How to change investment plans

Once you’ve decided which investment plan suits your needs, it’s easy to change your investment plan. Simply follow the instructions on this page to complete the form.

If you have a GESB Super, West State Super or Retirement Income account and would like to change your investment plan using Member Online, please see the Member Online help guide for step-by-step instructions.

We will process your investment switch on the first available business day after receiving it. Generally, within two to three business days1 of receiving your request. However, sometimes it may take up to five business days, or longer in exceptional cases, to process your switch.

Please keep in mind that your investment switch will take effect on the day it’s processed, rather than on the day it’s received. The unit price on day we process your switch will be applied to the transaction. Learn more about when your investment switch will take effect.

1. Learn about our investment plans

You don’t need to know a lot about investing to understand the different plans available. Read about the investment plans before making a decision:

2. Download the form

If you have a GESB Super, West State Super or Retirement account and would like to change your investment plan using Member Online, please see the Member Online help guide for step-by-step instructions. Login to Member Online.

Otherwise, download and print the form you need for your type of account:

You can’t type directly into the form, so you’ll need to complete it by hand. You might like to print the form then return to this page for help to complete the form.

3. Provide your personal details

This image shows the ‘Section 1 - Your details’ section of the Retirement Income Pension investment choice form. In this section, you need to provide your GESB member number, RI Allocated Pension account number (if applicable) and personal details including your title, surname, given name or names, date of birth; residential, postal and email addresses; and telephone numbers. These details include your member number, name, date of birth and contact details. If you have a RI Allocated Pension, Transition to Retirement Pension or RI Term Allocated Pension account, you’ll also need to provide the account number to change your plan for that account.

These details include your member number, name, date of birth and contact details. If you have a RI Allocated Pension, Transition to Retirement Pension or RI Term Allocated Pension account, you’ll also need to provide the account number to change your plan for that account.

This image shows part of the ‘Section 1 - Your details’ section of the Retirement Income Pension investment choice form. In this section, you need to provide your GESB member number and Retirement Income Pension account number.

4. Choose your new investment plan

GESB Super and West State Super

This image shows part of the ‘Section 2 – Choose your investment plan’ section of the GESB Super investment choice form. In this section, you need to tick box A if you want a Readymade plan, and then simply tick the box next to the plan of your choice. The Readymade investment plans include the Growth plan, My GESB Super plan, Balanced plan, Conservative plan and Cash plan. The total balance of your GESB Super account will be allocated to your chosen investment plan.

If you’re a GESB Super or West State Super member, tick box A if you want a Readymade plan, and then simply tick the box behind the plan of your choice.

You can then skip to the end of the form where you sign the declaration.

If you prefer the Mix Your plan option, tick box B and write a percentage in the box behind the assets you want to invest in.

This image shows part of the ‘Section 2 – Choose your investment plan’ section of the GESB Super investment choice form. In this section, you need to tick box B if you want a ‘Mix Your’ plan, and then write a percentage in the box next to the assets you want to invest in. The Mix Your plan asset classes include Australian Shares, International Shares, Property, Fixed Interest and Cash. Please note, if you’re changing your Mix Your plan investment mix, you’ll cancel any automatic rebalancing you’ve previously requested. If you would like us to automatically rebalance your new investment mix, please complete section 3.

You need to choose the percentages in multiples of 5%, adding to a total of 100%.

On the next page, you can choose to adjust your mix to your chosen percentage quarterly, twice a year or once a year. This adjustment means we’ll update your plan to make sure the percentage you choose in each asset class remains the same over time.

If you don’t choose any of these options, you’ll need to monitor your own investments over time to make sure the investment mix still meets your needs.

This image shows ‘Section 3 – Rebalancing (optional)’ section of the GESB Super investment choice form. In this section, if you’ve selected Mix Your plan in Section 2, you can elect to automatically rebalance your Mix Your plan investment mix, to ensure the percentage held in each asset class remains the same over time. You then need to select how often you would like this to happen. Your options are quarterly, twice a year or once a year. If you choose to have automatic rebalancing, we will rebalance your investment mix on the 15th day of the month according to the option selected. You must make a new election to rebalance each time you change your Mix Your plan investment mix.

RI Allocated Pension, Transition to Retirement Pension and RI Term Allocated Pension

This image shows part of the ‘Section 2 – Change your investment plans’ section of the Retirement Income Pension investment choice form. In this section, you need to choose from the investment options available with your Retirement Income Pension account. For example, if you tick ‘Growth plan/Growth plan TTR’ under option A, your account will be invested in our Growth plan if you’re an RI Allocated Pension member, or in our Growth plan TTR if you’re a Transition to Retirement Pension member.

This image shows part of the ‘Section 2 – Change your investment plans’ section of the Retirement Income Pension investment choice form. In this section, you are provided with option A which is if you want a Readymade plan. If so, you need to tick the box next to option A and then print the full name of the investment plan you wish to select in the box provided. The Readymade investment plans include the Growth plan/Growth plan TTR, Balanced plan/Balanced plan TTR, Conservative plan/ Conservative plan TTR and Cash plan/Cash plan TTR. Your pension will be paid from your selected investment plan.

