Super taxes: winners are…Challenger shareholders!
If any further confirmation was required that we are living through the superannuation version of “Dumb and Dumber”, Friday’s announcements should have provided it. The best that can be said for the “reforms” announced was that they were nowhere near as damaging to good policy as appeared possible a short time ago, which is why […]
Read more...The return of reasonable benefit limits?
I’m not a fan of politicians’ speeches to industry events, which despite the ideal setting for a content discussion, tend to be long on political shots and short on policy discussion. But sometimes there are some pointers to decisions to come, which make the text worth reading. A good example of this was Ken Henry’s […]
Read more...Is there a vertical integration conspiracy?
RG246’s silence on the issue of vertical integration has led some to conclude that this cannot be accidental. Is there an unofficial policy to encourage vertical integration of the wealth management industry? When I started in the industry (too many) years ago, vertical integration was a bit of a joke. The only vertically integrated players […]
Read more...RG246 and the future of fund manager rebates
At this moment there are probably hundreds of lawyers poring over RG246, ASIC’s regulatory guide to conflicted remuneration, and consensus about what it means in practice may take months to emerge. RG246 has some laudable ambitions in addressing the impact of remuneration on advice, but there are some measures within it which appear excessive, to […]
Read more...SSFS – Australia’s quietest super achiever
Successes in Australia’s super system rarely go unnoticed, thanks to how much is at stake, and in no little way to how much ego is involved. But a few slip under the radar screen. The rapid rise of Netwealth is one. Another, which is today’s topic, is State Super Financial Services (SSFS). Not much evades […]
Read more...CSS – Australia’s strangest super scheme
Australia has some pretty interesting super funds. In Tria’s new edition of the Super Funds Review, the large fund universe ranges from AMP at the top with $68bn, to little AMIST at the bottom with $1bn. In between there are funds of virtually every type imaginable. But one of the strangest has to be the […]
Read more...How fast is super growing?
When the world is running down, you make the best of what’s still around. Title of one of my favourite Police tracks from their classic 1980 album, Zenyatta Mondatta, and a hint at the state of the super system – growth is gradually slowing. So here are the answers just in case the CEO or […]
Read more...Taxing super and unintended consequences
Right now we’re feeling pretty confident about our 2013 fearless forecast that the Labor Government would increase taxes on super in order to fund the NDIS and other election year initiatives. Not that we take any pleasure in that. We’d much rather be wrong. One of the brutal realities of the trench warfare of minority […]
Read more...Investing for income in a world of disappearing yields
When we discuss significant developments for investors in the past 5 years, we usually think about volatility. But the really big change is actually the disappearance of yield. The trend started with government bond yields tumbling; Australia is about the only high quality sovereign for which 10 year bonds yield more than 3%. Bank deposits […]
Read more...SMSF lessons from the Beardstown Ladies
One of the big problems for investors considering different approaches to super is the ability to accurately compare returns. Returns from collective funds – whether super funds or unit trusts – have to be prepared according to an agreed methodology so that one fund can be easily compared with another. Calculating the returns from a […]
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