A

Accumulation fund:  Is a type of super fund that accumulates over time from contributions from you, your employer, and from investment earnings. How much your account grows depends on the number and amount of contributions received, the length of time your super is invested, the fees and costs deducted and the overall performance of the underlying assets in which you are invested (e.g. what investment plan you have chosen). GESB Super and West State Super are examples of accumulation funds.

Asset Class:  Is a broad category of financial securities that you can invest in. Examples include cash, fixed interest securities, property, Australian shares and international shares.

Average Contribution Rate (ACR):  Is the average percentage of your salary you contributed to your Gold State Super account.

Auto Rebalancing:  In GESB Super MY Plan and West State Super MY Plan, you can elect to have GESB automatically rebalance your MY Plan investment mix, to maintain your desired level of asset allocation. For example, if the Australian Shares component of your super out-performs other asset classes, your asset allocation will increasingly be weighted to Australian Shares over time. Auto Rebalancing ensures the weight allocated to each asset class remains the same over time. You can choose to rebalance your investment mix on a quarterly, half-yearly or yearly basis.

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C

Cash investments: Cash investments may take various forms, including a cash deposit held at a bank, term deposits or short-term securities such as bank bills that are traded between investors on the money market. GESB invests in bank bills and other short-term to medium-term investments. Cash investments such as bank bills carry a low level of investment risk and generally achieve stable, although relatively low, returns.

Commonwealth government super co-contribution: A government initiative designed to increase the retirement savings of Australians, by matching part or all of your personal after-tax contributions to a maximum amount of $1,000 for any financial year (subject to assessable income thresholds).

Completed months of service: Is the number of months of full-time service you completed as a contributing Gold State Super member. This figure is then used in the calculation of your final benefit.

Compound (interest): Interest that is calculated on the initial capital invested and the accumulated interest of prior periods. Compound interest differs from simple interest in that simple interest is calculated only as a percentage of the initial capital sum.

Concessional contributions: Any contributions made to a super account before tax is deducted, for example employer Super Guarantee contributions or salary sacrifice contributions.

Consolidate: This is when you transfer your super from one superannuation fund to another superannuation fund. This is also known as a rollover or roll-in.

Contributions splitting: Allows you to split your super contributions with your spouse. A portion of your super can be split into an account held by your spouse. 

Contributory service benefit: Is your accrued Gold State Super benefit, which includes your member and employer contributions.

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D

Defined benefit scheme: This style of super scheme means that your final super benefit is determined by applying a fixed or 'defined' formula, usually based on your length of service, contributions and final salary. This type of scheme is not market linked, as the benefit is defined and doesn't depend on investment market returns. Gold State Super is a defined benefit scheme.

Dependant: Includes your spouse (or former spouse or de facto), a child under 18 (including an adopted, step or ex-nuptial child), or any person who is financially dependent on you or any person with whom you have an interdependent relationship.

Directed Termination Payment (DTP): Is the concessionally taxed lump sum payment you'll receive on termination of employment from your employer.

Diversification: Is an approach to investing that involves investing across a range of asset classes, rather than investing in only one type of asset. Diversification suggests that the positive performance of one asset class may help mitigate the negative performance of another. It is much like the saying, 'don't put your all your eggs in one basket'.

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E

Equivalent full-time cContributory service: Is the equivalent number of months of full-time service you completed for your Gold State Super account, and is used in the calculation of your benefit. For example, if you worked 50% part-time for 12 months, you would only have accrued the equivalent of six-months full-time service.

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F

Final Remuneration: Is your average salary - based on three key dates during your last two years of service while contributing to your Gold State Super account. For part-time employees, your final remuneration is based on your equivalent full-time salary. Your salary includes Higher Duties Allowance (HDA) or Temporary Special Allowance (TSA), if one of these is received for at least twelve months continuously within the last two years of employment, and is received on your ceasing date - and /or one or both selection dates. Please note, each member's situation may be different.

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G

Growth asset classes: Include higher risk asset classes, such as shares and property. Growth asset classes typically generate high returns with higher levels of volatility. 

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I

Inflation: Increases in the cost of living - usually measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Investment choice/investment plan: If you are invested in GESB Super or West State Super, you can choose from a range of investment plans, each one with a different objective for target performance; from 'growth' (high risk) through to 'cash' (low risk). Investment plans each have a unique asset allocation, comprising different types of assets such as shares, property and fixed interest - so you can choose a plan that suits your particular risk profile.

Investment grade bond: A bond with a credit quality considered to have a relatively low level of default risk by an independent bond-rating agency.

Investment returns and risk: 'Return' can be defined as the gain or loss in the value of your investment and 'Risk' is the variability of those returns. When you invest, there is typically a trade-off between risk and return. Generally, the higher the potential return, the higher the potential risk. Similarly, investments offering lower returns tend to have a lower level of risk.

