Menu Close

Articles on Superannuation

Displaying 241 - 260 of 272 articles

Investment in the Indigenous art market has a direct and traceable human impact. AAP Image/National Museum of Australia, Tim Acker

How super laws are killing the market for Indigenous art

Ownership, investment and art have never been entirely comfortable bedfellows. Recently, an email began to circulate among artists, gallery directors and art investors, asking recipients to lobby the Abbott…
Education Minister Christopher Pyne has flagged the possibility of selling off Australia’s HECS debt to help raise funds for the government. Alan Porritt/AAP

Selling off the HECS debt could be a super solution

Education Minister Christopher Pyne has confirmed the government is considering securitising Australia’s HECS debt, and has referred the issue to the Commission of Audit. This has immediately attracted…
Australia’s property market is heating up; but what role have self-funded superannuants played?

Are SMSFs inflating a property bubble?

Self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) have come under criticism from regulators amid concerns that the sector is over-investing in the residential property sector. The profession has hit back at the…
A roundtable of academics have reviewed family and work policies proposed by the major parties in the lead up to the 2013 election on September 7. AAP Image/Dean Lewins

Major parties fall short on work and family policy: experts

Australia is approaching a “care tsunami” in which more people will find themselves juggling work with care of children and the elderly but experts have warned that neither major party has proposed adequate…
Does Labor’s most recent attack ad pass the truth test? Labor Party

FactCheck: Labor’s ‘If Abbott wins, you lose’ attack ad

Election FactCheck is checking key claims in political advertisements. Here we look at the “If Tony Abbott Wins, You Lose” ad from Labor. Families will lose the Schoolkids Bonus The Coalition has made…
There are any many reasons why someone might choose to sell assets after moving into retirement, none of which involve tax avoidance. Image sourced from www.shutterstock.com

Is selling assets on retirement tax avoidance? Not so fast

Trustees of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) may have caught their breath this week when they read that the Australian Taxation Office had its eye on capital gains that were going tax-free once…
The market power of banks in funding will be challenged by the rise of super funds. Image from www.shutterstock.com

Rise of super funds will shape Australia’s financial sector

How will the shape of Australia’s financial sector evolve over the coming decades? How will the demand for finance change? Where will the supply of funds come from? Can we be confident that available funds…
Smaller piece of the pie: low income workers will suffer under a Coalition pledge to discontinue a superannuation top-up scheme directed at those earning less than $37,000 a year.

Abbott is not playing fair – Removing super contribution will hurt working poor

Opposition leader Tony Abbott’s budget reply pledge to discontinue the Low Income Earners Superannuation Contribution (LISC) will hit the retirement savings of thousands of low-paid Australian workers…
Tony Abbott’s budget reply was a considered economic strategy amid fiscally challenging times for Australia.

Strong rhetoric underpins Abbott’s budget strategy

In last night’s budget reply, Tony Abbott crowed he will “put the house back in order” and that the “budget will be in better hands under a Coalition government than under Labor”. It was a very measured…
The way it ends… from the mining tax to super reform and now the Gonski plan, Labor has surrendered to sectional interests. AAP/Alan Porritt

Labor’s super tax backdown hints at the party’s hollow core

This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. TS Eliot, The Hollow Men The Labor government’s attack on universities to fund…
The Gillard government’s changes to the tax treatment of superannuation make for a more complex system, rather than a more equitable one. AAP

Illogical tax tinkering won’t lead to a sustainable super system

Today, the Australian government announced additional taxation of high income funds in the decumulation or retirement stage of investments in superannuation. Arguably, the changes add more to complexity…
If the “spirit of reform” is behind any attempts to reform superannuation, why is this potentially being dropped on Australians on budget night?

Unfair, but for the greater good - where is Labor going with super?

The biggest retirement reform since the age pension, compulsory superannuation is one of the ALP’s greatest achievements. Before it was introduced, as part of the Hawke Government’s Accord with the union…
Bill Shorten aims to tackle disproportionate superannuation concessions. AAP/Dave Hunt

Richest Australians to take super hit

Next month’s federal budget will hit the generous superannuation tax breaks received by the very richest Australians. The target will be the highest one to two per cent of earners, with the government…
Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan face a significant challenge if they plan to change superannuation. AAP/Alan Porritt

Grattan on Friday: Labor’s super dilemma

Julia Gillard hardly had time for some deep breathing after the cyclone of last week, before her government was hit by fresh buffeting winds. A new round of speculation that the budget would hit superannuation…
A proportion of investors want to avoid controversial asset classes - but would it pay off?

Can super investors really bank on ethical investment?

One quarter of Australians would be willing to switch superannuation funds to avoid investing in coal or coal seam gas, according to a recent survey. Not only does this research raise important questions…
Super funds could fund research initiatives as well as provide good returns to fund members. Image from www.shutterstock.com

Super funds: an investment vehicle for scientific research?

Can the growing stash of super savings be used productively to fund valuable bio-science and other R&D while still generating good returns for fund members? Such research is typically high risk, but…
The current super debate overrides any serious focus on how women carers are disadvantaged and the adequacy of the age pension. AAP

Who is damaged by the current superannuation system?

Media stories about possible changes to superannuation tax concessions generally focus on the “dangers” of reducing the unfair benefits of better off super contributors. Most stories come from financial…
Fairness test: the Federal government has targeted the earnings of single parents while supporting wealthy superannuants. AAP

Current super concessions favour the wealthy - so why aren’t we supporting reform?

It says much about the degeneration of the Australian Labor Party that its priority and target for budget “savings” is poor single mums. In order to save an estimated $723 million over four years, in January…

Top contributors

More