October 2023 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

SEN: Updated disclosure effective 29 September 2023

We’ve made changes to our Product Disclosure Statement to help you better understand what it means to invest with Australian Ethical Super. The updates made to the Product Disclosure Statement include:

• further information on our ethical investment process and incorporation of the new Guide to Our Ethical Investment Process;
• changes to our investment objectives and time horizons;
• changes to asset allocations;
• updates to our tax disclosure; and
• updates to our fees and costs.

Further information about these changes can be found here.

July 2023 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

Update: Change to Fees and Costs from 3 July 2023

Effective from 3 July 2023, to reflect a general increase in underlying transacting costs, the  buy/sell spreads for our Balanced and Growth option for both Super and Pension are increasing. This is not an increase in a fee paid to us.

Further information can be found here for Super and Pension.

June 2023 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

News & Updates: Federal Budget

We discuss superannuation impacts from the 2023/24 Federal Budget, a reduction in the eligibility age to make a downsizer contribution, and new rates and thresholds. 

Further information can be found here.

November 2022 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

SEN: Lower fees effective from 25 November 2022

We've reduced the dollar-based administration fee for all of our Superannuation, TTR and Pension accounts and the management fee on some of our funds from 25 November 2022.

Further information can be found here.

November 2022 Australian Ethical Super

News and updates: Reducing the qualifying age for downsizer contributions

The Federal Government announced in the Budget that the qualifying age for downsizer contributions will be reduced from 60 to 55. The proposed start date is 1 January 2023.

Further information can be found here.

October 2022 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

SEN: Planned limited service period from 25th November to 18th December

There will be a limited service period from 25 November 2022 to 18 December 2022 while we make some updates to the fund and transfer members from Christian Super into Australian Ethical Super. During this time members will have limited access to the Australian Ethical member portal and we won’t be able to process some transactions.

Further information about the limited services period and what it means to you can be found here for Super and Pension.

September 2022 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

Lower administration fee, updated fees and costs disclosure and changes to the conservative option from 1 September 2022

We've reduced the dollar-based administration fee for all of our Superannuation, TTR and Pension accounts. Due to regulatory changes, we have also changed the way we show our fees and costs on our website and across our PDS’s and other disclosure documents. The conservative option strategic asset allocation has been updated from 1 September 2022.

Further information about these changes can be found here for Super and Pension.

May 2022 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

Renewing adviser service fee arrangements from 1 July 2022

The 12-month transition period for ongoing adviser service fees comes to an end on 30 June 2022. Here’s what you need to know about setting up and renewing adviser service fee arrangements in our super and pension products from 1 July 2022.

Read more

March 2022 Australian Ethical Pension

News and updates: Reduced pension minimums

The Federal Government announced in the Budget that the temporary reduction of the minimum Pension payment requirements by 50% will continue for a further year until 30 June 2023. This measure is designed to help retirees by reducing their need to sell investments to meet minimum drawdown requirements when the market may be under pressure.

Further information can be found here.

February 2022 Australian Ethical Super

News and updates: Changes to superannuation contribution eligibility rules from 1 July 2022

A number of changes to enhance super outcomes for members has been introduced and will apply from 1 July 2022.

These changes include:

• Removal of the work test requirements for those aged 67 to 74.
• Removal of the $450 monthly minimum income threshold for Superannuation Guarantee (SG) contributions
• Increasing the maximum releasable amount for the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) from $30,000 to $50,000
• Reducing the minimum age for eligibility to make downsizer contributions from age 65 to age 60

Information about these changes can be found here. 

September 2021 Australian Ethical Super

SEN: Changes to the Advocacy option from 1 October 2021

From 1 October 2021 the Advocacy option, along with other changes, will be known as the High Growth option. One of the key changes is also that the option will now be invested in additional asset classes including unlisted property and alternative assets. 

Information about these changes can be found here. 

June 2021 Australian Ethical Super

Cut-off times (AEST) and dates for Wednesday 30 June 2021 processing of additional super contributions.

Details for these cut-offs can be found here.

June 2021 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

Lower fees effective from 1 June 2021

We’ve reduced our International Shares and Australian Shares investment fees.

Further information about these changes can be found here for Super and Pension.

May 2021 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

Proposed superannuation changes in the 2021/22 Federal Budget

The 2021/22 Federal Budget announced some measures that directly impact super.

Information about some of these changes can be found here.

May 2021 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

Updates to super rates and thresholds from 1 July 2021

Several rates and thresholds relating to super will be changing from 1 July 2021. The main changes are explained here. 

April 2021 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

Updated Buy/Sell spreads from 1 April 2021

We've reduced the Buy / Sell spread for our Australian Shares option effective 1 April 2021. 

These reduced fees may apply to your account with Australian Ethical Super. 

Further information about these changes can be found here for Super and Pension.

October 2020 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

News and updates: Federal Budget 2020/21

The 2020/21 Budget announced some major measures that directly impact super including:

• A person’s existing super account receiving super guarantee contributions will be ‘stapled’ to them as they move through employment, unless they elect otherwise.
• Creation of a new ‘YourSuper’ portal which will include a comparison tool 
• Holding funds to account for underperformance
• Improving the transparency and accountability of super funds

Further information about these measures can be found here.

