This article provides general information only and does not constitute personal financial advice. It has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information in this article, you should consider whether it is appropriate for you and seek advice from a licensed financial adviser if necessary.

Resigning from your job is a significant life event that triggers a cascade of financial decisions. While you’re focused on your career transition, your superannuation account, investment portfolio and insurance cover all require immediate attention. Get these decisions wrong and you could pay thousands in unnecessary fees, lose valuable insurance cover, or miss out on better returns. Get them right and you’ll set yourself up for a stronger financial position in your next role.

According to the Australian Taxation Office, millions of Australians hold multiple super accounts, often created when changing jobs (ATO, 2026). Each account typically charges separate fees that erode your retirement savings. When you resign, you have a critical window to review your super arrangements, consolidate accounts if appropriate, and ensure your insurance and beneficiary details are current.

This guide walks you through every financial task you need to complete when leaving your job, from reviewing your super balance to understanding the tax treatment of your final pay.

What You Will Learn

  • How to review your current super account and decide whether to keep it, roll it over, or consolidate it
  • What happens to your insurance cover when you leave and how to maintain it
  • How to update beneficiary nominations to ensure your super goes to the right people
  • What to do with employer shares, options or other equity
  • How to manage your personal investments and minimise tax when changing jobs
  • What to expect in your final pay and how exit payments are taxed
  • Common mistakes people make when resigning and how to avoid them

Step 1: Review Your Current Super Account(s)

Before making any decisions, gather complete information about your existing superannuation. Log in to your current employer’s super fund (or your chosen fund if you selected your own) and review these key details:

Account balance. Note your total super balance, including both your employer’s Superannuation Guarantee contributions and any voluntary contributions you’ve made. The current SG rate is 11.5% of your ordinary time earnings, rising to 12% from 1 July 2027.

Fees and costs. Check the administration fees, investment fees and any other charges. Annual fees can range from under $100 to over $600 per year depending on the fund. As foundational texts such as Principles of Finance explain, ongoing fees compound over time and significantly impact retirement outcomes.

Investment options. Review which investment option your balance is in (for example, Balanced, Growth, Conservative) and its recent performance. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance, but it provides context for your decision.

Insurance cover. Most super funds provide default life insurance, total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance, and sometimes income protection insurance. Note the amount of cover, the cost (deducted from your super balance), and the terms. This insurance often lapses or becomes significantly more expensive when you leave an employer.

If you’ve changed jobs before, use the ATO’s online services through myGov to search for any lost or unclaimed super. The ATO holds records of all your super accounts, making it easy to identify multiple accounts you may have forgotten about.

Step 2: Decide What to Do with Your Super

When you resign, your super doesn’t automatically follow you to your next job. You have several options, each with different advantages:

Option 1: Leave it where it is. If your current fund has low fees, strong performance, and insurance cover you want to keep, you can leave your super in that fund even after you leave the employer. You’ll continue to pay the same fees, and you can still make voluntary contributions. This makes sense if you’re happy with the fund and don’t have multiple super accounts.

Option 2: Roll it into your new employer’s default fund. Many employers have a default super fund for new employees. Rolling your old super into this fund consolidates your super and may simplify administration. However, the new fund’s fees, performance and insurance cover may not be better than your current fund. Compare carefully before deciding.

Option 3: Consolidate into a fund of your choice. You have the right to choose your own super fund. If you’ve done research and identified a fund with lower fees, better performance, or investment options that suit you better, you can roll your old super into that fund and nominate it to your new employer. According to ASIC MoneySmart, consolidating super accounts eliminates duplicate fees and makes it easier to track your retirement savings (MoneySmart, 2026).

How to roll over super. To transfer your super, contact the fund you want to roll your super into (the receiving fund) and request a rollover. You’ll need your old fund’s details: the Australian Business Number (ABN), the fund name, and your member number. The receiving fund will arrange the transfer. Most rollovers complete within 3 to 7 business days. Never withdraw your super and re-contribute it yourself: super is preserved until you reach preservation age (currently between 60 and 65 depending on your birth date) or meet another condition of release.

Important consideration: insurance. Rolling over super can affect your insurance. See Step 4 below before making a final decision.

Step 3: Update Your Beneficiary Nominations

Your super doesn’t automatically form part of your estate when you die. Instead, the super fund trustee decides who receives your super, usually based on a beneficiary nomination you’ve made. When you change jobs or change super funds, review and update your nomination.

There are two main types of nominations:

Non-binding nomination. You tell the fund who you’d prefer to receive your super, but the trustee has discretion to pay someone else if they believe it’s appropriate. Non-binding nominations typically expire after a few years and need to be renewed.

Binding nomination. You legally direct the trustee to pay your super to specific people (who must be your dependants or your legal personal representative). Binding nominations are usually valid for three years, after which they lapse and revert to non-binding, though some funds offer non-lapsing binding nominations.

To update your nomination, log in to your super fund and navigate to the beneficiary nomination section. You can typically nominate your spouse, children, financial dependants, or your estate. If you nominate your estate, your super will be distributed according to your will.