Investment timeframe: The period of time you expect to hold your investment or portfolio. Your investment timeframe is an important factor in determining your risk profile.

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M

Member protection: All GESB Super and West State Super accounts that have an account balance of less than $1,000 as at 30 June each year are 'protected' from the erosion of their super by fees.  This means that the administration fees for that financial year will not exceed the investment earnings applied to your account. A member protection fee of $10 pa may be applied to accounts subject to member protection where the administration fees of the fund during a year exceed the investment income of the fund.  However, these accounts will still be impacted by insurance premiums and, where applicable, negative investment returns. An adjustment is made to your GESB Super or West State Super account on 30 June each year where member protection applies and is reflected in your 30 June member statement.

MY Plan: An investment choice which allows you to choose from one or more of the asset classes available. Instead of choosing from one of GESB's Readymade investment plans, MY Plan allows you to select your own asset allocation, and manage it yourself. If you choose MY Plan, you can also elect for auto-rebalancing.

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N

Non-commutable income stream: A non-commutable income stream is one that pays a regular income from your super, but does not allow lump-sum withdrawals.

Non-concessional contributions: A contribution that is made from your after-tax income (as opposed to your employer's contributions, which are made before-tax is deducted). It is also known as a personal contribution.

Notional service: If you die or become permanently disabled, notional service is used to work out the potential number of equivalent months of service you would have worked until you turned 60 (Gold State Super only).

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P

Pension: A pension is a type of income you might receive in retirement. To receive it may involve putting your super into a product such as an Allocated Pension, where you would receive a regular income drawn from your super.

Personal contributions:  These are contributions that you can make that are over and above the compulsory Super Guarantee contributions that your employer must make on behalf.   

Preservation: Ensures your money is kept in super until your 'preservation age' which is a requirement by legislation. Until this age, you will be unable to access your super benefit (other than in certain defined circumstances - go to the when can I access super page for more information on these circumstances).

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R

Readymade plan: An investment plan managed by GESB's investment team, which has a pre-determined objective for target performance; from 'growth' (high risk) through to 'cash' (low risk). Each Readymade Plan has a different asset allocation.

Recognised leave: Is leave that your employer counts as good service, e.g. parental or sick leave (Only applicable to Gold State Super).

Restricted non-preserved: Restricted non-preserved benefits are those benefits which are not preserved, but cannot be cashed until you meet a condition of release - such as termination of employment.

Risk profile: Your risk profile is a description of you, based on how much risk you are willing to take when you invest your money. Investors willing to take on a lot of risk, or 'growth' investors, typically seek to maximise their longer term investment and are less worried about the possibility of a negative return. On the other hand, conservative investors typically seek more stable returns.

Rollover: See consolidate.

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S

Salary Continuance Insurance:  Provides a monthly income of up to 75% of your pre-disability income (subject to a maximum amount) for up to two years, if you become disabled due to sickness or injury.

Salary sacrifice: A way to make before-tax (concessional) contributions to your super. The money you 'sacrifice' is paid directly from your salary into your super account before you pay income tax.

Selection date: This is the date each year we use to calculate the amount you need to contribute to Gold State Super, taking into account your chosen contribution rate.

Superannuation Guarantee (SG): The compulsory rate (defined by the Commonwealth government) of contributions your employer must make to your super. Currently the rate is set at 9%.

Superannuation Surcharge: This is an additional tax that applies where a member's adjusted taxable income (normally the member's taxable income plus surchargeable contributions) is over a specified threshold in a financial year. The government abolished the superannuation surcharge from 1 July 2005.  It is important to note that the abolition of the superannuation surcharge will not affect any superannuation surcharge tax liabilities owed before 1 July 2005.

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T

Transferred contributions and interest: If you were previously in the WA Public Sector Pension Scheme, then this component of your benefit consists of the contributions you made plus interest that was previously transferred from the WA Public Sector Pension Scheme (only applicable to Gold State Super).

Transferred service benefit: If you were previously in the WA Public Sector Pension Scheme, then this additional service benefit is based on the past full-time employment  accrued by you when you transferred from the WA Public Sector Pension Scheme (only applicable to Gold State Super).

Transition to Retirement:  A strategy that allows you to access your superannuation benefit once you have reached preservation age, in the form of a non-commutable income stream, while you continue to work full or part time. For more information go to the Transition to Retirement page.  

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U

Unrecognised leave: Is leave that your employer does not count as good service, e.g. personal reasons (only applicable to Gold State Super).

Untaxed fund: An untaxed fund means that the government does not tax either concessional contributions that you or your employer make, or your investment earnings. Instead of paying tax up front, tax is paid when your benefit is paid to you or rolled over to a taxed super fund.

Unrestricted non-preserved: These are benefits for which a condition of release has previously been met, and may be accessed at any time (subject to your superannuation fund's rules.)