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. Spooked by falling global growth and an escalating trade war between the US and China, financial markets slammed on the brakes heading into Christmas. Then, despite a lack of real progress on the economic or trade front, markets flicked a switch to full steam ahead in the first half of 2019. Read more
Why aged care deserves to be part of your 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 more
Strategies 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 more
How 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 more
Legal 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 more
What 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 more
SUPER FUND PERFORMANCE
Best performing super funds over the last financial year (to June 2019)
QSuper and UniSuper share the top spot for 2018/19, returning 9.9%, well ahead of the third placed MediaSuper with 8.8%. Read more
Best performing super funds over 10 financial years
The gold medal goes to AustralianSuper, the country’s largest super fund, with an average annual return of 9.8% per year for the last 10 years. Read more
Super fund performance over 27 financial years (to June 2019)
According to Chant West, growth funds finished the financial year with a record-breaking tenth consecutive positive return, with the median growth fund up 7% in the year to 30 June 2019. Read more
Asset sector performance: Returns over 1 to 15 financial years (to June 2019)
In this article you can discover the investment performance for 12 different asset classes over up to 15 financial years. Read more
RETIREMENT 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 more
Why timing counts if you’re planning 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 more
Retiring 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 more
What 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 more
AGE 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 go through a selection of options that may assist. Read more
Age 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 more
Deeming rates for the Age Pension income test
Deeming is a key concept in the Age Pension income test, which is a test you must pass as one of the requirements to access this government payment. The other requirements are passing the assets test, being age-eligible, and qualifying as an Australian resident. Read more
SUPER 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 more
A 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 more
Reversionary 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 more
Proportioning 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