Got a call about your super? A typical switch costs $15,700 to $44,900 over ten years, and the checks to make before you say yes
The corporate regulator said on Monday that 15 advice firms using telemarketers and online "lead generators" moved about $678 million of Australians' money in 17 months, about $610 million of it from super, charging an average of almost $1,300 upfront per client. This report turns those averages into a decision: what a switch like that costs at balances of $50,000, $150,000 and $300,000 over ten years, how much better the new investment would have to perform just to break even, the fine print on insurance and ongoing fees, and a ten-minute checklist to run before anyone moves a dollar.
If someone has offered you a free “super health check” this year, you were part of a very large sales funnel. On Monday the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said 15 advice firms took on 7,639 clients through telemarketers and online lead generators between January 2025 and June 2026, about 35 per cent of all their new clients. Those clients moved about $678 million, paid $9.8 million in upfront advice fees and agreed to $4.5 million a year in ongoing fees. ASIC said some of the callers did work only a licensed adviser should do, and warned of enforcement action.
The regulator’s averages hide what matters to you: what a switch like this costs in your own balance, year after year. VNN has done the sums. This report shows the ten-year cost at three balances in a table you can check line by line, the break-even return a new fund would need, the fine print on insurance and ongoing fees that callers rarely mention, how to read APRA’s latest performance test for the fund you are in, and a ten-minute checklist that tells you whether the person on the phone is someone you should be talking to at all.
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