You must maintain a minimum balance of $200 in your transaction account at all times.
Please read the relevant Hostplus Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making a decision about Hostplus. For a description of the target market, please read the Target Market Determination (TMD), available at hostplus.com.au.
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Your transaction account comprises the following four components. These amounts are included for illustrative purposes only.
Balance type | Description | Example balance |
---|---|---|
Actual Cash | The physical cash that is currently in your account. This is the amount upon which interest is calculated daily. | $190,000.00 |
Accrued interest (net of tax) | The accrued interest for the current month (less an allowance for tax) that is yet to be paid into your account. | $40.00 |
Income due but not received (IDBNR) | Known income from dividends or distributions that is yet to be received in your account. | $60.00 |
Unsettled trades | This includes the proceeds of completed sales and funds for completed purchases that have yet to be settled. | $10,000.00 |
Total cash | $200,100.00 |
Available cash refers to the amount of cash in your transaction account that is available to invest.
Your available cash is calculated as follows:
Value | Amount ($) |
---|---|
Total cash | $200,100.00 |
Income due but not received | - $60.00 |
Accrued interest (net of tax) | - $40.00 |
Reserved cash | $5,000.00 |
Available cash | $195,000.00 |
Reserved cash is made up of:
You must maintain a minimum balance of $200 in your transaction account at all times.
You can make a transfer request at any time. Cash transfer requests are processed daily for requests received before 4pm AEST two national business days prior.
To transfer cash between your Choiceplus transaction account and your Choiceplus Investment Options:
Note: that cash transfers into your transaction account will be deducted from your Hostplus investment options in proportion to their estimated current value. Cash transfers out of your transaction account will be credited to your Hostplus investment options in accordance with your nominated future contributions strategy.
The interest you will receive on your transaction account is calculated using the current Reserve Bank of Australia official cash rate. Interest on your transaction account is accrued daily and credited to your account monthly (in arrears and net of any applicable tax).
To view interest payments and rates on your transaction account:
Features of Choiceplus include:
You must maintain at least $200 at all times in the transaction account. The platform will automatically manage this minimum from any interest or dividend income you receive or from the proceeds of any share, ETF or LIC transaction. If however your account does fall below $200 we will contact you to top up your account.
If after 30 days from our first attempt to contact you and you have not taken action to top-up your transaction account to at least $200, Hostplus will consider the following:
If you do hold any shares, ETFs, LICs or term deposits Hostplus will;
The steps Hostplus will take in order are:
To view or cancel a pending cash transfer request:
To view your cash balance available for investing:
You can select from:
The following restrictions and limits apply to Choiceplus:
You must keep a minimum balance of $2,000 invested in one or more of Hostplus' other investment options and $200 in your Choiceplus transaction account.
Provided you meet these two conditions you can invest:
Please note: If your holding reaches above 20% for a single equity or 80% of you total balance, you will not be required to liquidate any position to keep within these rules. You may not be able to purchase other shares or exchange traded funds until your account reaches a level below 80% of the total fund value.
The Choiceplus investment option can carry capital losses forward, which may provide you with tax benefits. A capital loss occurs when an asset loses value in between buying and selling it. Although capital gains must be realised and taxed each year, capital losses can be carried forward, to be offset against future gains. Choiceplus allows you to carry forward any realised capital losses in relation to the sale of shares, ETFs or LICs to offset against future gains and includes these in the calculation of the current year’s net capital gain (or loss) calculations.
Stocks can provide tax benefits to shareholders in the form of franking credits (also known as imputation credits). Franking credits are attached to dividends and apply to the amount of tax a company has paid on it profits. Australian companies pay tax at a rate of 30%, which is the maximum franking credit investors can receive.
Superannuation funds pay a maximum tax rate of 15% on any investment income received. Any dividends that have been taxed at a rate higher than 15% return an associated franking credit to you.
The franking credit is equivalent to the difference between the superannuation fund tax rate and the tax rate paid by the company. Franking credits are credited back to your account and can help to improve net investment returns.
