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The trouble with super

Superannuation has always been such a promising child – that junior at the sports carnival with awesome potential. A talent that made you tingle. You didn’t have to watch it for long to see that it could be anything and everything to everyone. It could both be a great wealth-creation dream for sparkly eyed go-getters […]

“A family member tells you they have maxed out their credit cards and are in financial strife. What do you say?”

I’d get really cross and let her have both barrels. “Red card, Grandma! How many times have I told you? A thousand! There’s no more room left on your reverse mortgage and I’m not bailing you out this time. “You can’t use it at the RSL to pick up dinner and a night on the […]

Australia’s not-so-super system

PORTFOLIO POINT: How good is Australia’s super/retirement income system? Not as good as we might like to think. And some work is required to bring it up to scratch, an international survey reveals. Australians have a definite superiority complex about the nation’s retirement system. We generally believe that we have the world’s greatest superannuation regime. […]

“Fixed interest may be the world’s most boring type of investment, but should you have some in your portfolio?”

Wha-a-a-t? Boring! Old-people topic! Yawn. Wake me up when you start talking about something of interest to Gen Xers. Okay, even for Xers, fixed interest has a place. A small place, like the cavity for Paris Hilton’s brain, but a place. What is fixed interest? It used to be called bonds. Fixed interest is one […]

Pay no tax

PORTFOLIO POINT: Want your accumulation SMSF to pay no taxes whatsoever now? Or ever? Here’s how you can do it and why Ken Henry wants the Government to urgently clamp down on SMSFs. Want to stop paying super contributions tax? Want to get back the whole 30% franking credit and not just 15% of it? […]

“Owning your own home has been the great Australian dream. How achievable is it these days?”

You mean these days? Like today? Well, um, probably not very. Bu-u-u-t … who needs a home, when for just $100,000, you could buy KITT – David Hasselhoff’s legendary wheels from Knight Rider! There’s a lot wrong with research saying houses were “cheaper” 40 years ago. Because it fails to point out a fundamental societal […]

War. What is it good for? Loading up on flat screens

Debt Man column – The West Australian (Business) For: October 15, 2010. Bruce Brammall Debt Man It’s time to admit that I don’t think I’d make a very good traditional soldier. I’m not too good with blood and guts. Not that I get queazy, just that I’m no fan of “ER” or “RPA” because people’s […]

Super’s $750,000 question

PORTFOLIO POINT: At some point, investment options open right up, leaving you to wonder whether tomake an investment inside or outside your SMSF. Plus, the anti-SMSF Red Book commentary. I don’t know when exactly it is, but it seems to be when a SMSF approaches the three-quarters of a million dollar mark, that options open […]

“What was your first job, and what did it teach you about money?”

“Would you like fries with that?” I started flippin’ burgers just after I turned 15. Actually, that’s not true. I needed “experience” before I could cook the meat. My first gig at McDonald’s was “puttin’ buns in the oven”. And did my dad love to snigger at that one. For years. He still does. Bloody […]

Salary sacrificing’s traps

Updated: 20 October 2015 PORTFOLIO POINT: Don’t go into salary sacrifice blindly just because you’ve heard you should. There are plenty of potential traps. Here’s how to avoid some of the potholes. Salary sacrifice should be a reasonably simple affair. You pass a signed note to your employer that you’d like to put some extra […]