PORTFOLIO POINT: Tax-free super hasn’t entirely killed off the value of a recontribution strategy. Here’s how it can still make sense and why, if it’s in your armoury, you might want to fire it. The brand of tax-free super introduced in July 2007 bought Australian super members significant joy. Turning 60 really did become a […]

PORTFOLIO POINT: Loans in super funds can be “forgiven” – a handy way of getting assets into a fund now and benefiting from the low-tax super environment. A starting point for all lending seems to be loan to valuation ratios (LVRs), which are a yardstick measure for how much a particular lender will agree to […]

PORTFOLIO POINT: Legislators need to step in to force fund managers into “truth in labelling” to help super members. Because the existing schmozzle really isn’t a hard fix. That two funds calling themselves “balanced” super funds can have performance statistics that suggest they are not just from different performance cultures, but quite possibly from different […]

PORTFOLIO POINT: In-specie share transfers into your SMSF can be win-win for reducing tax outside super and increasing a tax-free (or tax-effective) income stream. We should all know that the tax benefits of a super fund in pension phase are considerable. A fund in pension phase pays no tax on earnings and, at worst, you […]

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. […]

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? […]

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 […]

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 […]

PORTFOLIO POINT: Here’s another super salary sacrifice strategy touted to help pay off your home loan faster. If you can tick the boxes, it could save you a $10,000 to $30,000. Everybody loves paying less tax. And falling marginal tax rates – as most people just received again on July 1 – is generally appreciated. […]

PORTFOLIO POINT: Bill Shorten and APRA stats. Should Australia’s superannuation industry be fearful or welcoming of Bill Shorten? The former Victorian union leader was sworn in yesterday as the new Superannuation Minister to serve under Julia Gillard’s minority government. While Shorten is a tough nut, a seasoned media performer, engaging and ambitious, he’s been most […]