Best performing super funds, Aged care planning, Maximise your Age Pension, Best time to retire, Death benefits
Highlights of the July 2019 edition of the SuperGuide Premium newsletter include:
- SUPER FUND PERFORMANCE: Find out how the median super funds performed over the last financial year, and who were the best performing super funds over one year and 10 years.
- THE BEST TIME TO RETIRE: Choosing when you retire can ultimately have a big impact on your retirement savings, so before you flick the switch to pension phase, we look at a few issues and strategies to consider. In a separate article we list the five questions you need to ask if you’re thinking of retiring in the next 12 months.
- AGED CARE PLANNING: Bina Brown walks us through what to consider when planning for the later stages of retirement.
- PROPORTIONING RULE AND SUPER TAX: What it is and why does it matter? The proportioning rule can impact retirement income, because it can influence the effectiveness of many superannuation retirement strategies in relation to tax. Find out what you need to know in this in-depth article.
- 12 TIPS TO HELP MAXIMISE YOUR AGE PENSION: Regan Welburn shares his top tips to get the most out of your Age Pension. In a separate article, Barbara Drury looks at the recent deeming rate changes and whether they are fair for pensioners.
- WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR SMSF WHEN YOU GO OVERSEAS? Want to live, travel or work in another country? Make sure you’re across the residency rules and what else you need to take into consideration before you pack your passport.
- HOW TO MAKE YOUR SUPER MORE SOCIALLY AWARE: If you care about responsible investing, check out our article on how to be sure your super and SMSF is backing ethical investments.
FEATURES
2018/19 Year in Review
As we look back over the 2018/19 financial year, it was a year in two halves.
Read moreWhy aged care deserves to be part of your retirement plan
When we plan for life after retirement, we can often tend to focus on saving for a comfortable standard of living and travel. It can be difficult to factor in anything other than a happy and healthy journey as we get older, even if we know the reality can be very different.
Read moreStrategies for making the most of your super in the gig economy
What do you do if you’re working in the gig economy and want to build up a super nest egg?
Read moreHow to make your super more socially aware
Gone are the days when ethical investing existed on the periphery of investment management and the debate centred around whether or not environmental, social and governance (ESG) focussed funds could actually perform as well as mainstream funds.
Read moreLegal case a lesson in proper SMSF admin and record keeping
A recent court case, known as the Narumon case, demonstrates how important it is for self-managed super fund (SMSF) trustees to ensure their documentation is up-to-date, and that binding death benefit nominations are valid.
Read moreWhat are average super fund fees?
An easy way to determine if you believe your super fund is good value, is to assess the cost of your super fund against the average costs for the different types of super funds available.
Read moreSUPER FUND PERFORMANCE
Best performing super funds: Balanced category (41–60%)
In this article you can discover the top 10 performing Balanced super funds over 1 year and 10 years to 31 December 2020. Balanced funds have 41-60% invested in growth assets.
Read moreBest performing super funds: Growth category (61–80%)
In this article you can discover the top 10 performing Growth super funds over 1 year and 10 years to 31 December 2020. Growth funds have 61-80% invested in growth assets.
Read moreSuper fund performance over 28 calendar years (to December 2020)
In this article we report median super fund performance for 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 15 years, up to 31 December 2020 and across five different investment options.
Read moreAsset sector performance: Returns over 1 to 15 financial years (to June 2020)
Discover the investment performance for 12 different asset classes over various timeframes. For all asset classes there is data for 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 financial years, and for most asset classes there is also data over 15 financial years.
Read moreRETIREMENT PLANNING
Retiring soon? Here are 5 questions you need to answer first
Retiring is a huge step and it would be normal if you have some last-minute details to sort through before you make the final leap.
Read moreTiming counts if you plan to retire this year and start a super pension
If you’re retiring this financial year it pays to think about possible timing issues before you start drawing down on your superannuation.
Read moreRetiring overseas: Implications for your super and tax
While the exact number is hard to pin down, various industry estimates put the total number of Australian retirees who are now living overseas at around 90,000, a figure which has risen steadily in recent years.
Read moreWhat happens to your SMSF when you go overseas?
Self-managed super fund (SMSF) members have a number of options in terms of how to treat their fund when they head overseas. The time they intend to be away is a key factor to consider, as is how many of the SMSF’s members are moving overseas and their percentage of the beneficial interests.
Read moreAGE PENSION
How to maximise your Age Pension
There are many strategies you can employ to ensure that you’re making the most of your Age Pension, and in this article we’ll showcase some of the best options that may assist you.
Read moreAge Pension deeming rates cut, at last
The Federal Government has finally bowed to pressure to cut pension deeming rates but stopped short of passing on the full cut in official interest rates.
Read more‘Pension tax’ deemed unfair
As official interest rates drop to a record low of 1%, Age Pensioners who depend on income from cash investments face a double whammy. Not only do they receive less income from their bank deposits as interest rates fall, but they also risk losing some pension because they are deemed to earn more than they do.
Read moreDeeming rates (and calculator) for the Age Pension income test
On 22 March 2020 the Federal government announced that from 1 May 2020 the deeming rates would be lowered to 0.25% (lower rate) and 2.25% (upper rate).
Read moreSUPER DEATH BENEFITS
Who gets your super when you die? A guide to death benefit nominations
If you have a valid will in place when you die, most of us assume it’s simply a matter of our executors taking care of all the paperwork and paying out our remaining assets to our beneficiaries in the proportions listed in the will.
Read moreA simple guide to what tax is payable on super death benefits
When you die, the tax man can be pretty quick to put his hand out to take his cut, and this also applies to the balance of your super account.
Read moreReversionary pensions: What they are and how they work
When you retire, there are lots of decisions to make about whether to take a lump sum or start an account-based pension. You also need to decide how you would like the remaining balance of your super account to be distributed when you die.
Read moreProportioning rule and super tax: What it is and why it matters
When it comes to your super benefits, tax is always at the heart of it, whether it’s when you make a contribution, or when you take your money out at the other end.
Read more