Why this matters now. If you’re rolling super into a new fund, your old nomination doesn’t transfer. You must make a new nomination in the new fund. Failing to do this means the trustee will decide who gets your super, which may not align with your wishes.

Step 4: Review Insurance Cover in Your Super

Many Australians hold life insurance, total and permanent disability (TPD) cover, and income protection insurance through their super fund. The premiums are deducted from your super balance. When you leave your employer, this insurance can be affected in several ways:

Cover may lapse. Some employer super funds only provide insurance while you’re actively employed. Once you resign, the cover may cease, often after a short grace period of 30 to 60 days.

Cover may continue but become more expensive. If you’re no longer part of a large employer group, the fund may reclassify you as a retail member and charge higher premiums for the same cover.

Cover may be limited. If you have an occupation-rated policy (where your premium is based on your job’s risk level), changing to a different occupation or becoming unemployed may change the terms or cost.

Before you roll over your super to another fund, contact your current fund and ask:

  • Will my insurance continue if I’m no longer employed by this employer?
  • What will the premiums be after I leave?
  • Can I maintain the same level of cover?

If your current fund offers good insurance at a reasonable cost, you may choose to keep your super in that fund solely to retain the insurance, even if you start a new super account with your new employer. Alternatively, apply for replacement cover in your new fund before you cancel your old cover. Never cancel insurance until replacement cover is confirmed in writing.

Insurance and health changes. If your health has changed since you first obtained insurance (for example, you’ve been diagnosed with a medical condition), new insurance may be more expensive or may exclude that condition. Maintaining existing cover may be valuable.

Step 5: Handle Any Employer Shares or Options

If your employer offered shares, options, or other equity as part of your remuneration package, review the terms carefully when you resign. Key issues include:

Vesting schedules. Many employee share schemes have vesting periods: you must stay with the employer for a certain time before the shares or options become yours. If you resign before they vest, you typically forfeit them. Check whether any shares are due to vest soon. Delaying your resignation by a few weeks could mean the difference between receiving and losing thousands of dollars in equity.

Exercise periods for options. If you hold options that have vested, you usually have a limited time after resigning to exercise them (buy the shares at the option price). This period is often 30 to 90 days. If you don’t exercise within that window, the options expire worthless.

Read also: Salary Sacrificing Into Super Before the End of the Calendar Year in Australia

Tax treatment. Employee shares and options have specific tax treatments under Australian tax law. Shares acquired under an employee share scheme may be taxed when you acquire them, when they vest, or when you sell them, depending on the scheme’s structure and whether it qualifies for tax deferral. Options are generally taxed when you exercise them, based on the discount you receive (the difference between the market price and the exercise price). Consult a registered tax agent if you’re unsure, as the timing of your resignation and your decisions about exercising options can have significant tax consequences.

Selling or holding. Decide whether to sell shares immediately or hold them. Selling provides liquidity and diversification (you’re no longer concentrating wealth in your former employer). Holding may make sense if you believe in the company’s prospects, but be aware of the risk: if the company underperforms, you’ve lost both your job and your investment. From a tax perspective, shares held for at least 12 months attract the 50% capital gains tax discount when you sell them.

Step 6: Review Your Investment Accounts

If you hold investments outside super (such as shares on the ASX, exchange-traded funds, A-REITs, or managed funds), a job change is a good time to review your overall portfolio.

Rebalance if necessary. If you’ve been making regular contributions from your salary (for example, through a monthly direct debit into an investment account), those contributions will stop when you resign. Review your asset allocation and decide whether you need to rebalance. If your new job pays differently, you may need to adjust your investment plan.

Consider tax timing. If you’re planning to sell investments that have risen in value, consider the timing. If your income will be lower this financial year (for example, if you’re taking time off between jobs or moving to a lower-paid role), realising capital gains this year may result in less tax than realising them in a higher-income year. Conversely, if you’ll earn more in your new role, deferring sales to a future year may be better. Remember the 50% CGT discount applies to assets held at least 12 months.

Automate contributions in your new role. Once you start your new job, set up automatic investment contributions again if that’s part of your financial plan. This maintains the discipline of regular investing (dollar-cost averaging) and takes advantage of market fluctuations over time.

Step 7: Understand Your Final Pay and Tax

Your final pay from your employer will include several components, each with different tax treatment:

Regular salary or wages. Your pay up to your last working day is taxed as normal income under the Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholding system.

Unused annual leave. Any accrued but unused annual leave is paid out and taxed as normal income.

Long service leave. Depending on how long you’ve worked for the employer and your state’s long service leave laws, you may be entitled to a long service leave payout. This is generally taxed as normal income.

Payment in lieu of notice. If your employer pays you instead of requiring you to work your notice period, this is taxed as normal income.

Redundancy or termination payments. If you’re made redundant or your employment is terminated (as opposed to resigning voluntarily), you may receive a redundancy payment. Genuine redundancy payments receive concessional tax treatment up to a limit (the tax-free component depends on your years of service). Employment termination payments (ETPs) that don’t qualify as genuine redundancy are taxed differently and less favourably.

