ESSSuper Questions & Answers

My understanding is that they should be paying any outstanding amounts into his estate .

No, my family experienced this as well with my mothers fund. Unless a binding beneficiary form is signed by the account holder (something they didn’t tell my mother even in meetings close to her death), then the money actually belongs to the fund to disperse as they see fit. Your beneficiary preference is non binding. They are only obligated to disperse to your spouse or dependent children. If your children are all adults and there is no spouse or defacto partner they control the money. They do reassure that in the event of your death your non binding beneficiary nomination will be an important consideration when the board determines who should receive your death benefit and in what proportion.

My wife's super account is also in another fund and also appears to have a higher return than ESSS. The reason for this appears to be that most accounts in super funds are High Growth. ( Make some inquiries ) You take the risk of good returns as against the higher losses. I originally had my investment split between Balanced / Growth. Early last year I put it all in Growth and the benefits were noticeable. If I had of gone to High Growth it would have been even more substantial. The share market seems to go 'dormant' between April to September and becomes more active between Sept to March. You can change your investment at anytime and online at ESSS. Check the returns and you will find ESSS, and I still maintain they are a little bit conservative, are quiet comparable to all other funds. Hope this helps.

I had taken this into account and checked the returns on the 'Balanced Fund' of both ESSS and my wifes fund for both the 16 -17 financial year and also the YTD monthly returns. The comparison was based on the balanced fund not the higher growth options. When I checked all of the investment options of both funds her fund paid higher returns at all levels of investment.

ESSSUPER was once a stand alone fund but was rolled over into the State Fund by the Labor Government of the time and since then performance and customer service has gone down hill. They are reluctant to give 'financial advice' as they person giving same has to be a registered financial planner and they probably don't want to spend a few bucks on one. I am with them and am seriously considering giving them the flick for their poor customer service and performance. Even their own graphs show that they consistently underperform the industry average.
Your experience is similar to a number of members I have spoken to. The fund is great while you are working (Defined Benefit) but you seriously need to get some advice from a professional (as you have done) before you commit to staying with this fund.
PS: You won't get an answer from them as they probably do not monitor this portal.

Ring the fund and ask if you are eligible.