Guest contributor, Jim Bonham: Dr Jim Bonham is a retired scientist and R&D manager. He has a PhD in Physical Chemistry and a graduate diploma in management. As an SMSF trustee, he is deeply concerned about the proposed changes to the SMSF audit rules, and the ongoing instability for retirees and future retirees. ... Read more
SMSFs: What are the consequences of the 3 yearly audits policy?
After the initial shock has worn off, and now that Treasury has released a discussion paper outlining the proposed three-year audit cycle for SMSFs, it is time to consider how the proposed measures (if adopted) will be rolled out, and how these measures will affect both the SMSF sector and the obligations of SMSF ... Read more
Is $1 million really the magic number to start an SMSF?
Guest contributor: Meg Heffron, the author of this article, is co-founder and a Director of Heffron SMSF Solutions – a firm that specialises in SMSFs. She is a qualified actuary with more than 25 years of superannuation experience. Depending on who you believe, self-managed superannuation funds range from being the ... Read more
Labor’s franking credits policy will hurt retirees
The Australian Labor Party’s proposal to deny a cash refund on excess franking credits from Australian shares has very similar effects to the destructive and self-defeating consequences of the federal government’s 2017 changes to the Age Pension asset test (see my other SuperGuide article Age Pension changes costs ... Read more
Age Pension changes costs pensioners now and increases government costs in the long term
Introducing our guest contributor, Jim Bonham: Dr Jim Bonham is a retired scientist and manager. Although he is unaffected by the recent changes to the superannuation and Age Pension rules, as an SMSF trustee, he is deeply concerned about the ongoing instability for retirees and future retirees. In the article below, ... Read more
Retirement income: When is the optimal time to purchase a deferred annuity?
Since 1 July 2017, the government has extended the tax exemption on earnings in the retirement phase (currently applicable to superannuation pensions) to other retirement products, such as deferred lifetime annuities and in-house annuity products that super funds, or other financial organisations, may want to ... Read more
Longevity risk: How deferred annuities can help your savings last as long as you do
In this article we will consider how a person can best ensure that they maximise their income in retirement from their savings while at the same time ensuring that their savings last for as long as they do. In doing so we will introduce you to deferred lifetime annuities, a retirement income product that can now be ... Read more
Age Pension changes make retirees with more savings worse off in short-term
I think it is important to understand that the analysis of the sweet spot and the savings trap in Save Our Super’s paper is based on the situation at the point of retirement and that it will, of course, change over the course of retirement. The figures and graphs contained in that paper are an initial snapshot, not a ... Read more
Age Pension changes are unfair to retirees with savings between $400k and $1m
"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. ….. when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual." (Georges Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905) The end of a decade To build personal savings to a level that would support a self-financed retirement takes a working ... Read more
Super reforms are retrospective, and rules should be grandfathered
Any government must retain the right to change policies as circumstances change over time. Policy change always poses two questions: Is the change an improvement? And is it properly implemented? This article focusses on implementation issues, which are particularly important when changing super laws. (In an article to ... Read more