The law should be amended to allow employers to contribute more to the super accounts of their female workers than their male employees without breaching anti-discrimination laws, argues the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia. It also says, in order to help address the superannuation savings gender gap, the super guarantee should also be applied to paid parental leave schemes. And the threshold, where employees have to earn at least $450-a-month before employers have to pay superannuation, should be removed.

Check health policies

Some private health insurance premiums have risen by almost double the average 6.2 per cent approved a year ago by the federal government, according to comparethemarket. "Premium increases are not capped at this amount. And, while some insurers may have increased premiums, in many cases they've also altered their products, so it's important people check that their policy is still valuable to them. Typical changes to look out for may include the amount your fund will pay out per claim or the limits they set on different treatments, " says Abigail Koch, spokesperson at comparethemarket.

Vanguard branches out

Vanguard has launched hedged and unhedged versions of its international shares exchange traded funds. VGS (unhedged) and VGAD (hedged so currency changes have no effect) invest in around 1500 stocks across 22 countries excluding Australia. All dividends are re-invested. The annual fee for VGS is 0.18 per cent and 0.21 per cent for the currency hedged VGAD.

Super bounces back

Following the 0.6 per cent fall recorded in September, super funds bounced back in October with the typical balanced option, where most people have their money, recording a 1.2 per cent rise for the month. SuperRatings says the return for the year to October 31, 2014 now stands at 8.5 per cent. The main reason for the good return over October was the strong performance of Australian shares. The average annual return over the past 10 year to October 31, 2014 is 6.7 per cent.