Salaam iQ Retirement (Shariah Options)
Islamic Retirement & Super in Victoria
The Russell Investments Master Trust's account-based pension product carrying three Salaam Shariah-compliant investment options - one of the only ways in Australia to draw a retirement income stream (account-based pension or transition-to-retirement) while staying invested in Islamically screened portfolios.
iQ Retirement solves the problem nobody talks about in Australian Islamic finance: what happens to your halal super when you actually retire. As the Russell Investments Master Trust pension product with three Salaam Shariah-compliant options inside it, it lets members convert accumulation savings into an account-based pension or transition-to-retirement stream without abandoning Islamic screening - the same AAOIFI/Dar Al Sharia governance carries through. The catch is disclosure: the product page is a brochure, with no pension fee schedule, no option-level detail and no performance data, so a serious decision requires the PDS and probably a phone call. Still, for Salaam Super members approaching preservation age - and any Australian Muslim retiree stuck choosing between conventional pensions and cash - this is one of the only faith-compliant retirement income paths in the market, delivered on institutional rails.
Pros
- Rare Shariah-compliant account-based pension - retirement income without switching to a conventional product at the point balances peak
- Supports both transition-to-retirement strategies and full retirement income streams with flexible payment settings
- Same trustee (Total Risk Management, AFSL 238790) and Dar Al Sharia/AAOIFI governance stack as Salaam Super
- Full online account access, with PDS and TMD published through the Salaam super hub
Cons
- The iQ Retirement page publishes no pension-specific fees, minimum balances or drawdown mechanics - everything of substance requires the PDS
- The three Shariah options inside the pension are not individually identified on the page
- Young product visibility: no published performance history for the pension options on the website
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Product Details
Structure
Screened portfolio (AAOIFI)
Best For
Salaam Super members approaching or in retirement who want an account-based pension or TTR strategy without leaving Shariah-compliant investments
Salaam in Victoria
Salaam's iQ Retirement (Shariah Options) accepts members from Victoria, structured as Screened portfolio (AAOIFI). Superannuation is a national system, so Islamic super options are equally available in every state and territory. Salaam operates across Australia, so Victoria residents have full access to this product.
Our Take on Salaam
Salaam is the institutional pole of Australian Islamic finance: the Crescent Wealth super pioneer reborn in 2024 with Russell Investments Master Trust custody, an independent APRA-regulated trustee, and the most heavily documented religious governance in the market - AAOIFI screening audited annually by Dar Al Sharia for super, and an Amanie Advisors fatwa for its new Ijarah home finance. Members pay for that assurance: total super fees around 1.4%–1.6% plus $60 a year sit well above index MySuper options, the current investment-option series only dates from May 2024, and the home finance product publishes certification but no pricing at all. The honest frame: for Australians who rank verifiable Shariah governance first, Salaam is the benchmark the rest of the market gets measured against; for fee-sensitive members, the faith premium is real and should be weighed consciously. Read the PDS for insurance and pension specifics - the website leaves both thin.
How Salaam Works
Join or switch super online
Membership takes 'less than 3 minutes' via salaam.com.au/super; provide your membership number and the published compliance letter to your employer, or use the Choosing Salaam form. Consolidation and lost-super search tools are built in.
Choose from three Shariah options
Pick Defensive, Balanced or Growth (or blend them) based on horizon and risk appetite. All options are AAOIFI-screened, Dar Al Sharia-audited, and carry 0.21% + $60/yr admin plus 1.13%–1.36% investment fees.
Retire through iQ Retirement
At preservation age, convert to the RIMT pension product with three Shariah-compliant options - as a transition-to-retirement strategy while working, or a full account-based pension with flexible, tax-effective income payments.
Finance a home via Salaam Finance
Register interest online (or call 1300 159 800); after review, Salaam's team structures an Ijarah facility - you go on title immediately, pay instalments reviewed at fixed intervals, and arrange required insurance on the financier's behalf. Pricing is disclosed through the application process, not the website.
Financing Structure
Salaam Super and iQ Retirement are conventional-architecture superannuation/pension products with Islamic portfolio governance: member money enters the Russell Investments Master Trust (trustee: Total Risk Management, AFSL 238790) and is invested in pre-mixed options holding only AAOIFI-screened assets - Shariah-compliant equities, real assets, alternatives, Islamic cash and Islamic fixed income - with Dar Al Sharia independently reviewing, certifying and annually auditing the portfolios, and impure income purified to charity. Salaam Home Finance is a separate Ijarah arrangement: the client is registered on title from day one (holding the property as agent of Salaam Finance during the term), makes payments that build toward full ownership, and faces rate reviews at fixed intervals rather than RBA tracking; funding comes from investors paid out of rental streams or wholesale markets, through the disclosed funder/manager/program-manager stack, with the whole product certified by Amanie Advisors' Shariah Supervisory Board.
