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Welcome to Bruce Brammall Financial

Pay off mortgage if ready to retire

  An utterance from my DebtBoy just before Christmas gave me a shock reality check of how my retirement might spiral horribly out of my control. With no warning, and no precursor conversation, he said: “Daddy, I’m going to live with you until I’m 47”. Images of Garry McDonald and Ruth Cracknell in Mother and […]

Advisor Q&A: The hottest super topics

  SUMMARY: The new defined benefit pension arrangements are causing angst for Eureka readers. Defined benefit pensions, recontributions and TTR strategies seem to be the issues causing the angst for Eureka’s self-managed super fund army right now. I’ve received many questions around the topics raised in my columns on how DB funds will be treated […]

Does borrowing for super make sense?

SUMMARY: Is it worth borrowing to tip money into super ahead of 30 June? It’s a very different equation in 2017 than it was in 2007. Getting money into super ahead of the 30 June change of rules is going to take some planning. From 30 June, if you already have $1.6m in super, you […]

Your best super moves for 2017

SUMMARY: The world of super changes – not for the better – in 2017. Here’s what to consider before the 1 July 2017 deadline. The legislation has passed and we now “know” what the rules are for superannuation, post 1 July 2017. (We don’t actually know all of the rules. Some of them are still […]

In defence of SMSF borrowing restrictions

                          SUMMARY: The bleatings of some self-interested SMSF service providers should not mask that some people should be saved from themselves. With the slightest hint of increased regulation in most sectors, teeth start gnashing and mouths start frothing. Reminds me a little of […]

Here’s what we can learn during annual navel-gazing season

I pretty much already have my Christmas present. The perfect present for me for summer. And the best part? It was free. Through what I suspect was largely dumb-arse luck, I have found the perfect temperature in my bar fridges. (Yes, plural. Home and office.) The perfect temperature is where soft drink cans get little […]

Clarifying the new segregation rules

SUMMARY: Segregation between pension and accumulation assets has been canned – but here’s a new strategy to beat the ban. Sometimes, even when you think you’re on top of things, it turns out you’re not. A few weeks ago (see column of 23/11/16), I wrote a piece about taxation in super and an upcoming decision […]

How I became sold on selling

  If my family breeding and bloodlines were primed for one thing, it was a hatred of sales and advertising. My dad was a journalist. So were his mates. And their spouses. And coincidentally, so were most of my uncles and aunties. As a reporter and sub-editor, my dad, the Old Fart, spent his professional […]

Pension cap elevates the segregation option

SUMMARY: Understanding SMSF tax … and then the tax saving that segregating pension assets might give you from 1 July. Tax and access – at its most basic, these are the two things that differentiate investing inside, and outside, superannuation. With super, you have “restricted access”, which means you can’t draw on your super until […]

Pension cap creates a property dilemma

SUMMARY: SMSF property investors need to sit back and watch some dust settle. For self-managed super fund property investors, super’s “new” rules and surrounding framework are a long way from being clear. Draft legislation has been out for comment for a few weeks and SMSF experts are falling over themselves to point out fresh dangers […]