{"id":684259,"date":"2026-07-10T13:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T13:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/684259\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T13:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T13:21:16","slug":"how-to-give-your-kids-a-superannuation-kickstart-with-help-from-the-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/684259\/","title":{"rendered":"How to give your kids a superannuation kickstart, with help from the government"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saving for their retirement is probably the last thing on your children&#8217;s minds when they first start working, but there is a good reason to get them signed up for a superannuation account early.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most younger teens are not automatically eligible for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com.au\/definitions\/superannuation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">superannuation\u00a0<\/a>payments from their employer, as workers aged under 18 must work more than 30 hours per week to be eligible for super.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This changes once they turn 18, when all workers must be paid 12% super regardless of the number of hours worked.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/nest-egg-with-cash-16.9-1200x675.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-post-image\" alt=\"A wad of $100 bills of Australian currency lies stashed in a bird's nest.\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Image source: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Government money on the table for super<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But just because they don&#8217;t get paid super, doesn&#8217;t mean there isn&#8217;t a great reason to sign your children up for a super account.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is because, as low-income earners, they will likely be eligible for a super co-contribution from the government if they make an after-tax contribution themselves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are some rules, including that, for 2026-27, they must earn less than $49,293 to receive the full $500 government contribution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is also the 10% eligible income test, which states that 10% or more of your total income must come from either employment-related activities or carrying out a business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be eligible for the full $500 contribution from the government, $1000 in non-concessional (after-tax) contributions must be made.<\/p>\n<p>Compound interest works its magic<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while $500 might not sound like a lot, the impact on your child&#8217;s retirement savings could be huge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Using the government&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/moneysmart.gov.au\/budgeting\/compound-interest-calculator\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Moneysmart website<\/a>, I have calculated that $500 deposited into a 15-year-old&#8217;s account will turn into $10,500 by the age of 60, assuming the initial deposit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com.au\/definitions\/compounding\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">compounds<\/a> at 7% per year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And remember, this is calculated assuming just one year of contributions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Australian Taxation Office website says your children do not need to do anything to receive the payment, and can make smaller payments throughout the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As they say:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You don&#8217;t need to make your personal contributions as a single lump sum \u2013 you can make payments throughout the financial year. We use the total amount you have contributed for the year to calculate the co-contribution. Your super fund can tell you how to make personal contributions, and it will need your tax file number before it can accept them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The minimum contribution that can be made is $20, and the government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ato.gov.au\/calculators-and-tools\/super-co-contribution-calculator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">has a calculator<\/a> to help people figure out how much they will be paid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saving for their retirement is probably the last thing on your children&#8217;s minds when they first start working,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4233,4176,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-684259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-editors-choice","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}