SMSF fraud: a case of mistaken identity
If you read the business section of the newspapers recently, or keep track of the financial news on the television, you may have heard about the push by a few industry groups within the superannuation sector to tighten the entry [...]
Looking for a DIY super club? Join the AIA
Q: Did the Self Managed Superannuation Members Association (SMSMA) ever get off the ground. I noticed it mentioned in one of Trish’s books and would be keen to find out more if it exists. Trish’s response: Alas, the SMSMA disbanded: [...]
THE SOAPBOX: Debunking the DIY super myth
The practice of calling self-managed super funds, ‘DIY super funds’ upsets the regulator, and also concerns many of the service providers making a living from helping individuals set up, and run, self-managed super funds (SMSFs). The key message emanating from [...]
SMSFs: Purchasing options is OK, and even sometimes CFDs
Q: Can a SMSF buy/sell call/put options? I understand that CFDs are not permitted because it breaches the charge over asset regulation. However, is that true that options are derivatives and in giving shares as a collateral (when writing options) [...]
SMSFs: The ATO wants to hear from you
If you run your own super fund, the Australian Tax Office wants to hear your views on superannuation. According to the latest ATO’s SMSF News Alert, the ATO has commissioned research company Colmar Brunton to collect “views of the community, [...]
DIY super: Age Pension relief for SMSF lifetime pensions
In March 2009, SuperGuide reported that certain SMSF lifetime pensions would receive a reprieve from repaying Age Pension entitlements when failing a solvency test (see Light relief for SMSF lifetime pensions). The solvency test is conducted by an actuary who [...]
Frustrated with frozen investments
Q: I’m writing to see if you have any view on the fact that Colonial have frozen the Income funds belonging to a SMSF, and I have no idea when the suspension on redemptions will be lifted. Since the freeze [...]
THE SOAPBOX: Defending decent SMSF trustees
Based on the bagging that DIY super trustees have received in the media recently from government and certain sectors of the superannuation industry, you may be thinking that taking control of your retirement savings via a self-managed super fund (SMSF) [...]
Top ten problems with our super system, and how we can fix them
In the May 2009 edition of SuperGuide, I promised you a list of what I believed to be the top ten problems with Australia’s super system. My motivation for promising this list was the federal government’s announcement of yet another [...]
Temporary pension relief is… temporary
Q: I wondered if a SMSF pension that was started at the relief rate of 2%, would it then have to increase to the 4% once the relief period expired, or would it remain at 2% because it was started [...]
Four new DIY super publications
Nearly 800,000 Australians run more than 400,000 DIY super funds controlling a third of the country’s superannuation assets. A DIY super fund, officially called a self-managed super fund, can have no more than four fund members, and typically has two [...]