Example 1 – an unfranked dividend of $70.00
Unfranked dividend income: $70.00
Total dividend income: $70.00
Taxable income: $70.00
(Tax withheld)/refund received: ($10.50)
Net dividend income: $59.50
Step 1 multiply taxable income by 15% to calculate tax withheld
Step 2 deduct tax withheld from total dividend income to calculate net dividend income
Example 2 – a fully franked dividend of $70.00
Fully franked dividend income: $70.00
Total dividend income: $70.00
Franking credit: $30.00
Taxable income: $100.00
(Tax withheld)/refund received: $15.00
Net dividend income: $85.00
Step 1 add fully franked dividend income to franking credit to calculate taxable income
Step 2 multiple taxable income by 15% and then deduct franking credit to calculate tax (withheld)/refund due
Step 3 add (tax withheld)/refund to total dividend income to calculate net dividend income
Example 3 – a partially franked dividend of $70.00
Unfranked dividend income: $40.00
Fully franked dividend income: $30.00
Total dividend income: $70.00
Franking credit: $10.00
Taxable income: $80.00
(Tax withheld)/refund received: ($2.00)
Net dividend income: $68.00
Step 1 add fully franked dividend income and unfranked dividend income to calculate total dividend income
Step 2 add franking credit to total dividend income to calculate taxable income
Step 3 multiple taxable income by 15% and then deduct franking credit to calculate tax (withheld)/refund due
Step 4 add (tax withheld)/refund to total dividend income to calculate net dividend income
Pension accounts are not subject to tax.
Any franking credits will be added to your Transaction account or reinvested if you have selected that option.
Switching between the other Hostplus investment options (excluding the Choiceplus Option)
1. Click on the 'Manage my account' icon on the home page and select 'Manage my investments' option
For Superannuation Members:
You will see two columns; the first will be for your Superannuation Balance. This is where you change existing balance into your new investment option. The second will be for your future contributions. This is where any funds coming into Hostplus will be invested i.e. Employer contributions, Salary sacrifice, Rollins etc. This excludes dividends.
For Pension Members:
The first column will be to change your current investment option. The second column will not be active unless you have previously selected a percentage based or priority based drawdown. You are able to change your drawdown option by selecting the drop down menu next to ‘Change your drawdown strategy to’
2. Enter the percentage of your portfolio you want to allocate to each investment option and click 'continue'
3. A review screen will appear advising you what will happen next. Click 'continue' if you are sure you want to close your account. If you are not sure click 'cancel' Investment switches are processed weekly.
Requests received before 4.00pm AEST on a National Business Day will be effective two national business days following.
To view or cancel a pending investment switch request:
You use the cash transfer feature to transfer money from your other Hostplus investment options into your Choiceplus transaction account. You can then use this money to invest in shares, ETFs, LICs or term deposits.
The Choiceplus investment option allows you to participate in a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) when offered by the issuing company and have your dividends automatically reinvested to buy more shares. Alternatively, you can have your dividends paid into your Transaction Account as cash. A default DRP preference can be applied to your account, or you can nominate by individual investment.
When you registered for Choiceplus, your default DRP preference was set to cash. You can change your DRP preference through the 'Settings' icon on the home page then selecting 'My details', however when a dividend is declared, we will use your DRP nomination preference as at 11.59pm AEST/AEDT the day prior to ex-date.
Please be aware that not all companies offer dividend reinvestment. If you choose dividend reinvestment and this is not offered, the dividend will be paid as cash into your transaction account.
Choiceplus offers a selection of three month, six month and 12 month term deposits from ME Bank.
To view the list of term deposits available click on the 'Manage my account' icon on the homepage and select 'Buy term deposits'.
Investments in term deposits are placed on a Friday (or the next business day if the Friday falls on a public holiday). You can request investment in a term deposit at any point during the week before 11.59pm AEST/AEDT on a Thursday. If your request is received after this time it will take effect from the following Friday.
