Daniella, age 40
Full-time: Personal Assistant
All-the-time: Mum

As a mum of an inquisitive one-year-old, Daniella enjoys nothing more than helping her little girl explore the world…

Daniella started her career in the public service at 19, and plans to stay there for the remainder of her career. As a working mum, she enjoys the flexible employment conditions her employer provides, and has always seen her CSS super as a key element of her overall employment package.

With a mortgage and a young child, at the moment her budget is a little tight, so she thinks about reducing her contributions to 0%. But, after exploring her options and doing the sums, she realises that there is a longer-term benefit which makes it well worth keeping her contributions at her current level of 5%.

The information in this case study is based on the assumptions we have stated below. Remember actual rates of return, inflation and wage growth may differ materially from the assumptions provided. Assumptions: Any change to the contribution rate was made on 1 July 2008. Average rate of return 7%, inflation rate 2.5%, real rate of return (adjusted for inflation) 4.5%, wage growth 4.5%. All figures are shown in today’s dollars. All contributions are made after-tax, and all benefits and pensions shown are before-tax. For more information about tax see the ‘Tax and your CSS benefit’ fact sheet at www.css.gov.au