Advice for your CareSuper account.
If you got the Spirit Super merger letters and filed them unread, you’re not alone. Those accounts now sit inside CareSuper, along with older MTAA Super and Tasplan balances, and three closed defined benefit funds. We’ll work out which arrangement you actually hold. The first chat is free, and you’ll know any fees before you decide anything.
What happened to Spirit Super, MTAA Super and Tasplan?
The chain is easier than the letters made it look.
MTAA Super and Tasplan Super became Spirit Super on 1 April 2021. Spirit Super and CARE Super then became one fund on 1 November 2024, and the name on the door is CareSuper. The Meat Industry Employees’ Superannuation Fund joined on 1 October 2025.
If your statement still says Spirit Super, or you joined through a motor trades or Tasmanian employer years ago, the account is the same money. What changed is the product name, the investment option labels, and in some cases the insurance document.
The law that governs a successor fund transfer requires equivalent rights in the receiving fund. As a practical product check (separate from the legal test), look at which option your money now sits in and what happened to your cover.
Which CareSuper arrangement do you hold?
An accumulation balance and a closed defined benefit don’t follow the same rules.
Most members have an accumulation account: what went in, plus or minus investment returns, minus fees. CareSuper’s MySuper default is the Balanced option. Former Spirit Super members were moved into equivalent CareSuper options on 1 November 2024 and can now use eleven options, including Alternative Growth and Property.
A smaller group holds one of the closed defined benefit funds CareSuper still runs: Quadrant, Hobart City Council or Launceston City Council. Those were already on the Spirit Super books, they are fully funded and run in-house, and they are closed to new members. The benefit uses scheme formulas, reviewed each year effective 30 June, and the scheme rules govern which settings can change.
If you’re not sure which describes you, that’s a normal starting point. We confirm the arrangement before we compare anything else. See our defined benefit guide if a formula benefit is on the statement.
What is the CareSuper retirement bonus?
Eligibility can depend on the way you move from super into a retirement-income product.
When you open a Managed Income or Flexible Income account with money from a CareSuper accumulation balance, CareSuper adds 0.30% of that transfer as a retirement bonus. There’s no cap on the dollar amount, it’s paid automatically, and it happens once. CareSuper’s published example is $900 on a $300,000 transfer.
You forfeit it if you start a transition to retirement account first and then convert it. You also miss it if you held a retirement account before April 2021, if what you’re starting is a pension inherited from someone who died, or if you move Direct Investment Option holdings into Flexible Income.
On a $400,000 transfer, the sequence can affect a $1,200 credit. The bonus also counts toward the transfer balance cap ($2.1 million for 2026-27, or your personal cap if that’s lower). Check eligibility before you open the income product.
What should I work out before I start drawing?
These sit alongside your investment choice, not after it.
- Which account to start, and when
- Managed Income and Flexible Income have different investment and payment settings. The account selected first may affect eligibility for the retirement bonus, so compare the options before opening one. Sequence matters
- A defined benefit, if you have one
- Quadrant, Hobart City Council and Launceston City Council benefits are formula-based and reviewed each 30 June. Some choices can’t be reversed. Decision is permanent
- When to start, not only what to start
- Starting a pension the day you stop work is neither automatic nor always right. Any pay still coming in, the tax on your drawings and your Age Pension all pull on the timing, and the bonus sequence sits on top of them.
- Your Age Pension position
- How and when you draw affects what Centrelink counts. Worth building into the plan rather than discovering afterwards.
Where are you up to?
Pick the one that feels closest. You can change it later.
If you’re between stages, start with either. Switching the selection later doesn’t change anything on your CareSuper account.
The last few working years
This is where the retirement bonus starts to matter. CareSuper pays 0.30% of what you transfer in when you open a retirement income account, and the order you do things in decides whether you receive it at all.
These are also your last years of contributions at the lower tax rate, including any unused room carried forward from earlier years, tested against your total super balance. Time that alongside the bonus rather than treating them as two separate errands.
At the decision point
Whether you can stop depends on what you spend and what else you own. If you hold one of the three closed defined benefit funds — Quadrant, Hobart City Council or Launceston City Council — that’s a separate calculation entirely, and its choices are generally permanent.
The income product you open first can lock you out of the retirement bonus, so compare Managed Income and Flexible Income before you sign.
Already drawing on it
On Flexible Income, how much you draw, how it’s invested and which account you spend from first can all be changed later. Managed Income is different: CareSuper sets the payment amount, and changing its investment approach means moving money to Flexible Income. Settings that suited the first year of retirement often don’t suit the tenth.
Compare the yearly payment with planned spending, review the Age Pension when assets change and check the beneficiary nomination.
What can I ask about my CareSuper account?
