What is unit pricing?

Like many other funds, we value your account using units.

When you, or your employer, make a contribution to your account, you purchase units in your investment plan. The units change in value as the value of the underlying asset classes (which make up the various investment plans) either increase or decrease.

How a unit price is calculated

A unit price is calculated as:

• The total market value of the assets in each investment plan DIVIDED BY
• The number of units held in that investment plan

As the market fluctuates on a daily basis, the total value of the investment plan changes. The unit prices are calculated net of the management fee and taxes on investment income if applicable.

Unit pricing is an efficient way to determine your account’s value

Unit pricing has several benefits:

• It helps in processing transactions in your account, which is especially important when there are several investment choices available
• No matter which investment plan you have, the value of your account can be calculated relatively quickly and easily
• It makes it easy for you to switch from one investment plan to another

We typically use a ‘forward unit pricing’ system, which is a widely adopted standard in the funds management and super industry.

How forward unit pricing works

The unit price for any given day is based on the value of our assets at the close of business that day.

We work out the unit price for Monday, for example, based on the value of our assets at the close of business on Monday. We then release and apply the unit price to Monday’s transactions (buying and selling units) on Tuesday.

We take the same approach for every transaction in your account, including contributions, rollovers and switches between investment plans. The unit price determines how many units we buy or sell to process your transaction.

Units are sold when you withdraw money from your account

When you access your super or change investment plans, the required number of units are sold at the unit price that applies when your transaction is processed. The number of units in your account is then adjusted in proportion to your account balance.

Review your investment plan’s unit price history

You can review the unit price history of your chosen investment plan or any other investment plans available.

View unit prices

We want fairness for all of our members

Our Board has the discretion to depart from the unit pricing calculation policy when deemed necessary. This may include using historical pricing in particular cases. If the Board uses this discretion, we will always let you know the details, including the date it occurred, what discretion was used and why, through this website.

From time to time, unit prices and transactions may be suspended and new prices may be struck. This would be most likely to happen where there has been a material movement in the value of an asset class, and it is considered necessary to suspend unit prices and transactions in order to ensure fairness among our members.

How unit pricing works - Meet Kelly

Kelly invests $50,000 in our Growth plan. If the current unit price for the Growth plan on establishment date is $1.00, Kelly’s investment will purchase a total of 50,000.00 units.

Buying units: $50,000 ÷ $1.0000 = 50,000.00 units

Kelly wants to take a lump-sum payment of $2,000 from her GESB Super account.

The units she redeems are determined by dividing the payment amount by the current unit price for that investment option.

The units are calculated by:

• The payment amount DIVIDED BY
• The current unit price

In this example, the current unit price for the Growth plan is $1.1574, so Kelly will redeem a total of 1728.0111 units.

Selling units: $2,000 ÷ $1.1574 = 1728.0111 units