(03) 9020 2905

Welcome to Bruce Brammall Financial

Category: Eureka Report

Lifting the lid on property in super

      SUMMARY: SMSFs awoke to geared property earlier and in bigger numbers than previously realised. The hunger for geared property inside self-managed super funds is far bigger than previously understood. The Tax Office on Monday made a second consecutive massive annual upward revision of official figures regarding how widespread property gearing in super […]

Avoid a super contributions trap

SUMMARY: Getting around the traps to super contributions pre- and post-65. Getting money into super can be confusing, particularly for those at, or getting toward, the end of your working life. Turning 65 is when getting access to your super is easy. But putting money into super becomes more difficult. But not impossible, under the […]

SMSFs are not paid to panic

SUMMARY: The message on asset class diversification has never been clearer. If you’re a self-managed super fund trustee and your guts haven’t been churning in recent weeks, then I know something about you. You’re fully invested in cash. And while that has served you well in the last fortnight, it’s been a number of years […]

How to get around the SMSF property curbs

SUMMARY: SMSF property investors caught up in attack on investor lending by APRA. Self-managed super funds looking to buy geared property are being squeezed for options, as lenders exit the market and jack up interest rates. Lenders have generally moved to limit lending to SMSFs in the wake of pressure from the Australian Prudential Regulation […]

Were your returns super or normal?

Summary: The average investor posted before-tax returns of 7.86 per cent in FY15. No asset classes were negative, but unhedged currency assets won play of the day. Returns over the three years to June 2015 were stronger, with even conservative investors nudging 10 per cent. Sometimes a dreadful quarter can completely wipe a smile from your […]

Is all debt bad? What’s the difference between good and bad debt?

            All bad? Hell no! Stupid question! Are you bat-crazy, like Kanye West? Or just out-of-your-mind, like Charlie Sheen? Seriously? How can all debt be bad? If you’re not convinced, ask yourself the following simple question: “Who could buy their first home without debt?” A tiny fraction of 1 per […]

Don’t bust a cap

SUMMARY: Made a last-minute check of your superannuation contributions? Don’t delay. It’s not too late. Quite simply, none of us have enough time to do everything we want to do before 30 June. There’s only two weeks left. But there are tens of thousands of you who should make the following a priority. Arguably, anyone who […]

‘Cash is king’ is dead

  SUMMARY: Cash is dead. And it’s time SMSFs woke up to the real cost of their love affair with the folding stuff. There’s always an exception to the rule. Sir Isaac Newton and his “what goes up must come down” law can occasionally be proved wrong. For example, Australian self-managed super funds and their […]

SMSF property investors: Rate cut winners

SUMMARY: A small number of SMSFs holding cash were relative winners from yesterday’s rate cut. Have you heard of offset accounts? More than one million SMSF members will have winced a little when news of yesterday’s rate cut came through. SMSFs are huge holders of pure cash. Something north of $150 billion of the stuff […]

Low-cost super: It’s not that hard

SUMMARY: Get real. There is plenty of low-hanging fruit if governments really want to cut the cost of Australia’s baseline super. Stop with the pussyfooting on superannuation. If governments really want to strip costs out of the system, the recipe is pretty simple. Recent Super Stream changes are no more than the tip of the […]