August 2019 Opinion piece written by John Maroney, CEO, SMSF Association Published in the Australian Financial Review on 15 August 2019 Maximising your $1.6 million pension cap may backfire on your beneficiaries. Strategies to work around the $1.6 million transfer balance cap (TBC) may be useful for those in pension phase trying to maximise their retirement savings.…
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August 8, 2019
Short term nerves trump long term wisdom
August 2019 Investors have a bad habit of doing the wrong thing in the wake of sharemarket lurches such as the one we are experiencing, basing their reaction on gut instinct rather than logic. Newspapers will blare “billions wiped off markets” and nervous investors will obey their overriding nervous sentiment and sell. “Australian shares lose…
August 6, 2019
SMSFs attract younger members
August 2019 Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard/Board Director of the SMSF Association Given that self-managed super funds (SMSFs) hold more than half of the retirement dollars in super, it is easy to assume that self-managed super is dominated by older members. Not so. In reality, a high proportion of investors establishing…
July 30, 2019
SMSF Connect Investment Series – The importance of cash flow in your SMSF
July 2019 Welcome to the first edition of the SMSF Connect Investment Series. Hi my name is Ian Irvine and I have been a keen investor for over 40 years. It all started when I was still at high school, when one evening my father took me to an education session at The Sydney Stock…
July 24, 2019
SMSF Association review of the Australian Taxation Office’s SMSF Statistical Overview 2016-2017
July 2019 The SMSF Association has released their review of the Australian Taxation Office’s 2016-17 statistical overview of SMSFs. It reveals a sector that has not only performed well but provides a positive outlook for its future growth and strong performance. So what are the key takeaways for SMSFs? The average SMSF establishment size rose…
July 23, 2019
Wanted: Post-retirement advice for SMSFs
July 2019 Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard/Board Director of the SMSF Association Self-managed super funds (SMSFs) have increasing unmet needs for advice about having a regular retirement income, investing in retirement and estate planning. The 2019 Vanguard/Investment Trends SMSF Report estimates that 145,000 SMSFs have unmet needs for advice on post-retirement planning…
July 19, 2019
The right way to use transition to retirement schemes
July 2019 Opinion piece written by John Maroney, CEO, SMSF Association Published in the Financial Review on 19 July 2019 Given it is the beginning of the financial year and many are considering starting or continuing pensions, it is timely to take a look at transition to retirement income stream options. These streams allow people…
July 8, 2019
EOFY: A time to review, rebalance and recommit
July 2019 Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard Australia/Board Director of the SMSF Association Memories of June growing up in Tasmania are of bleak days, frost-covered windscreens, icy football fields and the strong desire to hibernate. But perspectives change – slowly in this case – over time. June in Tasmania is…
May 24, 2019
How couples can even up their super balances
May 2019 Opinion piece written by John Maroney, CEO, SMSF Association Published in the Australian Financial Review on 23 May 2019 Are you like many households where there’s one much higher super balance and the other is lower? We outline why you need to change this and how to do it. Despite restrictions on making superannuation…
May 20, 2019
Considering an SMSF? Here’s what you need to know
May 2019 First published in Your Life Choices on 16 May 2019 Self-managed superannuation funds are popular with Australians wishing to take on the responsibility and control of their retirement savings. SMSF Association policy adviser Franco Morelli explains what you need to know when considering this option. A self-managed super fund (SMSF) performs the same role as other…