5 things to know about shield & first guardian collapse

if you’re one of the 11,000 people who’ve lost their super - act now to recover your money as there are time limits in place

1. confirm if You’re Affected by shield or first guardian fund collapse

If you’ve ever received a call about your superannuation or investments after clicking on a “compare your super” website or digital ad …

Or if you’ve had super or investments on platforms such as Macquarie, Equity Trustees, NQ Super, Super Simplifier, YourChoice Super, Diversa, Australian Practical Superannuation, Praemium, Netwealth, or Freedom of Choice, you may be affected.

The corporate cop ASIC has called this collapse “misconduct at an industrial scale” and taken court action against a range of different entities, from financial planners to superannuation trustees.

Some investors realised that the funds weren’t paying out in May 2024 and then some noticed their balances collapsed in July.

Others found emails in their spam folders explaining they had lost all their superannnuation.

It’s believed other investors may not yet realise they are affected, even though ASIC began winding up

Now that the Shield and First Guardian master funds are in liquidation, it could take years for investors to learn how much - if any - of their retirement savings can be recovered through liquidators or the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) process.

ACTION: Check your past statements, emails and details about your superannuation, self-managed superannuation or what is really a managed investment scheme. You can also call ASIC or AFCA to find out more.

2. start action for recovery of your money

Start action to recover your money.

This may be a long and overwhelming process that will involve:

• Register your loss with the fund liquidator.

  The liquidator’s job is to investigate what went wrong and whether there was misconduct in the fund collapse. They will identify and sell assets owned by the failed fund (property, shares, cash, etc.) and then collect money from those sales into a central pool.

  Liquidators only pay creditors and investors from what’s left — usually in a set order (secured creditors like banks first, then investors).

  For investors, this means:

  • You need to register your loss with the liquidator (usually by completing a claim form).

  • The liquidator will then assess all claims and, if funds are available after assets are sold, distribute payments back to registered investors.

    This process can take months or even years, and in many cases only a small percentage of losses are recovered. It’s believed Shield has at least $200 million in cash waiting to be redistributed back to investors. First Guardian’s financial position is less clear.

Many people believed their new self-managed super fund was ‘safe’ and government regulated - but it was not. The harm of this ‘super switching’ was amplified by large-scale Google and Facebook ads.

In short: Registering your claim ensures you’re on the list to get back whatever money — if any — is recovered.

• do a detailed timeline and find all the financial firms you can complain to

  • Every investor or victim may have a range of different entities or trusted firms that led them (or misled them) into swapping their superannuation into the Shield or First Guardian funds.

  • Macquarie, Netwealth, Diversa and Equity are all large well-funded trustees who oversaw Shield and First Guardian.

  • There were also financial services groups like Praemium, United Global Capital and Interprac as well as ‘new generation’ super platforms with brand names like:

    • YourChoice Super

    • Australian Practical Superannuation

    • Macquarie Wrap

    • NQ Super

    • Super Simplifier

  • A raft of licensed Financial Advisors with trading names like Venture Egg Financial Services, United Financial Advice, Financial Services Group Australia, Empire Wealth Group, MWL Financial Services, Rebellis and more.

    Affected people must raise what’s called an “internal dispute resolution” (IDR) complaint directly with the financial entities that led you to make the fateful decision to invest.

    Some of these firms are now in liquidation, which means there are time pressures to lodge complaints.

    There are rules for IDR and you need to complain about financial firms that are member firms of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

  • Financial Advice Association and super consumers australia call on trustees to reimburse investors

    It’s estimated there are 11,500 people and up to $1.2 billion missing in one of the largest corporate frauds Australia has experienced.

    Financial Advice Association CEO Sarah Abood says investors should lodge Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) complaints not just against all financial firms, including platform providers (YourChoice Super, Australian Practical Superannuation, Praemium Super, NQ Super, Freedom of Choice and Super Simplifier), auditors BDO and Auditeo and potentially research houses (Morningstar and SQM), digital marketers, and call centres who played a role funnelling money into the schemes.

    There’s a lot Include as much documentation as possible. We recommend recreating a detailed timeline of what happened, listing all dates, corporations, phone calls and emails that you can find.

• Be aware it may take months or years to resolve, but this starts your paper trail for potential compensation.

• Read the AFCA page for Shield fund investors.

• Read the ASIC page for Shield fund investors.

• Read the AFCA page for First Guardian investors.

• Read the ASIC page for First Guardian investors.

• Read the Diversa trustees page for First Guardian investors.

• UPDATE: There is a SOSSaveoursuper website with up to date information.

  In September, AFCA reinstated United Global Capital’s (UGC) membership until 5pm AEST on 31 March 2026.

  “This is a targeted, time-bound decision made in the public interest, responding to the exceptional and unprecedented consumer harm associated with these failed investment schemes,” AFCA told SVA.

  “We greatly appreciate the support you’ve been providing. We would welcome your help in raising awareness of this update across your network.”

  Read more on the AFCA website.

These digital ads lured people to switch their superannuation into funds that have now failed and are in liquidation.

3. be prepared to take your claim to AFCA

Once your internal dispute resolution is ‘answered’, you can take the complaint to AFCA for external dispute resolution (EDR).

This process can be very stressful, and it’s complicated by the many entities and companies involved. You can call AFCA on 1800 931 678 (Free call) and email them at info@afca.org.au

It’s very important that if any of the financial firms involved in your superannuation or investment are in liquidation, you must lodge a complaint as quickly as possible.

FAAA CEO Sarah Abood says Australia’s superannuation policies have “created a massive pool of money and we have to make sure its defended against people trying to tap into it for the wrong reasons.”

Sarah recommends complaining against the auditors of Shield (BDO Audit) and First Guardian (Auditeo).

Super Consumers Australia have called on Australia’s well-funded superannuation trustees to refund investors in Shield and First Guardian.

At Scam Victim Alliance, we believe our financial system is broken, with everyday people wearing the cost of industrial scale financial crime which has become more harmful.

4. other places to report your loss

At Scam Victim Alliance, we believe all financial frauds should be reported to police as thefts.

Some local police may refuse to take your report, in which case we recommend you speak to your local federal member - whose job is to work for you - to make sure you have recourse.

To find your local MP, search for the elected member that represents the electorate you live in.

We also recommend reporting your loss to Scamwatch to make sure the statistics are counted.

5. Rebuild your super & MENTAL HEALTH

Lifeline and Beyond Blue offer free resources to support you.

We recommend everyone experiencing fraud sees their GP to get a mental health plan and seek counselling, ideally bulk-billed through Medicare. Sometimes charitable organisations and financial counsellors can help refer you to quality counsellors that can support you.

People with certain types of superannuation products qualify for 4 ‘MAP’ sessions with an independent, experienced and qualified psychologist or counsellor. Sessions can be provided face to face, online or by phone and generally run for between 45-55 min. Sessions are available 8:30am to 6:00pm Mon-Friday. More details about MAP services are available here:

• YourChoice Super MAP
• AusPrac Super MAP
• Praemium Super MAP

Members of those funds can contact Starlight to arrange a session using the following details:

• Phone: 1300 855 893
• Email: info@starlightpsychology.com.au

While you are likely to spend years trying to recover your money, it may also be important to rebuild your superannuation.

• Think about starting with MySuper or APRA-regulated funds unless you're getting fully informed, independent financial advice. Self managed super funds are higher risk for most people.

• Use the YourSuper comparison tool from the ATO — not random websites — to learn more about superannuation.

• Read this Pre-Retirement Game Plan guide to help you understand the basics of superannuation planning.

• Listen to our Vice President’s Midlife Shift superannuation podcast.