In-Depth Analysis
Salaam is what Crescent Wealth - Australia's first Islamic superannuation business - became after a group-wide rebrand launched in April 2024. The corporate architecture matters and is published in unusual detail: Salaam Wealth Funds Management (Aust) Pty Ltd (AFSL 365260, explicitly 'previously known as Crescent Wealth Funds Management') sponsors Salaam superannuation, which operates as a division of the Russell Investments Master Trust under trustee Total Risk Management Pty Ltd (AFSL 238790), USI TRM0001AU. The disclaimers are equally explicit that Salaam is not a representative or related body of the trustee or Russell Investments - the relationship is sponsorship and platform support, not ownership or control. For members, this means faith-branded portfolio governance riding on institutional administration, custody and trustee accountability.
The super product offers exactly three pre-mixed Shariah options - Defensive (CPI+2% objective over 5 years, 40–60% growth assets, investment fees 1.13% p.a.), Balanced (CPI+2.5% over 7 years, 60–80% growth, 1.36%) and Growth (CPI+3% over 10 years, 80–100% growth, 1.34%) - all sharing 0.21% + $60/yr administration and no performance fees, with a published claim of no establishment, withdrawal, contribution or termination fees. Portfolios hold Shariah-screened Australian and international equities, real assets, alternatives, Islamic cash and Islamic fixed income across sectors like healthcare, infrastructure and renewables. Two disclosure blemishes: the option pages label Growth and Balanced as 'Low' long-term risk (almost certainly a site error), and the performance page's figures render via JavaScript from a 31 May 2024 inception date - so neither long-run returns nor current numbers can be verified from the site's static content.
Religious governance is Salaam's deepest moat. Investments are screened to AAOIFI standards (Salaam states it is an AAOIFI member) and 'audited annually by Dar Al Sharia', the global Shariah advisory firm, which 'independently review[s] and certif[ies] our investments, provide[s] rulings and guidance, and audit[s] our processes.' Continuous controls are published: quarterly re-screens, activity-change alerts, removal of non-compliant holdings, and purification of incidental impure income donated to charity under advisor oversight. Salaam layers on responsible-investment memberships (RFI Foundation, RIAA, Tobacco Free Portfolios) and publishes an employer compliance letter. The gap: no individual scholar is named anywhere - governance is disclosed at firm level, which is strong but less personal than the named boards some global competitors publish.
The 2024 relaunch expanded Salaam beyond super. iQ Retirement, the Russell Investments Master Trust pension product, carries three Shariah-compliant options and supports both account-based pensions and transition-to-retirement strategies - closing the drawdown gap that forces most Australian Muslims into conventional products exactly when balances peak; its webpage, however, is brochure-thin (no pension fees or option detail without the PDS). Salaam Finance, the home-financing arm, offers Ijarah-structured purchase and refinance with the best certification paperwork in this market segment: Amanie Advisors' Shariah Supervisory Board certified the product, terms and documents, with the 2024 fatwa PDF downloadable and an annual Shariah audit committed. Its funding stack is disclosed (funder: Salaam Finance Master Income Fund; manager: Allied Financial Consulting, ACL 393845; program manager: Salaam Finance Licensing, credit rep 549757) - but no rates, deposits, LVR caps, terms or fees are published, and the product launched with a six-month introductory offer, so there is no pricing transparency or track record yet.
Assessment: Salaam is the reference standard for governance-led Islamic finance in Australia, and its weaknesses are the predictable duals of its strengths. The faith premium in super fees is real (roughly 1.3–1.6% all-in versus sub-0.2% index MySuper), the rebranded product series is young on paper even if the organisation is not, and the home finance arm asks buyers to enquire for every commercial fact. Members who value audited screening, institutional custody and published fatwas will find nothing better locally; members who lead with cost should do the fee math deliberately - and everyone should pull the PDS for the insurance and pension detail the website omits.
Shariah Compliance Details
- Superannuation: investments screened to AAOIFI standards and 'audited annually by Dar Al Sharia, a leading global Shariah Advisory Board', which independently reviews, certifies, issues rulings and oversees purification. Continuous monitoring is published: quarterly re-screens, alerts on business-activity changes, removal of non-compliant holdings, and charity donation of incidental impure income. Salaam states it is a member of AAOIFI and the RFI Foundation, aligns with RIAA, and has signed Tobacco Free Portfolios.
- Home finance: 'The scholars of Amanie Shariah Supervisory Board have certified that the product, its application, terms and conditions and relevant documents are in compliance with Shariah principles' - with the Amanie Fatwa 2024 PDF downloadable from the accreditations page and an annual Shariah audit commitment. Insurance is required; because takaful is unavailable in Australia, the Islamic agreement has the client purchase insurance on the financier's behalf.
