We'll ignore the dispiriting interchange at the Royal Commission this week and start with a quotation on his life plan from Stephen Hawking, who died last week, which includes his 'retirement' planning:
"One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you're lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don't throw it away."
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on retirement indicates about 3.6 million have 'retired from the labour force', although not always voluntarily. New research from Roy Morgansays 415,000 Australians intend to retire this year, up from 326,000 in 2008. That's a surprising 1,000 a day! The average age of intending retirement is rising quickly, especially for women.
Source: Roy Morgan, as at December 2008 and December 2017.
Of course, 60 is the new 40. When I play football on Saturday, I take Voltaren with breakfast, top up with Panadol Osteo mid-morning, secure my ankles and shoulders with strapping tape, squeeze into Skins wear and use an elastic bandage on my right hamstring. My left shoulder and right knee have titanium pins. At the game, I massage with Dencorub before a stretching regime, then I try not to break anything for a couple of hours. Sunday I hobble around, Monday I go to the physio. Repeat. Millions of Australians over 60 aim to stay fit, travel and work and desperately hope they remain healthy as long as possible.
Franking credit refunds
Labor's new policy has sparked a debate about who is rich and who pays tax, with ambiguous data that is confusing most people. On the ABC's Q&A programme this week, opposing politicians argued about the difference between income and taxable income, while the millennial on the panel admitted most of her generation don't understand the issue. Bernard Keane, writing in Crikey on 14 March 2018 said:
"This is about class war. It's a war waged by wealthy older Australians on lower-income Australians and younger Australians ... This will be a bare-knuckle brawl between a very powerful interest group in the electorate and a major political party, an intersection of policy virtue and raw political power. Buckle up."
Wow. Explains why our articles last week received record numbers of comments. Warren Birdbuckles up and outlines why company tax is effectively a prepayment of tax for the shareholder, and the franking credit refund means the investor has paid too much tax based on their own personal tax rate. Brad Newcombe looks at the possible impact of the policy on hybrids.
Other articles this week
Estelle Liu and David Bell warn that Treasury is developing plans that could make the superannuation retirement gap for women even worse. The impact on reversionary benefits and gender equality should have greater scrutiny.
Still on super, Julie Steed offers some checks for anyone considering the new downsizer contributions, while Jeff Gebler asks why so many retirees spend less than the age pension.
On investing, Anthony Kirkham argues Australia is unlikely to follow US interest rate policy, and Jason Orthman and Mark Arnold see excellent opportunities with luxury goods manufacturers. James Freeman explores how behavioural biases can reduce market returns.
This week sadly saw the first person to lose their life after being hit by a driverless car, forcing Uber to abandon its testing. It makes the White Paper published last week on autonomous vehicles from AMP Capital even more relevant. Not a great week for tech with Facebook facing new regulations and its shares falling about 10%. In another timely White Paper, Magellanfocusses on big data, privacy and how companies are using your personal information.
Finally, a reminder that we provide a short online test with each edition for anyone wanting CPD hours for professional qualifications or training requirements. The tests are here.
Graham Hand, Managing Editor
Edition 245 | 23 Mar 2018 | Editorial | Newsletter