Rest education, helping Australians grow their retirement savings

At 1.7 million members and counting, Rest is one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds.

One of the greatest barriers to getting more out of your Super is a simple knowledge gap. The average Australian may not put much thought into what happens to the proportion of your earnings that is put aside for your retirement savings – never realising that this can end up being one of your largest assets, beyond your car and home. Sometimes, all it takes is a little education to point out that what you do with your super today can be an enormous determinative factor on the kind of lifestyle you can expect to enjoy in your retirement.

At 1.7 million members* and counting, Rest is one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds. One of Rest’s top priorities is to deliver financial education to those seeking a better way to manage and grow their retirement income, sharing methods for every stage of life, so that Australians can  take action and discover how today’s investments can grow their retirement savings. Rest’s education program empowers members to consider strategies that can minimise tax, boost their Super account balance and implement plans to transition to retirement with a stable income that allows freedom of choice in their financial future.

Importantly, Rest helps employers to play a pivotal role in providing benefit programmes for their staff. This can help employers support their team not only in terms of health and wellbeing, but also in financial matters, which can impact staff productivity and wellbeing at work.

“Financial education is a critical tool to help members understand their financial position and empower them to take control of their financial future,” says Rest’s executive of employer and industry engagement, Deborah Potts. “We see this when conducting education sessions. Members – at whatever stage of life and personal situation – can benefit greatly from an expert assisting them to achieve their best retirement outcomes.

“Superannuation can be a complex area and that is where we can help. Our education team works closely with our financial advice team, which can provide individuals with personal advice over the phone with a financial plan to help you identify what is important to you.”

In providing this service, Rest regularly takes feedback from those who feel concerned about their retirement. By explaining investment markets and choices in simple and easy-to-understand language, as well as providing assistance with smart strategies to help boost Super, minimise tax and create income in retirement, Rest seeks to answer those concerns with tools for members to control their own financial future.

Rest’s financial education is now being provided in numerous businesses across Australia as a way to engage and encourage employees who are members of Rest, “Our education team reaches out through monthly face-to-face education sessions to our members,” says Potts, “which is done regionally and across Australia. With Covid-19 restrictions, we’ve been working closely with employers to support more educational sessions through virtual means or through our digital ‘on demand’ content. We use webinar conferencing software to assist in making the member experience highly interactive – or use employers’ internal conferencing technology to present virtual education sessions. Recently, we have run some very interactive sessions via Zoom, Microsoft teams or our own internal system to reach our members.”

According to Rest, despite Covid-19 related setbacks the fund delivered more than 470 education seminars to 7700 Australians looking to better their financial future in 2020. 

Content is curated based on direct feedback from members, through its financial advice team and based on questions asked during education sessions.  Rest is constantly creating content and articles to help members understand their super at any stage of life. This educational content has now been centralised via Rest’s new Learning Centre, with more than 60 articles and videos designed to help you learn either by reading or watching the online content, at a time that suits you

Those interested in finding out more about Rest’s educational programmes and Learning Centre online can find out more by browsing to: https://rest.com.au/tools-advice/learning-centre or talk to a Rest representative today. 

*As of December 2020

Issued by Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Limited as trustee of the Retail Employees Superannuation Trust (Rest). Consider if the information provided is appropriate for you and read the PDS available at https://rest.com.au/pds before deciding to join or stay.

Rest’s financial advice is provided by Rest Advisers as authorised representatives of Link Advice Pty Limited, AFS Licence 258145 ABN 36 105 811 836.

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