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3 September 2026
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The current net annual cost of superannuation tax subsidies is around $40 billion, growing to more than $110 billion by 2060. These subsidies have always been bad policy, representing a waste of taxpayers' money.
Most superannuation products offered to working-age Australians are now performance-tested, and there are calls to extend these tests to account-based pensions. It's likely to result in more pain than gain, though.
A Grattan Institute report suggests lifetime annuities as a solution to people not spending their super balances. The issue is whether underspending is the real problem or a sign of more fundamental failings in our retirement system.
The benefits in retirement come at the cost of consumption in prior years and this trade-off should be the focus in making reforms to super. Otherwise, the system will continue to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor.
New research on Australia's retirement income policy argues many people (and the Budget) would be better off without compulsory super, especially when the welfare benefits of increasing home ownership are considered.
Professor Bird and Dr Gray highlight the dominance of the financial sector in Australia’s economy in their submission to the Financial System Inquiry and question whether bigger is necessarily better.
Conventional wisdom encourages retirees to preserve superannuation. But if those likely to qualify for the Age Pension later in life spend a little more today, it may deliver higher lifetime income and a more stable retirement.
The ban on borrowing to buy residential property inside a self-managed super fund was framed as closing a loophole for the wealthy. Yet ATO data suggests its effects may be felt more heavily on members with moderate balances.
What if investment success depends less on picking the right assets and more on understanding the decisions of other investors? A principle borrowed from game theory offers a different perspective on markets.
Gold is back in the headlines but investors may be asking the wrong question. Before deciding where prices are headed next, it's worth considering whether the investment you choose will deliver the outcome you're actually seeking.
For decades, investors looked the other way as government debt ballooned. But a reckoning may be beginning. Bond markets are stirring and the consequences could reach far beyond markets into everyday life.
A little-known corner of the property market may be quietly benefiting from powerful demographic and healthcare trends. Could this specialised sector offer investors something increasingly difficult to find: enduring demand?
Is retirement really an identity crisis, or is something else at play? New insights challenge conventional thinking and reveal why some retirees struggle to fully embrace life after work.