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29 December 2025
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Super reviews aggregate retirees into an impersonal number on a chart, but the 2,700 Australians who retire each week are undergoing a major change in their lives. Why and when do they retire and then what?
Australians don't need dodgy schemes in Caribbean islands to hide their wealth. There are plenty of legal ways to avoid paying tax but they will leave personal income tax carrying a heavy burden for future generations.
An actuary warns of the frustrations he experienced as executor of his brother's will, a role he expected to be straightforward. He knew super does not automatically form part of an estate but there are traps for all to learn.
With the best will in the world, family disputes often occur on the death of a family member. SMSFs often hold substantial assets, and the role of trustees and death benefit nominations is tricky.
The $1.6 million Transfer Balance Cap (TBC) on pension accounts affects only capital balances. It’s not affected by income earned and pensions paid, and there are ways to maximise the remaining tax-free status.
It’s crucial for super fund or SMSF members to understand the law as it relates to death benefit nominations to ensure desired outcomes are achieved. Don't leave a mess for others to fix.
If proposed super changes are enacted, the lifetime cap on non-concessional contributions will confine the re-contribution strategy and significantly increase the tax payable on death benefits. Was that intended?
A warning not to take short cuts when settling a death benefit from a deceased SMSF member. Even if the payment is being transferred within the same fund, you still need to follow the law.
The benefits received from super if premature death, terminal illness or permanent injury prevent you or your spouse from working to retirement age vary in their conditions and taxation, so it's good to be informed early.
Technical but important - recent amendments allow the income on investments supporting a non-reversionary pension to continue as exempt current pension income after the death of the member.
Protecting your wealth and standard of living is just as important as building it in the first place. You are gambling with your financial future if you do not have adequate insurance.
Retirement isn’t a clean financial arc. Income shocks, health costs and family pressures hit at random, exposing the limits of age-based planning and the myth of a predictable “retirement journey".
The superannuation system has succeeded brilliantly at what it was designed to do: accumulate wealth during working lives. The next challenge is meeting members’ diverse needs in retirement.
Two years ago, I wrote an article suggesting that the odds favoured ASX shares easily outperforming residential property over the next decade. Here’s an update on where things stand today.
I am a professional real estate investor who hears a lot of opinions rather than facts from so-called experts on the topic of property. Here are the largest myths when it comes to Australia’s biggest asset class.
In an interview with Firstlinks, CEO Mark Freeman discusses how speculative ASX stocks have crushed blue chips this year, companies he likes now, and why he’s confident AFIC’s NTA discount will close.
It might not be quite an ‘everything bubble’ but there’s froth in many assets, not just US stocks, right now. It might be time to stress test your portfolio and consider assets that could offer you shelter if trouble is coming.