To invest in term deposits:
If you have requested an investment in a term deposit you can view your request via the 'pending' tab. You can also cancel your term deposit investment request at any point prior to 11.59pm AEST/AEDT on a Thursday. After this time your investment request cannot be cancelled. Please read 'Can I cancel a term deposit order' for more information.
If you have specified auto reinvestment preferences, these will be recorded against the term deposit when it is placed with the issuer and can be changed at any time up until 2 days prior to maturity.
You have until 11.59pm AEST/AEDT on the Thursday after you place your term deposit order to cancel your request without incurring any penalties.
To cancel your term deposit order:
These orders will remain at pending until 11.59pm AEST/AEDT on the next Thursday and can be cancelled through the above steps.
Applications to redeem a term deposit prior to maturity will only be granted in limited circumstances.
These are:
If you meet one of the above criteria and you (or your beneficiaries) redeem your term deposits(s) prior to the maturity date, the interest rate will be reduced as follows:
Time invested | Interest rate reduction |
0 to 50% of total term | 50% |
Over 50% of total term | 20% |
Here is an example. A member invests $10,000 in a term deposit with a maturity term of three months (90 days) at an interest rate of 9%. The member decides to break the term deposit after 50 days. As this is more than 50% of the total term the interest rate reduction is 20%, resulting in $98.63 gross interest payment to the members transaction account.
If the member had held the term deposit for the full term of 90 days they would have received $123.29 in interest.
Please note, 15% tax applies to interest income, which will be debited from the members transaction account.
The calculation is shown below:
(0.09 * 80%) x 50 days 365 = 0.009863 this rate is applied to the investment amount of $10,000 = $98.63
Your interest will be credited to your transaction account at the date of maturity.
A pending order is an order you have placed that has not been processed or sent to market Pending orders can relate to applications to buy or sell shares, ETFs and LICs (particularly if you have placed an 'at limit' or 'at market' order outside of market opening hours) or to invest in a term deposit.
Pending share orders can be viewed in the pending tab located under 'Manage my account/Trade listed investments'. Pending term deposit orders can be viewed in the pending tab located under 'Manage my account/Buy term deposits'.
A pending term deposit order is an order you have placed that has not been processed or sent to market. Pending orders can relate to applications to buy or sell shares (particularly if you have placed an ’at limit’ or ’at market’ order outside of market opening hours) or to invest in a term deposit. Pending share orders can be viewed in the pending tab via the 'Manage my account' icon on the home page within the 'Trade listed investments' option. Pending term deposit orders can be viewed in the pending tab via the 'Manage my account' icon on the home page within the 'Buy term deposits' option.
The minimum amount you can invest in term deposits is $1,000.
The maximum amount you can invest in a single term deposit is $5 million providing you keep at least $2,000 invested in your other Hostplus investment options and $200 in your Choiceplus transaction account.
You can choose from a selection of Australian and international exchange traded funds.
To invest in exchange traded funds (ETFs):
Yes, you can cancel or change trades that have not been fully executed.
To cancel an exchange traded fund (ETF) trade:
To change a trade:
To sell exchange traded fund (ETF) units:
Click on the 'Manage my account' icon on the home page and select ‘Trade listed investments' option.
You can also track, buy and sell ETFs from your watchlist.
Please note you cannot buy and sell the same security on the same day.
You cannot currently transfer shares you already personally own into Choiceplus.
You can invest in any stock included in the S&P/ASX 300 Index.
To invest in shares:
You can also track, buy and sell stocks from a watchlist.
Scaled brokerage fees apply based on the transaction amount:
Transaction amount | Brokerage fee* |
$0 to $10,000 | $19.95 |
$10,000.01 to $27,500 | $29.95 |
$27,500.01 to $250,000 | 0.11% |
*The above rates exclude GST
RITC (Reduced Input Tax Credit) is a rebate that applies to certain services where GST is charged. All share trades on Choiceplus are entitled to a 75% RITC rebate on the GST that applied to brokerage costs.
