Changing investment options

Log in to your account to change how your super or retirement savings are invested. Before you make a change (switch), it's important to make sure it's the right choice for your circumstances.

What to consider before you switch

You can switch your investment options at any time. Before making a change, consider the important questions below. This will help ensure any changes you make align with your personal circumstances and retirement goals.

1. What's your timeframe?
   Investment markets typically rise and fall over the short term, but some people have time to ride out these ups and downs. Think about your investment timeframe and the future impact of making a change. Super is generally a long-term investment. This means the investment option(s) you choose can have a big impact on the balance you retire with. Investing too conservatively can be risky because over the long term your investment may not earn a return above the inflation rate. If your super grows at a rate lower than inflation, you could be losing money without realising it.
   
   
2. Do you need to diversify your investments?
   Investing in a range of asset classes, investment styles, managers and geographical regions reduces the impact that any one alone might have on your returns. That’s because if one of your asset classes, investment styles, managers or regions drop in value, another might make up for this loss.
   
   
3. Is this the right time to change investment options?
   A good investment is one that you buy at a low price and sell at a high price. If you switch your investments after a fall, you could be selling them when they’re at a low price and locking in a loss. Markets are hard to predict. If you switch into a lower risk option when markets fall and don’t switch back until after markets rebound, you will miss the early gains (which are often the strongest) and may buy back at a high price.
   
   
4. Are you approaching retirement?
   Switching to a lower risk investment option can be appealing to those close to retirement who have less time to recover from losses. However, even if you’ve stopped working, your savings could be invested for more than 30 years. Around 30% of the income paid from your retirement income account could come from the returns you make in retirement.¹ This means if you stick to your long-term goals, you could benefit from a lot of growth once you stop working.

¹ Source: Aware Super modelling, 31 October 2023. For more information, including a list of assumptions, go to aware.com.au/retirementcasestudy

How to switch your investments

You can change how you invest your super, Retirement Transition or Retirement Income account. You can choose to switch all or part of your existing balance on any business day, provided you do not have any outstanding switches or term deposit applications.

Switches received before 3:00pm AEST/AEDT on a business day² use the unit prices that apply for that day (generally determined by 6pm the next day). Switches received after 3:00pm AEST/AEDT on a business day² will use the unit prices that apply for the following day. Allow between 2 - 3 business days for switches to show in your account online.

If you need help changing your investments call us on 1300 650 873, 8:00am – 7.00pm AEST/AEDT weekdays. Or make an appointment to speak to a financial planner at no extra cost.

Cancelling a switch

Once you’ve submitted a switch request or a term deposit application, you cannot cancel it. In addition, you won’t be able to submit any other change requests until we’ve processed your initial request, which typically takes about three business days.

Related information

• Aware Super investment options
• Unit prices
• How unit prices are calculated

Related documents

• Future Saver Investment and Fees Handbook 
• Retirement Income Product Disclosure Statement