Industry Super boss says raiding retirement ‘nest eggs’ should be last resort

Recently laid-off workers are being urged to explore all of the other “significant” financial relief options laid out by the government before raiding their superannuation accounts.

Industry Super Australia CEO Bernie Dean, who represents the nation’s 15 industry super funds, says people must consider the long term impacts of accessing retirement savings early.

“We’ve been saying for some time now that we need to approach this issue of unlocking super with extreme caution,” Bernie Dean tells Brooke Corte.

“We’re going to do everything we can to help the government to deliver on this promise but we want people to think very carefully about if and when they want to take up this opportunity.

On Sunday, the government announced a package which permits laid-off workers to access $10,000 of their super this financial year and $10,000 in the next.

It was one of a number of financial relief measures within a $66 billion stimulus package and Mr Dean says it should be viewed as a last resort.

“Our concern is that people will jump into their super too quickly before they have a look at what the government has on offer.

“We’ve got to be optimistic about the future and the last thing we want is getting to the other side and finding out we’ve got nothing left in our nest-egg.”

Click PLAY to hear Industry Super CEO Bernie Dean with Brooke Corte: