How to grow your superannuation outside the workforce with Super-Rewards

Superannuation is an essential part of retirement planning. However, if you've left the workforce or have yet to work full-time, it can be hard to contribute to your super. That's why Super-Rewards exists – and this blog will explain what they are, how they work and how you can use them to grow your super even when you aren't in employment.

What are Super Rewards?

Super-Rewards is a platform offering cash back into your super from your online and instore spend. Super-Rewards offers over 500 of Australia’s leading online retailers, covering key categories of groceries, fashion, travel, beauty, electronic goods, and so many more. Key online brands in the line-up include Apple, Catch, eBay, THE ICONIC, Country Road, The Good Guys, Adore Beauty, Booking.com and Energy Australia.

In addition to their online offering, Super-Rewards enables shoppers to earn super when they shop at over 400 retailers, representing 1000+ physical stores nationally. With cashback offers of up to 15%, key everyday brands in the instore offering include Pizza Hut, Salt Meats Cheese, Pablo & Rusty’s and various pharmacies, while popular home & fashion retailers include General Pants, Ecodownunder and Glue Store. Earning super by doing the shopping, running errands, or buying items for the household? This means you add to your retirement savings without having to find a job or take on extra work outside of the home.

How does it work?

We’ve partnered with great retailers to ensure you’ll be rewarded whenever you shop online or instore at a Super-Rewards retailer. These retailers pay cash rewards - also known as commissions - to us, and we share them with you. It's their way of rewarding you for your loyalty to their brand.

You can earn cash rewards via our website, browser extension, instore or via our mobile app. To start earning now, the easiest way is to download the Super-Rewards mobile app from the App Store or Google Play Store and create an account.

Then head to ‘My Account’ and link your existing debit or credit cards – up to 5 of them.

It’s free to join. No upfront charges.

Here’s a quick walkthrough of the Super-Rewards App to explain how it works:

1. After signing up or logging in to shop online, head to our Popular Retailers page to browse some of our amazing brands. Alternatively, you can scroll through our 500+ online retailers and simply tap on the retailer that you’d like to shop at.

2. You will then see a tile that looks like this.

You can see the amount of cashback that they’re offering and read any T&Cs they have. If you’ve already earned Super-Rewards with this retailer, the tile will show you how much they have already contributed to your super! The example above shows a whopping $44.71.

3. Now, all you have to do is hit ‘Shop’ – and you shop online as normal. Remember that purchases must be made on the retailer’s website (not their app) to earn rewards.

4. Once you’ve purchased your items, you’ll see your cashback amount appear on your dashboard, usually on the same day, but occasionally, it can take longer. You can file a Missing Transaction claim here if you don’t see your purchase on your “My Rewards” and “Transactions” on your Super-Rewards dashboard.

5. When your rewards move to To Be Paid, they will be paid into your super account in the next payment cycle – provided you have linked your superannuation fund to your Super-Rewards account.

Rewards tracking feature

All your purchases, whether instore or online, are reflected in your Super-Rewards dashboard. You can see below from this extract of a Super-Rewards dashboard that the rewards earned now are worth so much more by the time you retire. On the left, we have the present-day value of the earned Super-Rewards. On the right, we can see how much this $1,330.18 can grow to over 25 years if we assume an average starting super balance of $50,000 and make some other assumptions*.

**This ability to increase your super balance by so much – simply by doing what you do every day – makes so much sense.

**Assumes your “Total earned” balance of $1,330.18 plus $5 further Super-Rewards contributions paid monthly, compounding monthly, 25 years to retirement, the median net return of 7.4%p.a. (over 10 years, balanced fund category to 31 December 2021 (ChantWest)). Source: moneysmart.gov.au.

With more people leaving traditional employment and taking on gig work or freelancing opportunities outside of the workforce, finding ways to supplement income during retirement is becoming increasingly important. Thanks to mobile apps like Super-Rewards, users now have access to tools that allow them to grow their super even when they aren't employed in full-time positions – giving them greater financial security during their retirement years.

Whether you're looking for additional income sources now or preparing for later life, using Super-Rewards may be one way to supplement your existing income streams and build up your nest egg over time - without working full-time hours outside of home commitments. Shop via our website, instore or download the Super-Rewards mobile app from Google Play or the Apple store today.