Living your best life in retirement

If you’re nearing retirement age, it’s likely you’re wondering if you will have enough saved to give up work and take it easy, particularly as cost-of-living increases hit some of the basic expenses such as energy, insurance, food and health costs. Fortunately, someone has already worked out what you might need. The Association of Superannuation … Read more

SMSFs: What happens if you exceed your super caps

The rules around making some types of super contributions have been relaxed in recent years, so it’s worth exploring the different opportunities available to you before making a large contribution.i What are contribution caps? Given the tax-effective environment of Australia’s super system, there are annual limits on how much you can contribute each financial year. … Read more

Being informed is the key to avoiding scams

While it seems we all like to think we are clever enough to outwit a scam, Australians collectively lost more than 480 million to scams last year. Every year scammers get more sophisticated in the methods they use to part us with our money – or our valuable personal information. It’s important to recognise that … Read more

Markets love certainty, but what happens next?

Financial markets can be like finely tuned racehorses, poised to gallop ahead under ideal conditions but often highly reactive to unexpected events. It’s often said that the markets love certainty. Investors feel more confident when economic conditions are stable and predictable. But certainty in financial conditions is never a sure thing. Uncertainty is always just … Read more

New increased super contribution caps

As the end of financial year gets closer, some investors are thinking about the most effective ways to boost their super balance, particularly with an increase in the caps on contributions from 1 July. The concessional contributions cap, which is the maximum in before-tax contributions you can add to your super each year without paying … Read more