Can Self-Managed Super Funds trade shares? Are there any restrictions?
By Stephen Karpin, managing director of CommSec Question: Can Self-Managed Super Funds trade shares? Are there any restrictions? Response: Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSFs) are the fastest growing area of the superannuation industry in Australia. This is because they offer a range of possible advantages over other super funds, including greater control over how their assets…
Dividend imputation and super funds: debunking the myth
By Wealth Foundations Many investment advisers and accountants who provide advice to self managed super fund clients insist on investing in shares that pay fully franked dividends. We’re not sure why. Perhaps they believe in some magical additional benefit that dividend imputation credits offer super funds. It’s a pretty simplistic approach to investing which has…
Accountants Are Not Always People You Can Trust
Something seems out of whack when you can buy a new push bike for your child for the same price it costs an accountant to leave ‘please call me back’ messages on your voicemail. Push bike versus empty voicemail messages? Hmmm…which offers more value? Something seems out of whack when an accountant can bill indiscriminately…
You may be quietly lining up to lose on your superannuation
By Mark McGovern, Queensland University of Technology Silence surrounds significant changes to your superannuation. While the changes affect many, experienced staff in universities and similar institutions are particularly vulnerable. The halving of the contribution cap for those over 50 to $25,000 and the relatively more significant role of superannuation arrangements in university remunerations mean that…
What will you spend in retirement?
By Wealth Foundations It is often said that 25 times your desired retirement spending is a good rough guide to how much investment wealth you need to accumulate to be able to support your desired retirement lifestyle indefinitely or for financial independence. Of course, the usefulness of this proposition depends on having some idea of…
The Retirement Timing Fallacy
Wealth Foundations There have been numerous studies done over recent times about the cost of retiring at the wrong time. As investors, we need to manage the balancing act of taking on enough risk to maintain our purchasing power, but not too much that it jeopardises our affairs. Over the long term, we expect to…
DIY Super: Gain From Sharemarket Losses
Losing money on shares doesn’t have to be the end of the world – in fact, there are times when capital losses are actually more lucrative than capital gains. How is that? Take the instance of an in-specie transfer of shares into a super fund. This occurs when a person transfers their shares from their…
How much money do you need to comfortably retire?
We’re all getting used to spending more and receiving less as prices for food, utilities and housing keep jacking up. While this is bearable for those with rising incomes, it isn’t bearable for retirees who have a finite amount of money to live on. If you sit down with a financial planner to discuss your…
How to dump $450,000 into your super in one year
Let’s say you sell an investment property and you have a significant sum of money to invest somewhere – can you dump the lot into super? There is a whole host of rules surrounding how much money you can dump into your super fund and many come under the bring-forward rule, which you should be…
Self-managed super funds and tax exemptions on pension assets
I am over 70, but my wife is only 62 and we are both retired. We have a SMSF that commenced in 2005 from which we both draw a pension. Each year I have donated funds to my wife’s super in order to claim the Co-contribution. Apparently this means that the SMSF is in both…