- Caveats from our 2026-08-02 crawl: no individual scholars are named on-site for either Dar Al Sharia or Amanie engagements; super performance figures are client-side rendered and unverifiable from static content; option risk labels appear mislabelled; and no pricing exists anywhere for the home finance product. None of these undermine the governance evidence - they are disclosure-completeness gaps.
How Salaam Compares
Against Australia's other Islamic super options, Salaam competes on governance depth and institutional custody: Hejaz runs a broader diversified Islamic financial group with its own super and financing arms, while Meezan Wealth offers advised portfolios inside a platform fund (Super Simplifier) at lower headline fees but without a named annual Shariah audit. In home finance, Salaam's Amanie-certified Ijarah is the governance leader but publishes no pricing - MCCA and ICFAL bring decades of Australian operating history and community track record, Hejaz publishes more commercial detail, and Ijarah Finance competes directly on the same lease-to-own structure. The practical shortlist logic: Salaam for documented certification and institutional rails; the veterans (MCCA, ICFAL) for track record; Hejaz for a full-stack alternative; and always force written pricing from whichever provider you shortlist.
Hejaz is the diversified full-stack rival - super, investments and financing under one roof with heavier marketing presence; Salaam counters with Russell Investments Master Trust custody and a published Dar Al Sharia annual audit for super.
MCCA is Australia's longest-running Islamic home financier with deep community track record; Salaam's home finance is far younger but brings a published Amanie Advisors fatwa - compare MCCA's operating history against Salaam's certification paperwork, and get pricing from both.
ICFAL is the community co-operative alternative for home finance with member-based economics; Salaam is the institutional option with third-party certification and a funding stack disclosed on-site.
Ijarah Finance competes on the same lease-to-own structure for property; Salaam differentiates with the Amanie fatwa PDF and group-level AAOIFI/Dar Al Sharia governance, while publishing less commercial detail.
Bottom Line
Salaam is the governance benchmark of Australian Islamic finance: Crescent Wealth's super pioneer relaunched on institutional rails, with AAOIFI screening audited annually by Dar Al Sharia, a rare Shariah pension pathway, and an Amanie-certified home finance product whose fatwa you can actually download. Pay-offs come with price tags - super fees well above index options, a young post-rebrand track record, and a home finance arm that keeps all pricing behind the enquiry wall. Choose Salaam when verifiable religious oversight is your first filter; bring fee discipline and demand written numbers for everything else.
Read full Salaam reviewShariah Compliance & Oversight
Inherits Salaam Super's governance: Dar Al Sharia independently reviews, certifies and annually audits investments against AAOIFI standards. No individual scholars named on-site; disclosure is at advisory-firm level.
2026-08-05
Why It's Halal
iQ Retirement extends Salaam's Shariah governance into the drawdown phase. The product is 'the RIMT pension product', and 'within iQ Retirement there are three Shariah compliant investment options' built in partnership with Russell Investments that 'avoid interest (riba) and industries that conflict with Islamic principles' and 'focus on sectors like healthcare and information technology.' The screening and oversight framework is the same stack that governs Salaam Super: AAOIFI-standard sector and financial screens, Dar Al Sharia as independent Shariah advisors reviewing and certifying investments, continuous monitoring with quarterly re-screens, and purification of incidental impure income to charity. That matters because most Australian Muslims who accumulate super in an Islamic option are forced into conventional pension products at retirement - the point where balances are largest. iQ Retirement closes that gap: funds stay invested in Shariah-compliant options while paying a regular, tax-effective income, whether as a full account-based pension or a transition-to-retirement strategy. The trustee is Total Risk Management (AFSL 238790), and the PDS and TMD are available via salaam.com.au/super or 1300 926 626.
Regional Availability
Salaam serves all of Australia
✓ Available nationwide including Victoria
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Compare With Other Options in Victoria
4 other retirement products available to Victoria residents
Screened portfolio (AAOIFI) · Nationwide
NationwideFrequently Asked Questions
What is Salaam iQ Retirement (Shariah Options)?
Why is Salaam iQ Retirement (Shariah Options) considered halal?
Is Salaam iQ Retirement (Shariah Options) available in Victoria?
What Shariah oversight does Salaam have?
What financing structure does Salaam iQ Retirement (Shariah Options) use?
How do I apply for Salaam iQ Retirement (Shariah Options) in Victoria?
Which Islamic finance providers are based in Victoria?
Does Victoria's stamp duty treatment matter for Islamic home finance?
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Important: HalalWallet provides educational information and comparisons to help you explore halal financial options. We do not provide financial, legal, or religious advice. Product structures and Shariah compliance oversight vary by provider. Always verify halal compliance directly with providers and consult with qualified Islamic finance advisors or scholars for guidance on specific products and your individual circumstances.