Dan (60) is a freelance web designer who earns $76,000 per year. He hasn’t always put money aside for super, so his balance is a relatively low $120,000. His wife Jenny (58) is a registered nurse on a salary of $85,000 with a super balance of $230,000. Their two children are independent adults and they have a ... Read more
Retirement planning case study: Couple aged 47 and 48
Chris (47) earns $180,000 per year and has $430,000 in super Lisa (48) earns $80,000 per year and has $220,000 in super They have one daughter at university and are close to paying off their mortgage They want to know if they are on track to retire when Chris turns 60 Chris and Lisa currently enjoy a more ... Read more
Retirement planning case study: Single woman, aged 52
Deb (52), is divorced and single She earns $60,000 per year and has just $85,000 in super after taking time out of the workforce to raise her two children who are now independent She is on track to own her home outright within a few years but has no other investments outside super She won’t be eligible for the ... Read more
Guide to transition to retirement pensions (TTRs or TRISs)
Transition to retirement income streams (or pensions) allow you to gradually draw on your super benefits while you’re still working and moving towards your retirement. They go by a variety of acronyms, including TTR and TRIS. For simplicity, we’ll use the TTR acronym in this article. There are different ways that ... Read more
Guide to in-specie transfers for SMSFs
In specie superannuation transfers are transfers of assets in and out of super funds, rather than actual transfers of money. In specie is a Latin phrase meaning “actual form”. An in specie transfer to or from a super fund is therefore the process of transferring an asset in or out of the fund without any money ... Read more
Did tax kill the transition to retirement magic pudding?
Transition to retirement (TTR) pensions used to be referred to as the Magic Pudding because like Norman Lindsay’s famous cut-and-come-again pud you could have your cake and eat it too. The pudding may be a bit smaller since the government tightened the tax rules back in 2017, but a TTR pension is still appetising ... Read more
Gaining from the government: How you can score a co-contribution freebie
Free money from the Government is a pretty rare thing and most Aussies would be willing to go a bit out of their way to try and get some, but one of the easiest routes to those extra bucks is often overlooked. One of the simplest ways is to invest a few extra dollars into your super account and take advantage of the ... Read more
Capital gains and super: Using super contributions to reduce your CGT bill
Super contributions can be used in many different ways when it comes to planning your finances and saving for your retirement. In the right circumstances, they can also be a very useful tool for minimising your tax bill. It’s often overlooked that your super contributions can be used to reduce the amount of capital ... Read more
Learn to love LISTO: low income earners get their super tax refunded
It’s getting harder to pocket a tax refund these days, so when the Government is offering one for your super contributions, it’s worthwhile knowing just how you much you are likely to get. And best of all with the Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset – or LISTO for short – the tax man and your super fund do all the ... Read more
Carry-forward contributions: How your unused contribution limits can help you catch up
Feel like you’ve missed the boat when it comes to your retirement savings? Carry-forward super contributions could be the answer for many Australians looking to boost the balance in their super account. What are carry-forward contributions? Carry-forward contributions are not a new type of contribution, they are ... Read more
The short story on super contributions rules (2018/2019 year)
You can make two types of superannuation contributions – concessional (before-tax) contributions and non-concessional (after-tax) contributions – and each type of contribution has a separate limit known as a contributions cap (see text and tables below). A concessional contribution is a before-tax contribution made ... Read more
Contributions caps relate to financial years, not calendar years
Q: I understand the three-year bring-forward rule now allows you to contribute up to $300,000 in after-tax contributions. My question is: What date does the second three-year period start? For example, if I contributed $300,000 on 28 Dec 2018, does that mean I can contribute another $300,000 on or after 1 July 2021 (or ... Read more
The tax treatment of super benefits and the proportioning rule
The tax treatment of a superannuation benefit depends on a number of factors: the age of the person; whether the benefit comprises a tax free component and or a taxable component; whether the benefit is in the form of a lump sum or an income stream (i.e. a pension); and whether the taxable component ... Read more
Bring-forward rule: A definitive super guide
Note: The information in this article relates to the 2018/2019 financial year and the 2017/2018 financial year. The bring-forward rule allows an eligible Australian to contribute up to 3 years’ worth of after-tax contributions (non-concessional contributions) in one year, representing the annual non-concessional cap ... Read more
Your 2018/2019 guide to non-concessional (after-tax) contributions
Note: This article explains the rules applicable to non-concessional contributions for the 2018/2019 year (and for the 2017/2018 year, and later in the article explains the rules applicable for the 2016/2017 year). See also SuperGuide articles New normal: $100,000 non-concessional contributions cap and Non-concessional ... Read more