Utilizing the attached example where GST of $2.00 was charged - An RITC rebate of $1.50 is applied to the member’s account, hence total GST payable for this trade is essentially $0.50.
The minimum amount you can invest in shares is $1,500 per buy order, including brokerage. You also need to keep at least $2,000 invested in one or more of Hostplus’ other investment options and a minimum balance of $200 in your transaction account.
You can invest up to 80% of your account balance in shares, providing you keep a minimum balance of $2,000 invested in one or more of Hostplus' other investment options. The maximum you can invest in any single listed security is 20% of your total super balance.
Please note: The above rules only apply upon initial purchase.
You will not be required to sell down your holding if it increases in value to above 80% of your total holding and 20% for a single share, ETF or LIC and you will still be able to participate in any on market Corporate Actions.
Yes, you can cancel or change trades that have not been fully executed.
To cancel a trade:
To change a trade:
When you place your order, you can select whether you want your order to be valid for the day or 30 days. This is called the 'expiration' period.
If you choose 'good for day', Hostplus will attempt to execute your order on the day the order was requested. If all or part of your order was unable to be executed on that day your order (or part thereof) will expire.
If you choose 'good for 30 days' Hostplus will attempt to execute your order within 30 calendar days from the date of your order request. If all or part of your order was unable to be executed within that period your order (or part thereof) will expire.
For all limit and market orders which are not fully executed in the same trading day, normal brokerage will be charged for the total portion executed per day.
Please note, that the ASX has changed the rules applying to ETF trades. Any orders still open at the end of the day will be cancelled after market close. You can avoid this by placing your ETF order 'at market' or setting an 'at limit' price with a 'good for the day' expiry.
Click on the 'Manage my account' icon on the home page and select ‘Trade listed investments' option.
You can also track, buy and sell shares from your watchlist.
Please note you cannot buy and sell the same security on the same day.
The ’Alerts’ icon on the homepage notifies you of corporate actions and other items that require your attention. For example, you may receive an alert if your transaction account falls below the minimum balance or a company you have shares in is participating in a merger or acquisition. From time to time, Hostplus may also post an alert regarding any product changes or information that you need to be aware of.
A corporate action is an action taken by a publicly listed company relating to its securities. Examples of corporate actions include mergers, rights issues, bonus issues, changes of name or code, or capital returns.
Examples of corporate actions include mergers and de-mergers, rights issues, bonus issues, stock splits and dividend payments.
As a shareholder, you will receive a communication detailing any corporate actions that may impact your portfolio and whether you can elect to participate. For example, you may be asked to accept or reject a company's share entitlement offer by a certain date.
You will be notified of any corporate actions by the 'Alerts' icon on the homepage.
To view or act on a corporate action:
A rights issue is a privilege granted to shareholders to buy new shares in the same company.
Choiceplus allows members to participate in both renounceable and non-renounceable rights issues.
If the offer is a 'renounceable rights issue' the shareholder can choose to take their allocation of shares; let them lapse or trade them on the market.
If the offer is a 'non-renounceable rights issue' the shareholder can choose to either take their allocation of shares or let them lapse. They cannot be traded on the market.
Hostplus will notify you of your eligibility to participate in either rights issue and full details will be accessible via 'Manage my Account' within the 'Corporate actions' section.
Please note that due to processing times any offer available through the Choiceplus platform may close earlier than displayed on the ASX website or within the issuing company's announcement.
Any shares requested through oversubscription are at the total discretion of the issuing company and Hostplus cannot guarantee that orders will be partially or totally fulfilled.
Choiceplus does not allow members to participate in Share Purchase Plans.
A Share Purchase Plan or SPP is an offer to existing shareholders to purchase more shares within that company, without brokerage fees. There is no legal requirement for a company offering a SPP to produce a prospectus. Due to the lack of disclosure documents, ASIC has a cap of $15,000 on the value of shares that each shareholder can take up through an SPP.
