Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard Australia/Board Director of the SMSF Association First published in Cuffelinks on 26 July 2018. One of the great misnomers in the Australian investment scene is that self-managed super funds are actually self-managed. The simple reality is that there is an entire advice industry built around…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard Australia/Board Director of the SMSF Association Fear is a factor in many of our investment decisions. Now, that’s not always a bad thing because fear can be an effective motivator that overcomes another great emotional roadblock for investors – procrastination. Fear can come in many…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard Australia/Board Director of the SMSF Association First published in The Australian Financial Review on Tuesday, 3 July 2018. Licensed by Copyright Agency.  “Two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. We’re gonna have to earn it”  Clint Eastwood said as Blondie in The Good,…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard Australia/Board Director of the SMSF Association Are you among the investors holding a growing proportion of your investments outside super? Changes to the super system – particularly the lowering of contribution caps and the introduction of the $1.6 million pension transfer cap* – are inevitably…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Market Strategy and Communications at Vanguard/Board Director of the SMSF Association An estimated 77,000 self-managed super funds (SMSFs) have unmet needs for advice on estate planning. The 2018 Vanguard/Investment Trends SMSF Report confirms that estate planning is among the highest unmet needs for advice. This equates to 13 per cent of…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard Australia/Board Director of the SMSF Association What are the hardest aspects of running your self-managed super fund (SMSF)? Do they include keeping track of the seemingly-constant regulatory changes, handling the impact of those changes, choosing investments or handling your fund’s paperwork and administration? If you…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard Australia/Board Director of the SMSF Association Australia’s army of Chief Investment Officers is marching into retirement. This year’s Vanguard/Investment Trends SMSF survey shows that more than 50 per cent of the $720 billion invested in SMSFs is now being managed by retirees. The self-managed super…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard/Board Director of the SMSF Association The superannuation system exists for a sole purpose – to provide Australians income in retirement. The release this week of the Productivity Commission’s report on the efficiency and competitiveness of the super system provides a comprehensive analysis – a three-stage…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard/Board Director of the SMSF Association The approach of a new financial year is often a super crunch time. It’s a time when many investors decide whether to stay with their large super fund, switch to another big fund or setup a self-managed fund. There are,…

Written by Robin Bowerman, Head of Corporate Affairs at Vanguard/Board Director of the SMSF Association Checking your super fund’s cash flow of contributions in and pension payments out is a particularly critical part of end-of-financial-year planning for 2017-18. Don’t leave it until the last minute. Super money in Well before June 30, make sure you…