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Tag: Trustees

SMSF property: Understand the risks

PORTFOLIO POINT: SMSF and geared property is white-hot news. So, let’s not lose sight of a few of the dangers. I’ve never seen anything like it. And I’ve been writing about superannuation for well more than a decade. While superannuation “issues” occasionally get plenty of column centimetres in the mainstream media (while specialist media cover […]

Inside ASIC’s SMSF push

PORTFOLIO POINT: ASIC will make it tougher for industry professionals to push clients down the path of opening a SMSFs. The snowball in the numbers of SMSFs and the associated members and trustees continues rolling and growing. The latest tax office data, released over the weekend, shows SMSFs numbered 509,362 at 30 June, with a […]

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 […]

Super frauds target SMSFs

PORTFOLIO POINT: Could you become a target of a super scam or SMSF fraud? Your SMSF is not safe. Here’s what to look out for. Bees and honeypots. Frauds and moneypots. It’s a similarly sticky attraction. The list of those who have lost wads to fraudsters and scam artists continually grows. Email and the internet […]

Super property bells ring louder

PORTFOLIO POINT: Property gearing in SMSFs seems to be here to stay, but beware. Plus: Roger Montgomery, I accept your challenge. At the time, it was one of the biggest surprise decisions to have ever occurred to the superannuation industry. In September 2007 – nearly six years ago – the rules were changed to allow […]

How super is your return?

PORTFOLIO POINT: How well did you do your job as SMSF investment manager last year? You needed to beat 14.81%. Unless you were still bunkered down in the ultra-defensive end of the investment world, the financial year ended 30 June should have been a good one for you. A ripper of a year for Australian […]

A super time to split

PORTFOLIO POINT: Don’t take the chance this new legislation will fail to pass. You need to start splitting super contributions now. There has been a relatively small band of superannuation experts who, in recent years, have continued to push heavily a very unfashionable strategy. The strategy concerned spouse super splitting. It was a strategy that […]

Beware the property hard sell. ASIC is watching

PORTFOLIO POINT: ASIC applies the blowtorch to SMSF property spruikers, with advisers and accountants also feeling the heat. Better late than never. Property spruikers be warned – the consumer watchdog has had enough and a bunch of businesses who thought they were operating outside of the reach of the law are about to get a […]

Contributions capers: Another year, another change

PORTFOLIO POINT: I give up. If you know what’s happening with concessional contribution limits, email me. To quote comic legend Rowan Atkinson playing the pastor addressing his flock in 80s sketch comedy classic Not the Nine O’Clock News: “You don’t know whether to sit, kneel or stand! You’re up and down like a whore’s drawers!” […]

SMSFs in Labor’s super sights

PORTFOLIO POINT: Sticky fingers reaching for the super pie again? If it’s true, they’re after YOU. You might not think you are “fabulously wealthy”. But what is that anyway? We won’t know until the government defines it. But be under no misapprehension that if the government is going to tinker with super taxes in this […]