For Retirement Income Pension members, if you would like all of your money invested in one Readymade plan, tick box A and write the name of the plan in the box below it.

You can then skip to the end of the form where you sign the declaration.

If you would like to invest in the Cash plan and one other Readymade plan, then tick box B.

This image shows part of the ‘Section 2 – Change your investment plans’ section of the Retirement Income Pension investment choice form. In this section, you are provided with option B which is if you want to nominate the percentage you would like invested in the Cash or Cash plan TTR. If so, you need to tick the box next to option B and nominate the Readymade plan you would like the remainder invested in. Your pension will be paid in the same proportions as it is invested. Alternatively, if you want to have your pension paid in different proportions or in a different order, you will need to complete the percentage or order in the boxes provided. If you wish to update your drawdown percentage and/or drawdown order only and keep your asset classes, you can tick the box next to this option.

You’ll need to specify what percentage of your account balance you would like to invest in the Cash plan. You’ll also need to write the name of the other Readymade plan you want to invest in in the box below it.

You need to choose to either pay your pension as a percentage of the listed investment plans, or choose the order you want to pay it in.

For example, if you want to invest 50% of your balance in the Cash plan and 50% in the Growth plan, but you want your pension payments to be made mostly from your Cash plan, then you enter 80% in the box behind ‘Cash’ and 20% in the box behind ‘Other investment plan’.

Or you can choose the order you want to pay your pension in by entering a 1 and 2 in the boxes on the far right.

For example, if you enter ‘1’ behind the Cash plan percentage, then 100%of your pension payment will come out of your Cash plan until you have no funds left in this plan.  The pension payments will then be paid from your remaining plan.

You can then skip to the end of the form where you sign the declaration.

On the next page, you can choose to invest in the Mix Your plan options. If you prefer to Mix Your plan instead of choosing a Readymade option, tick box C and write a percentage in the box behind the assets you want to invest in.

This image shows part of the ‘Section 2 – Change your investment plans’ section of the Retirement Income Pension investment choice form. In this section, you are provided with option C which is if you do not want to invest in any of the Readymade plans. If so, you need to tick the box next to option C and build your investment mix by choosing 5% multiples in one or more of the asset classes listed to total 100%.You can then nominate your investment mix percentage and the percentage of payment or the order you would like your pension to be paid. You can select from five asset classes, which are: Cash or Cash TTR, Fixed Interest or Fixed Interest TTR, Australian Shares or Australian Shares TTR, International Shares or International Shares TTR, Property or Property TTR. Your pension will be paid in the same proportions as it is invested. Alternatively, if you want to have your pension paid in different proportions or in a different order, you will need to complete the percentage or order in the boxes provided. If you wish to update your drawdown percentage and/or drawdown order only and keep your asset classes, you can tick the box next to this option.

You have to choose the percentages in multiples of 5% with the total adding up to 100%.

AND you need to choose to pay your pension from the selection of investment plans (ensure the total equals 100%) or pay your pension from the plans by selecting an order (i.e. 1, 2, etc).

If you have a Retirement Income Pension account and you choose either investment option B or C, your payments will be made in the percentage or order you choose until there’s no money left in one of your chosen plans. Then the payment will be made from your other plan or plans.

It’s always worth checking how your investments are tracking in Member Online. You can complete another form at any stage to adjust your investment mix.

5. Read and sign the declaration

To finish completing the form, you need to acknowledge that you’ve read the relevant information and that your chosen investment option is your choice and not a choice made by us.

This image shows the ‘Section 4 – Declaration and signature’ section of the GESB Super investment choice form. In this section, you need to declare that you: 1. Have read the ‘GESB Super Product Information Booklet’ and ‘Investment choice’ brochure and understand they serve as general information only, and do not contain personal financial advice. 2. GESB will invest my super according to my choice of investment plan and is not responsible for my choice. 3. My investment choice will generally be processed within two to three business days after my completed ‘Investment choice’ form is received. 4. GESB cannot guarantee the unit price that will apply to my investment switch. 5. Once my investment choice has been accepted, it cannot be cancelled or reversed. I can only make further changes to my plan once my previous request has been completed. You need to then sign and date your completed form.

You also need to understand that once you submit this form, your request can’t be reversed. If you change your mind, you can make another investment choice, but it will only be processed once the first change has been completed.

When you sign the declaration, the process is almost complete.

6. Send the form to us

Now that you’ve completed and signed your 'Investment choice' form, simply post it to us at:

GESB
PO Box J 755
Perth WA 6842

You can also email the form to:

memberservices@gesb.com.au

Please allow up to six business days for Australia Post to deliver regular mail.

After we have processed the changes to your investment plan, we will confirm this with you in writing, including the unit price that applied to your switch.

You will be able to see the details of the transaction in Member Online, usually within five business days of the effective date of your switch. Learn more about when your investment switch will take effect.

1 A business day is a work day other than a public holiday or weekend in Western Australia

Page last updated 04 November 2020

Thank you for printing this page. Remember to come back to gesb.wa.gov.au for the latest information as our content is updated regularly. This information is correct as at 17 January 2021.