Oh, that $5 billion!

There is a one in two chance that you have money in a forgotten superannuation account.

The ratings agency, Superratings, made that calculation.

It says about 6 million Australians do.  That’s about half the nation’s workforce.

The amounts involved are huge. Superratings says that, effectively, there is about $5.15 billion lying around in unclaimed superannuation accounts.

On average, that is almost $1,000 in each of these accounts.

And it’s not a good idea to leave your money lying idle in that way.

There are at least two big reasons why you should not do so.

The first is that the fees charged on these accounts are roughly twice as high as those charged on live  superannuation accounts.

“This has allowed suppliers to strip an estimated $140 million from these accounts in the past financial year alone,” Superratings Managing Director, Jeff Bresnahan said.

These lost accounts are known, technically, as Eligible Rollover Funds, or ERFs.

The Tax man, too, has his eyes on a big slices of  this money.

Under new regulations, the balances in more than 1.5 million of small ERFs will be passed on to the Tax Office later this year,

These accounts, individually, have less than $200 in them.

Collectively, though, they are quite valuable.

Mr Bresnahan says the Tax Office will probably receive more than $100 million, when the first tranche of this money is transferred to it.

That will probably happen in October.

So what should you do, if you have money loafing about in an ERF? Move Heaven and ERF if you have to, but claim it.