Guide
Superannuation for Working Holiday Makers
Super is money your employer pays on top of your wage into a retirement fund. It's a set percentage of what you earn, paid separately from your take-home pay, so it isn't money coming out of your wage. Most working holiday makers don't think about it because retirement isn't the reason you're here, but there's a catch worth knowing on day one: when you leave Australia for good, you can claim most of that money back. It's called a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment. So the super sitting in your fund is yours, and the main thing standing between you and the full amount is fees quietly eating it while you're here.
Choosing a fund
When you pick a fund, two things matter for someone here on a working holiday. Fees, and whether the fund is deducting insurance you don't need.
Fees come out of your balance whether you're paying attention or not, and on a smaller balance they bite harder in percentage terms. That money is coming out of an amount you're planning to claim back when you leave, so a high-fee fund is a direct cut of what you eventually walk away with.
The insurance part catches people out. Many funds automatically sign you up for life and income protection cover and deduct the premiums from your balance. For most working holiday makers that cover doesn't make sense, you're here for a stint and the premiums are quietly draining money you'll want back. Worth checking when you join and opting out if it's there and you don't want it.
For comparing funds, the ATO runs a tool called YourSuper that ranks MySuper products by fees and past performance. That's the place to look rather than going off ads or whatever a mate happened to pick.
If you don't choose
If you don't pick a fund, your employer puts you in their default one. Sometimes that's a perfectly good fund, sometimes it isn't, but the point is the choice gets made for you rather than by you. You won't get asked twice.
The bigger issue comes if you work a few different jobs, which most people on a working holiday do. Each employer can default you into a different fund, and you end up with two or three accounts, each charging its own fees on a small balance. That's the same money getting nibbled from several directions at once. You can see all your accounts in one place and consolidate them through myGov, linked to the ATO.
Claiming it back when you leave
When you leave Australia for good and your visa stops being active, you can claim your super back. This is the Departing Australia Superannuation Payment, or DASP. You apply through the ATO once you've left, and the fund pays out the balance you built up.
One thing to be clear-eyed about: the payment is taxed before you get it, and for working holiday makers on a 417 or 462 visa the rate is high, much higher than for other visa types. So treat your super as money you'll get a portion of back, not a full refund. It's still worth claiming, but don't budget for the whole balance. The current rate is on the ATO's DASP page, check it there rather than relying on a figure you read somewhere else.
Two practical points. Apply promptly once you've left, because if you leave it too long after your visa ends the fund hands your balance to the ATO as unclaimed money, which makes it slower to get. And because the tax takes a chunk regardless, keeping fees low while you're here matters more, since fees come off the top before the tax does.
The short version
Sort your fund early, keep an eye on fees and any insurance you didn't ask for, and if you pick up a few jobs, consolidate so you're not paying fees on several accounts. It's all money you can claim back when you leave, minus a fair bit of tax, so it's worth keeping it in one tidy place and claiming it promptly once you go.