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Tag: Superannuation

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 […]

What are some of the most important things you should know about your super?

Generation X is often accused of being fatalistic about superannuation. Many believe it will be hoovered up by government taxes, crash before they receive it, or taken by frauds. But they’re not acceptable excuses for taking a bad attitude to super. Most importantly, Xers need to understand that super is our money, we just can’t […]

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 […]

Permanent chaos – Super’s relative stability

Permanent chaos can be overwhelmingly tiring. A bit of stability and consistency in life is generally welcome. An example of chaos? Greece. Who would be them at the moment? Flat broke and can’t decide whether or not to eject themselves from the Eurozone. Cravings for stability apply to your money, too. Regular paycheques suit many […]

Money for nothin’? You gotta earn it!

There is a period in every parent’s life where all vacations seem to be “holidays in hell”. Who would travel with kids by choice? Tired kids meet airport security. A truly volatile combination. I’ve never sweated more quickly than when I was forced to softly scream at my eight-year-old boy to stop talking about “blowing […]

Now’s time to go hard, Gen-Xers!

I have a rule with Mrs DebtMan. Well, I have a few. So does she. And hers includes no mobile phones at the dinner table. She goes all Cujo-like – frothy at the mouth – if I receive 100 texts over dinner from the school-dad, punting-club “Turkeys”. Which is often. But one of my rules […]

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 […]

Play God with your tax this June 30

Less enjoyably than Father’s Day, but less unpleasantly than a birthday after 40, tax time pounces on us every year. Love it. Loathe it. Ignore it. Your choice. June 30 offers a series of little decisions, some of which can be short-term profitable, some are long-term profitable, while some allow you to “play God” with […]

‘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 […]

All markets move up and down so what is the best way to manage the fluctuations?

  STAY cool. Gen Xers need to channel Douglas Adams’ advice from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. “DON’T PANIC!” Market fluctuations? Schmucktuations. A Gen Xer’s long-term investment plan, when it comes to The Big Game, needs to accept that a market’s next move is as random as a deck of cards. With shares and property, […]