A class action is a legal proceeding that involves a group of people who have a claim against the same company. People will often merge their claims via a class action to have the matter dealt with more quickly and cost effectively.
Hostplus does not allow you to use your Choiceplus shareholdings to join class actions against any ASX listed company.
You can set up watchlists to keep track of companies ETFs and LICs you are interested in buying, or those you already hold in your portfolio. The watchlist details 20 minute delayed information such as prices, daily highs and lows, volume traded as well as change from previous day, for your watchlist of stocks. You can also buy and sell shares from watchlists.
As your portfolio valuation information is based on the closing price from the previous day, it is a good idea to set up watchlist for stocks you already own so you can track the intraday performance of your portfolio.
To create a watchlist:
Click on the 'Quick Quote' icon on the home page. Enter the company name or code in the 'name or code' box. Click on the 'Live quote' option to obtain a live share price. 20 minute delayed share prices are displayed on any tile that displays a listed investment in your portfolio or those contained within your watchlists.
A ‘share’ refers to the number of units of a company ‘stock’ you own. For example you might hold 1,000 shares in ‘XYZ’ stock. A security is a financial investment such as a stock, bond ETF or LIC, which can be traded in financial markets.
The Choiceplus online platform includes: Independent market commentary and company analysis and recommendations provided by UBS. Current and historical share price movements, Australian and global index data and foreign exchange rates. Market gainers and losers, turnover, volume and value. Technical analysis data and interactive charting. Morningstar commentary and data covering Australian and global financial market summaries, company news and global financial news.
Your account includes access to a standard suite of news and market summary information from Morningstar. This includes access to key fundamental analysis ratios including revenue, earnings, dividends, return on assets, income, profitability and valuations on local and global companies.
You can access local and global market data for a specific listed investment via the 'Quick Quote' option on the home page or alternatively the news feed will present selected market news based on the investments you hold and those you have in your watchlists.
Morningstar provides the market and stock data and UBS provides the independent market commentary and stock research.
Consensus recommendations are stock recommendations provided by a selection of independent research houses.
Independent research is provided by UBS and includes market and stock commentary and analysis plus analyst recommendations.
You will receive alerts and emails via Choiceplus online platform advising you of any corporate actions you need to be aware of and dividend payments relevant to your investments. You will also receive alert emails for listed investments that are part of a watch list that you have selected to follow.
The following reports can be downloaded in PDF format from the Choiceplus platform:
Report | Description |
Portfolio Valuation Report | Breakdown of the current valuations of your cash, term deposits, shares, ETFs, LICs and other investment options. Also includes a consolidated valuation of your entire portfolio. |
Cash Transaction Report | Details transactions from your transaction account for a specified date range. |
Fees and Expenses Report | Details fees and expenses such as administration fees, brokerage and data services for a specified date range. |
Dividend Report | Details dividends paid on your share portfolio for a specified date range. Includes unfranked and franked dividend income, franking credits, tax withheld and net dividend income. |
Unrealised Capital Gains and Tax Report | Details unrealised capital gains and capital losses for your share portfolio for financial year periods. |
Capital Gains Disposal and Tax Report | Details realised capital gains and unused realised capital losses on share sales for financial year periods. |
To generate a report:
The following fees apply to the Choiceplus:
Transaction amount | Brokerage fee* |
$0 to $10,000 | $19.95 |
$10,000.01 to $27,500 | $29.95 |
$27,500 to $250,000 | 0.11% |
*The above rates exclude GST
Click on the ’Settings’ icon on the home page and select ’My details’ from the menu. You can change your email address. You cannot change your username or member number.
Before you close your Choiceplus account, you will need to sell any shares you currently hold. If you hold any term deposits, you will need to wait until the end of their term before you can close your account unless you meet one of our early redemption conditions.
To close your account:
You cannot direct future contributions into Choiceplus. You can make a transfer request at any time. Cash transfer requests are processed daily for requests received before 4pm AEST two national business days prior.
