Advice for your Australia Post defined benefit.

The Australia Post Superannuation Scheme merged into Australian Retirement Trust on 30 April 2022. ART established a dedicated Australia Post corporate plan so the defined benefits could continue, still funded by Australia Post. Ordinary accumulation balances moved into comparable ART investment options.

ART’s 3 March 2022 media release said APSS then had about 28,000 members and over $8 billion, and had been closed to new Australia Post employees since 2012. Members didn’t have to apply — the transfer was automatic. If a later letter just says ART and you’re not sure which plan you’re in, see our Australian Retirement Trust page.

No. The defined benefit transferred with you into ART’s Australia Post corporate plan on 30 April 2022, and Australia Post still funds it. Post-merger member briefings, reflecting ART and trustee material, said the formula itself didn’t change.

A successor fund transfer has to give you equivalent rights, so the merger was not a payout and the defined benefit was not turned into ordinary super. Ordinary super sitting beside it did move into comparable ART investment options. Confirm the formula and your own estimate with ART.

You log in through Australian Retirement Trust’s Member Online, with your email address or member number. You don’t need a separate APSS website. If you haven’t set access up, call ART on 13 11 84, 8am–7:30pm AEST Monday to Friday. ART’s login page is on australianretirementtrust.com.au.

Guideway is a separate advice firm. We can’t reset a password or see your balance unless you bring the statement.

For a standard Full Member, the main accrual rate Australia Post has described is 14.3% of final average salary for each year of service — the full calculation in the Benefit Deed can add other components (like pre-1990 amounts or part-time adjustments) on top. Think of it as each year at Post adding 14.3% of that average salary to a pot that’s generally turned into a dollar figure when you leave — although eligible members still working can use up to half the accrued benefit to open an Income account, usually once a year.

Final average salary is the salary figure the scheme uses for the later part of your career, so what you earn toward the end can move the result more than a good or bad year on the share market. Years of service is the other input; how part-time years are counted belongs on your own ART estimate. ART’s current factsheet still treats the benefit as a lump-sum formula benefit, not a lifetime pension. The figures live on that estimate and your statement.

ART’s current factsheet (updated July 2026) says that when you leave Australia Post the defined benefit is crystallised and paid as a lump sum into a Super Savings Accumulation account — the defined benefit itself isn’t paid as a lifetime pension.

Crystallised means the formula is run using your salary and service at that date. The amount then sits in the defined-benefit pool (with a floor of 0% returns) until ART completes the transfer to your accumulation account, where it takes on your chosen investment option. From then it sits as ordinary super in that accumulation account, so the investment option you choose can go up or down. You can leave the lump sum there, take cash when you’re eligible, start a Retirement Income account, or purchase an ART Lifetime Pension. Those last two are products you choose after the lump sum exists. Some of those later choices can’t be undone. If you were already drawing an APSS pension before the 2022 merger, your arrangement continued in ART — the exact account type depends on your pension category, so check your ART statement.

Not while it’s still a defined benefit. The amount is worked out from salary and service, not from an investment balance, so a bad week on the market doesn’t shrink the formula the way it shrinks an ordinary super account.

Once you leave and the benefit is paid as a lump sum into a Super Savings Accumulation account, that lump sum is invested like any other ART accumulation money and can go up or down. Any extra accumulation account you already hold beside the defined benefit has always behaved that way.

For employee members, the scheme's death and disablement benefits are funded from the defined-benefit assets Australia Post stands behind, and employer-paid fees don't reduce the defined benefit. Voluntary additional insurance sits separately under a group policy with its own costs. The defined benefit itself stayed funded by Australia Post.

Corporate plans inside ART use their own insurance rules — not the Super Savings default that applies to ordinary ART members — so the cover that matters is the one in the Australia Post plan guide, not a public ART insurance page (ART insurance pages, checked August 2026). If you’ve left Post, or you only hold an accumulation or income account now, the cover can be different. Check the plan guide and your ART statement for what is actually attached to your account.

Start with the plan you actually hold — a dedicated Australia Post corporate plan inside ART, which may include a defined benefit still funded by Australia Post as well as an accumulation account. If you’re happy with it, there’s often no reason to move, and we’ll say so.

If you’re not sure it still stacks up after the merger, Guideway specialises in industry, government and corporate super funds and can benchmark the arrangement against five leading comparable funds so you know exactly where it stands. If it holds up, you’ll know you’re fine. If it doesn’t, we can help you weigh a move and handle it properly — insurance, timing and tax included. The defined benefit stays in that corporate plan until it crystallises; a comparison is usually about the accumulation settings and what happens after you leave, not a promise that moving is the answer.

Yes. We advise on the Australia Post corporate plan account you already hold. If another option is relevant, we’ll explain why and compare it with staying put before recommending any change.

Nothing. It’s a free half hour. Tell us what you’d like to discuss and we’ll explain if and how we can help, including any fees, before you decide to go ahead.