Superannuation: Asset or Investment?

Superannuation is often the second-largest asset Australians own after their home. Yet many people only check their super once a year when the annual statement arrives. If you're using Financio to track your finances, you might be wondering: should I add my super as an Asset or an Investment account?

The answer depends on how closely you want to monitor it.

The Two Approaches

Financio gives you flexibility in how you track superannuation:

As an Asset — Simple balance tracking. You update the value periodically (quarterly or annually) and it contributes to your net worth. No transaction tracking.

As an Investment — Full transaction tracking. You can record employer contributions, salary sacrifice amounts, fees, insurance premiums, and investment returns. See exactly where your super is growing (or shrinking).

When to Use an Asset

Choose the Asset approach if you:

• Want a simple "set and forget" tracking method
• Only care about the total balance for net worth purposes
• Check your super infrequently (once or twice a year)
• Don't want to manually enter transactions

How to Set It Up

1. Go to Accounts and click Add Account
2. Select Asset
3. Choose Other as the asset type
4. Enter "Superannuation" as the custom type
5. Name it (e.g., "AustralianSuper" or "REST Super")
6. Enter your current balance and the date it was accurate
7. Save

Update the balance whenever you receive a statement or check your super fund's website.

When to Use an Investment

Choose the Investment approach if you:

• Want to track every contribution from your employer
• Salary sacrifice additional amounts and want to monitor them
• Want to see the impact of fees and insurance on your balance
• Like detailed visibility into your super's growth
• Are approaching retirement and watching closely

How to Set It Up

1. Go to Accounts and click Add Account
2. Select Investment Account
3. Enter your super fund as the broker (e.g., "Hostplus", "UniSuper")
4. Set the opening balance to your super balance on a specific date
5. Save

Then add transactions for:

• Employer contributions (income) — usually 11.5% of your salary
• Salary sacrifice (transfer from your bank account)
• Fees (expense) — admin fees, investment fees
• Insurance premiums (expense) — if your super includes life or TPD insurance
• Investment returns (income or expense) — gains or losses

Tracking Contributions from Your Pay

If you want to see employer super contributions flow from your income:

1. When you add your salary transaction, split it into units
2. One unit for the net pay (to your bank account)
3. One unit for the super contribution (to your super investment account)

This gives you complete visibility of your total remuneration package.

Which Should You Choose?

Our recommendation: If you're just starting out with Financio or prefer simplicity, use an Asset. You can always switch later by deleting the asset and creating an investment account with a fresh opening balance.

If you're serious about understanding your complete financial picture—especially if you're salary sacrificing or within 10 years of retirement—the Investment approach is worth the extra effort.

A Hybrid Approach

Some users prefer a middle ground:

1. Track super as an Asset for simple net worth inclusion
2. Create a category called "Superannuation" under Income
3. Record employer contributions as income to your everyday account, then categorise them as "Superannuation"

This lets you see super contributions in your cash flow reports without maintaining a separate investment account. The trade-off is that your super balance only updates when you manually edit the asset value.

Don't Forget Your Super

However you choose to track it, the important thing is that you do track it. Superannuation is a significant part of your wealth, and including it in Financio ensures your net worth reflects your true financial position.

Check your super fund's website or app for your current balance, and add it to Financio today.