How Bunbury residents 'lost' their super

Bunbury residents have lost track of more than $28.5 million in superannuation and advisers are putting it down to laziness.

Australian Taxation Office figures show the South West is on trend with the rest of the State, which has more than $1.6 billion worth of lost or unclaimed super accounts.

There are more than 3800 accounts worth a combined $28.5 million that should be helping provide for peoples' retirements in Bunbury alone.

A further $33 million in lost super has been unclaimed from residents between Harvey, Collie, Dardanup and Capel, with Australind accounting for $12 million.

Dixon Financial Group senior financial planner Jon Dixon said people needed to track down their super, calling it "easy money".

"Thirty minutes is all it takes," he said. "'I do not have enough time' is the adult version of 'the dog ate my homework'."

He said the amount of unclaimed super was a concern and people needed to "get off their butts".

"Go to the ATO website and subscribe at myGOV and the ATO will track your lost super down for you for free - if not we will do it for you for free," Mr Dixon said.

He said in an ever-changing "investment world", people needed to continue to review their super situation and not sit back "hoping and praying".

Adding to the problem are figures showing 49 per cent of West Australians have two or more super accounts.

However, an ATO spokesman said the office was working hard to reduce the number of lost and multiple accounts.

During 2014-15, more than 408,000 accounts worth $3.5 billion were accounted for in Australia, according to the spokesman.

He said prevention was better than a cure to fix the problem.

"Australians accumulate super accounts during their early working life," he said.

"So, when you start work take some time to choose the super fund that is right for you and take it from job to job.

"If you already have lots of super accounts, you need to know that every super account costs you money."

On average, fees and charges for superannuation accounts in Australia are $532 a year.

The spokesman said the office was reviewing the list of highest balance lost accounts, with a view of publishing details this year.