Your employer will withhold tax from your final pay based on the nature of each component. You’ll receive a payment summary or income statement that you’ll use to complete your tax return. Be aware that if you receive a large lump sum (such as a long service leave payout or redundancy payment), the withholding rate may be higher, and you may receive a refund when you lodge your tax return if the withholding exceeds your actual tax liability.

According to the ATO, you must include all employment termination payments in your tax return in the year you receive them (ATO, 2026).

Practical Tips

Create a checklist. Make a list of every financial account, insurance policy and benefit linked to your employment. Work through the list systematically to ensure nothing is forgotten.

Request confirmations in writing. When you roll over super, update insurance or make beneficiary nominations, request written confirmation. This protects you if there’s a dispute later.

Keep records. Save copies of your final payslip, payment summary, super account statements, and any correspondence about insurance or rollovers. You may need these for your tax return or for future reference.

Notify your new employer promptly. If you want your super to go to a specific fund, you must provide your new employer with your chosen fund’s details (usually within a set timeframe, often 28 days). If you don’t, your super will go to the employer’s default fund.

Review your budget. If there’s a gap between jobs, review your budget and consider whether you need to dip into savings or adjust your spending. Avoid withdrawing from super: early access is only allowed in limited circumstances, such as severe financial hardship, and attracts tax and potentially penalties.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Forgetting to update insurance. Many people roll over their super without realising they’ve lost their insurance cover in the process. Always check insurance before you roll over.

Leaving super in multiple accounts. Each super account charges fees. If you change jobs frequently and leave super scattered across multiple funds, you could be paying hundreds of dollars per year in unnecessary fees. APRA statistics show Australians hold millions of unintended multiple accounts, eroding retirement balances (APRA, 2026).

Missing vesting deadlines. If you resign days before shares or options vest, you forfeit them. Check the vesting schedule before you hand in your notice.

Failing to update beneficiary nominations. If you’ve had a major life change (marriage, divorce, children), your old nomination may no longer reflect your wishes. Update it when you move super funds.

Not shopping around. Don’t automatically roll your super into your new employer’s default fund. Compare fees, performance, investment options and insurance. The fund you choose now will compound for decades.

Withdrawing super early. Super is preserved for retirement. Withdrawing it early (even if you qualify under financial hardship rules) means losing decades of compound growth and paying tax on the withdrawal. Treat super as untouchable except in genuine emergencies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I keep my super in my old employer’s fund after I leave?
Yes, in most cases. You’re not required to move your super when you change jobs. As long as you’re happy with the fees, performance and features, you can leave it where it is. However, if you start a new job and don’t nominate your own fund, your new employer’s super contributions will go to their default fund, which means you’ll have two super accounts.

How long does a super rollover take?
Most super rollovers are completed within 3 to 7 business days, though some can take up to 30 days depending on the funds involved. The receiving fund will contact your old fund and arrange the transfer. You don’t need to do anything except initiate the rollover request.

What happens if I don’t update my beneficiary nomination?
If you die without a valid beneficiary nomination, the super fund trustee will decide who receives your super. They’ll typically pay it to your dependants (spouse, children, or anyone financially dependent on you) or to your estate. However, this process can take time and may not align with your wishes. A valid nomination ensures your super goes where you intend.

Will I lose my insurance if I roll over my super?
It depends. When you roll your super to a new fund, your insurance in the old fund will typically cease. The new fund may offer insurance, but you’ll need to apply for it, and the terms may be different. If you have health issues, the new insurance may be more expensive or may exclude certain conditions. Always arrange new insurance before cancelling old insurance.

Can I withdraw my super when I resign?
No, in almost all cases. Super is preserved until you reach your preservation age and retire, or meet another condition of release (such as permanent incapacity, severe financial hardship, or terminal illness). Resigning from your job is not a condition of release. Your super remains in your account, earning returns, until you’re eligible to access it.

Do I have to tell my new employer which super fund to use?
You have the right to choose your own super fund. When you start a new job, your employer must give you a choice of fund. If you nominate a fund within the required timeframe (usually 28 days), your employer must pay your super contributions to that fund. If you don’t choose, your super will go to the employer’s default fund.

Conclusion

Resigning from your job creates a critical window to optimise your financial position. By reviewing your super, consolidating accounts if appropriate, updating your beneficiary nominations, and protecting your insurance cover, you can ensure your retirement savings continue to grow efficiently. Taking a few hours now to work through this checklist can save you thousands of dollars in fees, maintain valuable insurance cover, and set you up for a stronger financial future in your next role.

Before you hand in your resignation, review your super balance, check your insurance, note any vesting dates for employer shares, and plan your rollover strategy. Once you’ve left, follow through promptly: notify your new employer of your chosen fund, confirm your insurance is in place, and update your beneficiary nominations. Your future self will thank you for the attention you give these decisions today.