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Tag: Transition to Retirement

Getting your SMSF 2014 ready

SUMMARY: Here are nine steps to get your SMSF ready for whatever’s ahead in 2014. In life, you can look forward or you can look back. But it usually pays to do a bit of both. While the final results aren’t in yet for calendar 2013, it was a fine year for investors and self-managed […]

Is property best inside a SMSF?

SUMMARY: You’re ready to buy an investment property. But inside or outside a SMSF? Here’s what you need to weigh up. It’s a parent’s lot to put their children’s interests ahead of their own. Some take it a little further than others and they are prepared to make sacrifices beyond the time when the “raising […]

Making death less taxing for your kids

SUMMARY: Do you want to make it tax-free for the next generation? A recontribution strategy requires some forward planning. We all know and love super as this great income stream that comes to us tax-free eventually, usually after we turn 60 or 65. Well, most of it comes tax-free to nearly all of us. There […]

Joint SMSFs: No such thing as “ours”

SUMMARY: One SMSF – many accounts. Why your SMSF has “yours” and “mine”, but no “ours”. It’s time to bust a myth about SMSFs. Perhaps it’s more misunderstanding or misconception than myth. But it’s certainly time to crush it. Your SMSF, if there are two members, has at least two accounts. There is “yours”. And […]

Why compulsory annuities won’t suit SMSFs

PORTFOLIO POINT: The spectre of compulsory super annuities is increasing. And I don’t think SMSF trustees will be too thrilled. A considerable number of voices believe it’s one of the last great reforms needed to get Australia’s superannuation system up to world’s best. Compulsory annuities. When you hit retirement age – or some defined qualifying […]

A tax take on pension fund investing

PORTFOLIO POINT: If you no longer had to pay tax, would it change the way you invested? Taxation distorts decision making when it comes to investments. Taxation distorts a lot of things, including my face when I see my quarterly BAS/IAS. Tax law can channel investment down one path or another. It can promote or […]

Your super pension strategy post the election

PORTFOLIO POINT: If you are 60-plus and still working, then a transition-to-retirement pension is a must. Plus what the election result means. If you are over 60 and still working, listen up. This column might be the most profitable column you read this year. There’s a common misunderstanding around superannuation pensions. And that is that […]

Super pension shift can make tax sense

PORTFOLIO POINT: Considering how to protect recent gains? Some trustees might benefit from a shift to a super pension. Stock markets seem to be getting choppy, following a largely stellar run since the middle of last year. After months of gradual rises, the last few weeks has seen daily movements turn jittery again. A big […]

The big super raid is on the way

PORTFOLIO POINT: The rumblings have not been denied. A super raid seems inevitable in a desperate bid to balance a beaten up budget. That the Federal Government is going to raid superannuation to make a surplus of the current year’s budget is now considered a done deal. How do we know this? Because none of […]

It’s an Olympian effort but you need to check your super fund

The Olympics is an interesting armchair spectator sport in a philosophical sense. Every four years, for two weeks, we all become experts in sports we know absolutely nothing about. “Oooh, bad rotation.” “Great double pike with twist!” “Lift your stroke rate girls”. But the Olympics is for all ages. Four years ago, when the Beijing […]