October 2020 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

SEN: We've reduced our Defensive investment fee and a buy sell spread

As part of our continued focus to provide great value ethical investments, we've reduced the investment fee for our Defensive investment option in super and pension, effective 1 October 2020. We’ve also reduced the buy / sell spread for our International Shares option in super and pension, effective 1 October 2020.

Further information for super can be found here, and the pension information can be found here.

September 2020 Australian Ethical Super

SEN: Our insurance offering is changing 

We’re making changes to our insurance offering from 14 October 2020, including changes to Death cover, Death and Total and Permanent Disablement (TPD) cover and Income Protection. We’ve reviewed our offering to take into consideration the ‘Putting Members’ Interests First (PMIF)’ legislation introduced by the Federal Government on 1 April 2020. Our aim is to make our premiums fairer by changing our insurance offering to better reflect our members’ stage of life and characteristics.

Default Death and TPD Cover is changing and the amount of cover you receive will be based on your age. Further, we’ll now be looking at your age, sex at birth and your occupation to determine your premiums, which will change each year on your birthday.

For Fixed Cover, the premiums are also changing and there'll no longer be a distinction between Employer-Sponsored Members and Personal Members.  

There are also updates to the terms and definitions.

Further information can be found here including copies of the SENs sent to members.

July 2020 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

News & updates: Processing your transactions

Generally, investment switch requests submitted online before 4.00pm (Sydney time) on a Business Day will be processed using that day’s unit price.  If the online investment switch is submitted after 4pm (or on a day other than a Business Day) the following Business Day’s unit price will be used. An exception to this process is if a pending transaction (such as a contribution) has been received but is yet to be processed. In this case, the pending transaction will be processed first and the investment switch will be processed within 2 business days after it was submitted online and will receive the unit price for the day it was processed, not the day it was submitted. 

June 2020 Australian Ethical Pension

SEN: Reduced pension minimums

In response to COVID-19, the Federal Government has temporarily reduced the minimum Pension payment requirements by 50%. This reduction applies for the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 financial years.  This measure is designed to help retirees by reducing their need to sell investments to meet minimum drawdown requirements when the market may be under pressure. 

Members were previously notified of these changes via our website in March 2020 and our Pension Product Disclosure Statement and Additional Information Booklet were updated to reflect these changes on 1 April 2020. 

A copy of the SEN is here. Further information can be found here.

March 2020 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

SEN: Updates to fees and insurance

From 1 April 2020 the percentage-based part of the administration fee for all our super investment options will reduce from 0.41% to 0.29% per annum. More information can be found here.

New insurance limitations and Ts & Cs will apply to existing members with an account balance less than $6,000 and who lose their insurance on 1 April 2020. 

New insurance definitions and reinstatement Ts & Cs will apply for all members. 

A copy of the email sent to members is here.

December 2019 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

SEN: Updates to fees

From 1 December 2019 the investment fee for three of our super investment options will reduce. Further details can be found here.

From 1 December 2019 the investment fee for two of our pension investment options will reduce. Further details can be found here.

November 2019 Australian Ethical Super

SEN: Putting Members’ Interests First (PMIF) 

Members with Default insurance with an account balance of less than $6,000 as at 1 November 2019 could lose their cover on 1 April 2020 unless they opt in to retain their cover or their account balance reaches $6,000 before 1 April 2020. A copy of the email sent to members is here.

Further details on the PMIF changes can be found on our website.

October 2019 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

SEN: Account closures

If your account reaches a $0 balance, we will automatically close your account. 

If you join the Fund and we haven’t received any funds in your account within 4 months of the date of opening the account, we may automatically close your account. 

May 2019 Australian Ethical Super

SEN: Super Changes effective 1 July 2019

In February 2019, the Federal Parliament introduced legislation called the Protecting Your Super (PYS) reforms. The following changes will take effect from 1 July 2019:

• No exit fees
• Fees are capped at 3% for low balances
• Insurance cancellation for inactive accounts
• Combining inactive low balances
• Updates to insurance pricing and new definitions

Further information can be found here.

February 2019 Australian Ethical Super and Pension

SEN: Updates to Trust Deed and consolidation and mid-year statement changes

Effective 1 February 2019, there was an amendment and consolidation of the Australian Ethical Retail Superannuation Fund Trust Deed. These changes won’t affect the way your super works. We’ve simply consolidated the existing Trust Deed documents and made some minor amendments to bring the Trust Deed up to date including:

• inserted a clause for when the member has exceeded their transfer balance cap 
• deleted references to ‘units’ and included a new provision that allows the Trustee determines the value of a member’s account
• given the Trustee the ability to amend fees (subject to superannuation law) without having to update the Trust Deed each time 
• deleted clauses where the content is already covered by superannuation legislation or is no longer relevant.

Mid-year statements will no longer be sent to members. Members can access all the information in the member portal.