Bring the decision that’s actually on your mind. We’ll say what we can cover.
- Which predecessor you came from
- Spirit Super, MTAA Super, Tasplan, MIESF or original CARE Super. That history decides which option names and insurance document apply.
- Your account settings
- Investments, fees, contributions, insurance and beneficiaries. We’ll tell you what we can take on before any paid work starts.
- A defined benefit, if you hold one
- Formula benefits from Quadrant or the two city-council funds don’t behave like an accumulation balance. The scheme rules govern which settings can change.
- Retirement timing and income
- When you stop, what to draw, and whether Managed Income or Flexible Income belongs in the picture. Our retirement planning guide sets out the stages.
- Whether it still stacks up
- If the account still feels right, we say so. If you want a comparison, we put CareSuper next to five leading comparable funds so you can see where it stands.
What members ask us
What happened to Spirit Super?
Spirit Super and CareSuper merged on 1 November 2024. The merged fund kept the CareSuper name, and CareSuper says that created a fund of more than 573,000 members and over $53 billion.
Spirit Super itself was the 2021 merger of Tasplan Super and the Motor Trades Association of Australia Superannuation Fund. Former Spirit Super members kept their member number; Member Online used the same username and password; investment balances moved into equivalent CareSuper options; and CareSuper says insurance cover and any exclusions continued from that date, with some definition changes set out in the significant event notice.
What happened to MTAA Super?
MTAA Super, the Motor Trades Association of Australia Superannuation Fund, merged with Tasplan Super on 1 April 2021 to become Spirit Super. Spirit Super then merged with CareSuper on 1 November 2024, so an old MTAA Super account is now a CareSuper account.
CareSuper says it has been the super fund for the motor trades for over 30 years and that this hasn’t changed. The surviving product USI is MTA0100AU, the identifier MTAA Super used.
What happened to Tasplan?
Tasplan Super merged with MTAA Super on 1 April 2021 to become Spirit Super. That fund then merged with CareSuper on 1 November 2024.
CareSuper says it’s proud of its Tasmanian history, Hobart remains the primary operational hub, and Tasmanians were expected to make up more than 20% of the merged membership. The three closed defined benefit funds CareSuper administers — Quadrant, Hobart City Council and Launceston City Council — were already maintained by Spirit Super before that later merger.
What happened to MIESF?
On 1 October 2025 CareSuper and the Meat Industry Employees’ Superannuation Fund (MIESF) merged, and CareSuper says 17,000 MIESF members joined. CareSuper described the transfer as adding over $1 billion, taking the fund to around $60 billion and about 615,000 members.
MIESF was the transferor, so those members moved into CareSuper. The old MIESF USI and ABN closed on 19 September 2025; contributions after that date need CareSuper’s USI MTA0100AU and ABN 74 559 365 913.
Does CareSuper have a defined benefit?
CareSuper administers three closed defined benefit funds: Quadrant, Hobart City Council and Launceston City Council. They are fully funded and internally administered, closed to new members, and benefits are reviewed annually with effect from 30 June.
A defined benefit here is worked out using scheme formulas — the payable benefit can be the higher of the formula amount and an accumulation-style amount — and its settings deserve care before any change. CareSuper’s audited statements for the year to 30 June 2025 report vested benefits of $103.3 million for defined benefit members.
What is CareSuper’s USI and ABN?
CareSuper publishes USI MTA0100AU and fund ABN 74 559 365 913. Those are the details your employer should use for Super Guarantee.
The former CARE Super USI CAR0100AU and ABN 98 172 275 725 closed at 11.59pm on 22 October 2024. CareSuper says contributions sent to those old numbers after that date are rejected and returned.
How much are CareSuper fees?
CareSuper publishes administration fees of $67.60 a year plus 0.15% of your account balance, with the total admin fee capped at $817.60 and the percentage part capped at $750. On a $50,000 Balanced (MySuper) account, CareSuper’s dashboard example is $467.60 a year, including estimated investment fees and costs of 0.51% and transaction costs of 0.08% (CareSuper fees page and MySuper dashboard, checked August 2026).
There’s no joining fee, no fee to switch options or withdraw, and no buy-sell spread — the small cost some funds charge when money moves in or out of an investment option. Insurance premiums and Direct Investment Option fees are extra. If your balance is under $6,000 at 30 June or when you close the account, certain admin and investment fees are capped at 3%.
What is the CareSuper retirement bonus?
CareSuper pays a retirement bonus of 0.30% of the amount you transfer from a CareSuper accumulation account to start a Managed Income or Flexible Income account. There’s no cap, it’s paid automatically, and you get it once. On CareSuper’s $300,000 example, that is $900.
