With the financial year drawing to a close, the weeks leading up to 30 June can provide an important opportunity to review your superannuation and consider how it supports your broader financial goals.

Yet, as Private Client Advisers at Equity Trustees James Bonamy and Peter Robotis, explain, superannuation is an area that many Australians overlook at this time of year. This is despite the fact that super can play a significant role beyond retirement savings alone.

“Super is often seen as nothing more than a locked-away savings account,” James explains. “In reality, it is a tax-effective structure that can deliver meaningful financial benefits at different life stages, if used well.”

James says one of the most important end-of-financial-year considerations is understanding your contribution caps and how they apply to your personal circumstances.

“You should find out what your available limits are before the end of the financial year,” James says. “If you’ve got available cap and available money, you could potentially receive a tax deduction by making a contribution to super before the end of the year.”

Concessional contributions, including employer contributions, salary sacrifice and personal deductible contributions, are taxed at 15 per cent when they enter super. For people who have not fully used their caps in recent years, catch-up contributions may help reduce personal tax while increasing retirement savings.

James stresses that timing is critical, with contributions needing to be received by the fund before 30 June.

“It’s a bit of a use it or lose it situation,” he says. “If you don’t use your full contributions this year and your balance is greater than $500,000, it’s unlikely that you will have an extra amount next year.”

Peter adds that reviewing super before the end of the financial year is also an opportunity to ensure your existing arrangements still align with your needs and long-term goals.

“Some people just have a lot of super funds, or they’ve had super funds that they’ve kept for years gone by, and they pay more fees than what they need to,” Peter says.

“It might also be an opportune time not only to look at it from the perspective of adding money to super because it’s tax effective, but also just to make sure that if you’ve got old super funds without any insurances, and only small balances, that you just consider whether you should be rolling those over.”

Peter also notes that superannuation is not only about growing wealth, but also protecting it.

“Within super you may have insurance,” Peter explains. “It’s not only about growing but it’s also about protecting your assets, your financial position and your income.”

For couples, strategies such as contribution splitting or spouse contributions may also provide additional benefits. James says lower-income earners may also be eligible for government co-contributions, which can add up over time.

“Little things, but they all add up very quickly, particularly if you do them year after year.”

While superannuation can often feel complex or easy to put aside, both advisers say the weeks before 30 June are a valuable opportunity to step back and review whether your current arrangements are still working in your favour.

“Pre-planning is of great importance,” Peter says. “Rushing to contribute as much as you can to super a day before you retire is probably not going to be the optimum strategy.”

Instead, both private client advisers stress that taking time to understand your contribution limits, review existing accounts and consider longer-term goals can help ensure your superannuation strategy remains purposeful and tax effective. It also helps keep it aligned with your future plans.

“Little things, but they all add up very quickly, particularly if you do them year after year.”