With your funds locked away until retirement, putting extra money into your superannuation early in life doesn’t feel like the most exciting thing to do. But even adding a small amount now could make you hundreds of thousands of dollars better off once you do stop working.

Currently, every worker in Australia gets a respectable 11 per cent of their earnings funnelled into our all-important superannuation funds. For many people, this is the only money they’ll ever add to their super – at least until much later in life.

Adding even a small amount to your super now can make you thousands of dollars richer in retirement. So why don’t more people do it?Credit: Marija Ercegovac

But there are many ways to add extra cash to your super fund, and not only do those extra dollars boost your retirement savings and compound over time, there are a few other sweet bonuses you get as a reward for proactively looking out for your future.

Here’s all you need to know about topping up your super, and why you should be doing it.

When it comes to making extra contributions, the general advice is the earlier, the better. But later is still better than never according to Melbourne-based financial adviser Tom Foreman, who runs his own financial advisory as well as the website reviewmysuper.com.au.

“The main benefit of making extra contributions is long-term investment. You’re putting your funds into a great investment environment, as super funds generally have quite a good return,” says Foreman.

Then there’s the beauty of compound returns. “Money in super compounds over time. Over the long run, it’s going to add up to a much higher amount compared to if you’ve got it under the mattress or in a low-interest savings account.”

For example, salary-sacrificing $200 a month into your super starting at age 30 could see you retire with an extra $100,000 in the bank. Furthermore, there are also incentives for people to contribute, including tax........

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