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Women and super (Part 3): Making the most of your assets after retirement
There are still ways to boost your retirement income and support your lifestyle, even if your final super balance was disappointing.
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Dual pension strategy: Reducing tax on inherited super
Your spouse can inherit your super tax free, but adult children often can’t. Starting a second pension can reduce the tax they pay.
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Epic Retirement Tick 2026-27: Which pension funds pass the test?
The Epic Retirement Tick now assesses funds on 20 measures, not just fees and performance. Eight funds passed this year, three for the first time. See who made it and on what.
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Pension fund performance: Monthly returns to September 2026
Pension funds gave back ground in September, with the median Growth fund down 0.4%.
Upcoming webinar
Related party transactions: The SMSF rules you need to know
Thursday 22 October 2026 at 11:00 am AEDT
Related party transactions remain one of the most important and often misunderstood areas of SMSF compliance.
In this webinar, we identify who is subject to the relevant rules and explore common issues that often arise when an SMSF transacts with related parties, including:
- The arm’s length rules
- Providing services to your SMSF
- Acquiring assets from a related party and selling assets to a related party
- Loans and leases to or from your SMSF
- How the in-house asset rules operate in practice
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Watch our previous webinar, SuperGuide members Q&A: September 2026.
Q&A of the month
Q: If a member has a defined benefit pension account in UniSuper, when this person dies, as per UniSuper’s rule, 62.5% of this deceased member’s pension will be paid to the surviving spouse. I was just wondering if the death benefit income stream to be paid from the defined benefit pension will be counted towards the surviving spouse’s transfer balance cap.
A: A defined benefit pension that continues to be paid to the original pensioner’s spouse after their death is a type of reversionary pension. The surviving spouse is known as the reversionary pensioner.
The value of a reversionary pension is added to the transfer balance account of the recipient 12 months after the primary pensioner’s death. This 12-month delay provides time for the reversionary pensioner to take action, if required, to ensure they do not breach their transfer balance cap.
Because defined benefit pensions don’t have an account balance, their value is determined using an alternative method known as special value. The special value of a defined benefit pension is 16 times the annual payment.
In the case of a reversionary pension, the special value is calculated based on the annual amount the reversionary pensioner was entitled to on the date the original pensioner died. This annual entitlement is determined by assuming payments will continue at the same level for a full year.
For example, if the first fortnightly payment owed to the survivor was $2,000, the annual value would be calculated as follows:
$2,000 / 14 days x 365 days = $52,143
The special value of this pension is $52,143 x 16 = $834,288
Learn more about reversionary pensions.
Tip of the month
Turning 75 soon? Don’t miss what could be your last opportunity to move savings into super. Find out how the bring-forward rule works before your window closes.