There are no fees when you place a term deposit order.
Term deposits available through Choiceplus are not covered by the Government guarantee (Financial Claims Scheme) as they are not held on separate trust for each individual member. The Financial Claims Scheme only applies to super fund members if the trustee holds bank deposits with an approved authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) on separate trust, which it treats as different 'account-holders'. Hostplus pools together all members' term deposit investments each week to invest with each term deposit issuer to minimise the costs to members.
Choiceplus allows you to specify reinvestment preferences on a term deposit at the time you place the initial order, or at any time during the term up to 2 days before the day of maturity through the portfolio drawer or your account channel.
The reinvestment options available are:
Reinvest the principal only, or the principal + net interest
Purchase a term based on same term and same provider as the maturing term deposit, or same term and best rate
Reinvest only once, or reinvest using these preferences until cancelled
On the day of maturity, the principal plus net interest will be deposited into your transaction account and a new order will be created based on your reinvestment preferences.
You must be a Hostplus member with $10,000 or more in your account to be eligible to invest in Choiceplus. Once registered, you must keep at least $2,000 invested in one or more of our other investment options.
You can invest as much of your account balance as you like, provided you keep at least $2,000 invested in your other Hostplus investments. If you are a pension member you must keep sufficient funds in your other Hostplus investment options to allow for your annual pension payments. This may be more than $2,000 depending on the minimum annual pension payment that Hostplus must pay you throughout the year.
The Income Payment Reserve (IPR) is the amount you must retain in non Choiceplus investments, allowing Hostplus to pay you at least the minimum annual pension required by legislation. The IPR is reset each year when the new minimum pension amount is calculated for your pension plan.
Funds in your transaction account are invested in a Hostplus cash account with ME Bank. ME Bank is a 100% Australian owned, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) regulated bank.
Choiceplus offers many of the key advantages of a self-managed super fund (SMSF), but at a fraction of the cost. And you continue to be invested in an APRA regulated super fund with all the prudential protections that it provides – unlike a SMSF which does not provide the same protections.
When you register for Choiceplus, a transaction account is automatically created for you. Your transaction account is like an online bank account, but you can use the funds to invest in shares, ETFs, LICs and term deposits. You can also use the transaction account to transfer money into and out of your other Hostplus investment options.
You need a Choiceplus transaction account as:
The ETF will generally hold similar securities and weightings to the index, so it can closely replicate its performance. Market participants tend to ensure ETFs trade at prices that are closely aligned to the net asset value of the underlying securities in the portfolio. Similar to share trading, ETFs can be bought and sold at any time during the trading day through Choiceplus.
The ETFs offered on Choiceplus have been selected by Hostplus based on recommendations from Lonsec Research Pty Ltd, a specialist investment research house and the leading provider of quality managed fund and ETF research in the Australian market.
While investing in Choiceplus, the following restrictions and limits apply:
All investment decisions are made by Choiceplus investors. Hostplus recommends you seek independent financial advice in respect of Choiceplus investments. Hostplus retains all exclusions of liability and rights of indemnity.
You cannot nominate cash to be allocated to your Choiceplus account from contributions. You must submit a cash transfer request to move money from your other investment options into Choiceplus.
LICs are listed managed investments. They enable an investor to invest in a diverse and professionally managed portfolio of assets which can include shares, property and interest bearing deposits.
LICs are bought and sold on the market just like an ordinary share and as an investor you can decide whether the investment style and underlying investment portfolio of a particular LIC suits your own investment needs and objectives.
To invest in Listed Invested Companies (LICs):
Yes, you can cancel or change trades that have not been fully executed.
To cancel a Listed Investment Company (LIC) trade:
To change a trade:
To sell exchange traded fund (LIC) units:
Click on the 'Manage my account' icon on the home page and select ‘Trade listed investments' option.
You can also track, buy and sell LICs from your watchlist.
Please note you cannot buy and sell the same security on the same day.