Advice for your Colonial First State account.

Not majority owned. CFS states that an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (KKR) holds 55%, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia holds 45%. (From cfs.com.au, checked 16 August 2026.) CBA sold the majority stake in 2021; the current split is the one CFS still publishes. Think of the sale as a change of who owns the company that runs the platform, not a change of the trust that holds your super. The trust itself carried on through the sale; in a separate 2022 change, Avanteos Investments Limited became trustee. Older letters with a CommBank logo are why this question keeps coming up.

On a $50,000 balance, CFS publishes an administration fee of 0.20% a year for FirstChoice Wholesale Personal Super options (excluding FirstRate options), effective December 2025. CFS also publishes $395 a year as the total fee for the Lifestage 1965–69 option in FirstChoice Employer Super, on the same $50,000 balance, against a Chant West all-funds average of $445. Read that one carefully. It is a MySuper-specific comparison using Chant West’s own methodology, so it is CFS’s published comparison rather than a like-for-like ranking. (Chant West Super Fund Fee Survey, March 2026; cfs.com.au, checked 16 August 2026.) Administration is only the running cost of the account — record-keeping and member service. On top of that sit investment fees for the option you’re in, any insurance premiums, and any adviser service fee you have agreed to. CFS says it doesn’t charge an exit fee or a fee to switch options. The only figures that apply to you are the ones on your statement, and in the current product disclosure statement for your product.

Essential Super is a CFS super product distributed by CommBank. Avanteos Investments Limited is the trustee. The fund ABN is 56 601 925 435 and the USI is FSF1332AU. CommBank says it has teamed up with CFS to bring you Essential Super, as a simple way to grow your super alongside your everyday banking, and you can view the balance, make a contribution and click through to CFS from the CommBank app. Help is on 13 4074 (CommBank and cfs.com.au, checked 16 August 2026). It’s a simpler product than FirstChoice — default Lifestage investing, a shorter investment menu, and default Death and TPD cover called Lifestage cover once you’re eligible. Some people end up holding Essential Super beside an older FirstChoice account. Each one has its own investment holdings or allocation, its own insurance and its own set of charges.

CFS calls the charge an adviser service fee, and it won’t deduct it without your consent. On eligible FirstChoice accounts an ongoing fee can be a percentage of the balance, a fixed dollar amount, or both (one-off fees are dollar-only, and FirstChoice Employer Super doesn't accept ongoing arrangements); deductions come out near the start of the following month, and the fee is paid to your adviser's licensee. From 23 May 2026, new dollar-based fees are worked out pro-rata for the days they apply (cfs.com.au advice-fees page, checked 16 August 2026). Think of it as a payment to an adviser for personal advice about this account, not a fee CFS keeps for running the platform. CFS says the fee has to relate to personal advice on the account it’s taken from. Your statement and transaction history should show the amount. You can ask CFS who receives it and which consent form it sits on.

Ask CFS to remove it. CFS treats the fee as something you consent to — a consent form is how you agree to pay it (cfs.com.au, checked 16 August 2026). If you can’t remember agreeing to anything recently, that’s the thing to raise, and you can raise it yourself. ASIC’s Moneysmart sets the general rule: written consent is required each year for an ongoing advice fee to continue, and you can end the arrangement at any time. Ending it doesn’t move your money and doesn’t close your account. Moneysmart also suggests checking your own arrangement for any notice period.

When you can is decided by the law, not by CFS. ASIC’s Moneysmart sets out the general position: you can get at your super from age 60 if you’re retired or you leave a job, and from age 65 whether you’re still working or not. Between 60 and 65 you can also open a transition to retirement account, which lets you draw on part of your super while you keep working. There are limited grounds for getting at it earlier and they are narrow. How you do it with CFS: for super accounts you complete a withdrawal form (which can be uploaded through FirstNet); pension withdrawals can be lodged digitally. CFS’s own form says it will normally pay a super benefit within seven working days — longer periods can apply. A request in before 3pm Sydney time gets that day’s exit unit price; after 3pm, the next day’s. If you want a regular income instead of cash, you apply through FirstNet to move the money into a FirstChoice Pension — an account-based pension funded only from super, which can’t be topped up once it has started. (CFS withdrawal form dated May 2026 and cfs.com.au, checked 16 August 2026.)

They are separate products in separate trusts, which is why the entity names on the paperwork differ. The FirstChoice range of super and pension products is issued by Avanteos Investments Limited ABN 20 096 259 979, AFSL 245531 as trustee of the Colonial First State FirstChoice Superannuation Trust ABN 26 458 298 557. CFS Edge Super and Pension is issued by that same company, but as trustee of a different trust — the Avanteos Superannuation Trust ABN 38 876 896 681. CFS Edge Investments isn’t superannuation at all: it’s an investor directed portfolio service, with Colonial First State Investments Limited ABN 98 002 348 352, AFSL 232468 as operator, administrator and custodian of the Avanteos Wrap Account Service. (From CFS’s published material, checked 16 August 2026.) If you’re not certain which you hold, the front of your statement will say.