You don’t get it if you start a transition to retirement account first and later convert it, if you held a retirement account before 1 April 2021, if the new account is an inherited or reversionary pension, or if you transfer Direct Investment Option holdings into Flexible Income. The bonus counts toward the $2.1 million transfer balance cap for 2026-27, or your personal cap if that’s lower.
What is the difference between Managed Income and Flexible Income?
Managed Income is the set-and-forget account: CareSuper manages the investments and the payments, and it’s designed to last until around age 90. Flexible Income leaves the investment mix and the payment amounts in your hands, subject to the government minimums.
Neither is better on its own. What decides it’s how involved you want to be, how steady the income needs to be, and what else you have to draw on. Starting a transition to retirement account first and converting it later means you miss the retirement bonus.
Has my insurance changed after the merger?
If you came from Spirit Super, CareSuper says your insurance arrangements stayed the same from 1 November 2024 and that cover, exclusions and conditions continued automatically, with some changes to definitions, the paid parental leave fee waiver, and when cover stops.
If you were already a CareSuper member in the employee or personal plan, the cover you held on 31 October 2024 continued as legacy insurance at the merger. That has since changed. CareSuper moved to new insurance on 1 April 2026: the legacy policy ended on 31 March 2026, and those members moved to the current insurance categories, with different costs, amounts and definitions. Corporate insurance arrangements changed on 1 November 2024. Default Death and TPD cover generally starts once you’re 25 with a $6,000 balance, unless you opt in earlier; some employers also have default income protection.
How do I log in to CareSuper after the merger?
Former Spirit Super members log in to Member Online with the same member number, username and password. Continuing CareSuper members use their email address or member number and had to reset their password; the old Client ID became the member number.
Two-factor authentication is mandatory and can’t be turned off. For the balance, forms or a password reset, go to CareSuper’s own website. This page is an advice firm, not the fund.
Is CareSuper a good super fund?
CareSuper is a profit-to-member industry fund, established in 1986, and it now includes members who came across from Spirit Super, MTAA Super, Tasplan and MIESF. Balanced (MySuper) is the default option, not every option, and CareSuper publishes current returns for it on its own site. That is the figure worth checking, rather than one quoted second-hand here. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.
Whether it stacks up for you turns on the option you hold, the fees on that option, and whether insurance still fits.
When should I start a pension?
Earlier isn’t automatically better. Any pay you’re still earning, the tax on your drawings, your Age Pension and how long the money has to last all pull in different directions, and with CareSuper the bonus sequence sits on top of that.
It’s a timing decision worth working through on paper before you sign anything, because parts of it only happen once. If you hold one of the closed defined benefit funds, that election is a separate calculation with its own scheme rules — check what the Defined Benefits guide says about your options before acting.
Should I stay with CareSuper?
If you’re happy with CareSuper, there’s often no reason to move, and we’ll say so. If you’re not sure it still stacks up, Guideway specialises in industry, government and corporate super funds and can benchmark yours 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. Leaving can change insurance, nominations and the retirement bonus path, so those sit in the comparison rather than after it.
What does a first conversation cost?
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.
We’re not owned by a bank, super fund or insurer.
Our day-to-day work is industry, government and corporate super — and CareSuper now sits across all three.
Your CareSuper arrangement first
We start with whether you hold accumulation or one of the closed defined benefit funds, then work from what’s on the statement.
The outcome stays yours
That might mean keeping the account, changing a setting, or looking at another option. We don’t arrive with a preferred result.
We’ll say if we can take it
After the first chat, you’ll know whether the work is something we do and what it would cost.
What happens next
Three steps. You can stop after the first one.
- 1. Book a free half hour
- Choose a video, phone or Melbourne time. A statement helps, but you can still book without one.
- 2. We listen
- You tell us what’s on the statement and what’s worrying you. We’ll say honestly whether the question is one we can take on.
- 3. You decide
- There’s no obligation. If you go further, you’ll know any fees before work starts.
Ready to talk?
You’ll speak with Nareena Aracas or one of her team. The half hour is free. If we take it further, you’ll see the fee before you agree to anything.
About our adviser team
Nareena Aracas leads the Guideway Wealth advice practice, supported by a broader team of advisers.
- Nareena AracasSenior Financial Planner · Authorised Representative no. 398311
- Scott NanfroSenior Financial Planner in the broader adviser team · Authorised Representative no. 1255832
Authorised Representatives of Guideway Financial Services Pty Ltd ABN 46 156 498 538, AFSL & ACL 420367. Ask us for a Financial Services Guide at any time.
Looking for CareSuper’s login or contact details?
Guideway Wealth is a separate financial advice service. For your balance, Member Online, forms or account administration, go directly to the official CareSuper website.