starting their default insurance sooner than normal. Many super funds don’t apply this exception, which means their members won’t get default insurance cover until they’re age 25+ and have a super balance of $6k+. 

Depending on your job, this can be one of the benefits of default insurance with industry super funds, like BUSSQ. To protect our members who work in the construction, civil and building industries, we chose to apply this exception.

4. Fees and costs  

All super funds charge fees and costs to look after your super administration and manage investments. Some funds charge a fee that’s based on a percentage of your balance, others have set fees, and some charge a combination of both. Finding a fund that charges competitive fees can be important – as less paid in fees now, can mean more money saved for when you retire.

BUSSQ is a super fund focused on keeping fees and costs as competitive as we can.

Learn more about our fees and costs.

5. Long term investment performance*  

Super is a long term investment. Because of this, when comparing super funds it can be good to look for funds that have a history of strong, long term investment returns. It can be hard to remember that this money is for your retirement and may be invested in your super for 50+ years. It's also good to get your head around the investment basics and understand how the market goes up and down over time.

Learn more about our investment performance.