They are separate product ranges: the older FirstChoice Personal Super and FirstChoice Pension products closed and transferred into FirstChoice Wholesale Personal Super (May 2022) and FirstChoice Wholesale Pension (March 2023), so most members now hold the Wholesale versions (cfs.com.au, checked 16 August 2026). Which one you’re in is printed on your statement. Because they are separate ranges they have separate disclosure documents, which means separate fee schedules and separate investment menus. We don’t publish either full set here. If you have held the account a long time, confirm which range you’re in rather than assuming.

CFS publishes them on its numbers-you-need-to-know page. FirstChoice Wholesale Personal Super is USI FSF0511AU, FirstChoice Employer Super is FSF0361AU, and FirstChoice Wholesale Pension is FSF0510AU — all inside the Colonial First State FirstChoice Superannuation Trust, ABN 26 458 298 557. CFS Edge Super and Pension uses USI 38 876 896 681 012 inside the Avanteos Superannuation Trust, ABN 38 876 896 681. Essential Super is different again: ABN 56 601 925 435, USI FSF1332AU. (cfs.com.au and commbank.com.au, checked 16 August 2026.) Your employer or another fund will ask for the USI. A wrong number on a form is the usual reason a contribution or transfer sits in limbo for weeks.

For the FirstChoice range of super and pension products, the trustee is Avanteos Investments Limited ABN 20 096 259 979, AFSL 245531, as trustee of the Colonial First State FirstChoice Superannuation Trust. The same company is also trustee of Essential Super and of CFS Edge Super and Pension, though those sit in different trusts. Colonial First State Investments Limited is the responsible entity for FirstChoice Investments and FirstChoice Wholesale Investments. A trustee is the legal owner of the fund’s assets, with duties owed to members that the parent company doesn’t have. If a name on your statement is unfamiliar, that’s generally the explanation.

FirstChoice and most other CFS accounts use FirstNet, CFS’s secure online portal, or the CFS mobile app. Essential Super is viewed in NetBank or the CommBank app, which then clicks through to CFS. Guideway is a separate advice firm — for a password reset, a balance or a form, go to cfs.com.au or your CommBank app. CFS’s contact line for FirstChoice is 13 13 36; Essential Super is 13 4074; CFS Edge is 1300 769 619.

When you leave an employer, CFS says you generally stay in the same FirstChoice Employer Super account as a retained-benefit member — but fees, adviser arrangements and any employer-funded insurance can change. Fees, insurance and the options you can use can change at that point. Confirm the current product name on your statement rather than assuming it’s still the workplace plan. That conversion doesn’t move the money to another fund. It’s a change of the product rules sitting on top of the same trust. If a later job opened Essential Super through CommBank as well, you can end up with two CFS accounts running at once.

CFS insurance is provided by AIA Australia Limited and premiums are deducted from the super balance. Before cancelling cover, check the benefits, premiums, eligibility rules and whether replacement cover would be available. Reapplying is subject to the insurer’s acceptance. (CFS insurance booklet dated 22 November 2025, checked 16 August 2026.) Cover you never use still costs you, because the premium comes out of the same balance that’s supposed to last into retirement. Cancelling is straightforward; getting the cover back later needs the insurer to accept you again, and a change of health can get in the way. On FirstChoice, cover may also end where a premium stays unpaid for 90 days, or after 16 continuous months of account inactivity — check the insurance booklet for the product you hold.

Keeping the account is a normal outcome, and we’ll say so when that’s the right call. Guideway specialises in industry, government and corporate super funds and can review a retail platform arrangement like CFS. A benchmark against five leading comparable funds is how you see where this one stands — fees, insurance and service included — without assuming you should leave. Insurance, nominations and any adviser-fee arrangement travel with a move, so they belong in that comparison.

Start with CFS itself — it publishes a complaints channel and commits to timeframes. For FirstChoice: 13 13 36, contactus@cfs.com.au, or Complaints Resolution, GPO Box 3956, Sydney NSW 2001. Essential Super has its own line on 13 4074, and CFS Edge is 1300 769 619. CFS says it acknowledges a complaint generally within one business day and responds to super complaints no later than 45 calendar days — 90 for death benefit distributions. (cfs.com.au complaints page, checked 16 August 2026.) If the response doesn’t satisfy you, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority is the next step and it’s free: 1800 931 678, afca.org.au. AFCA expects you to have given the firm its chance first. For a complaint about an adviser rather than the fund, it goes to the adviser’s licensee — and if you’re not sure who that is, the Financial Advisers Register on moneysmart.gov.au will tell you.

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.