Five Things To Think About With Your Super

Steve GreatrexBlog2 Comments

Financial Planner Adelaide

Steve Greatrex

Recently Steve was quoted by News Limited journalist Anthony Keane.

Here is an extract of the article.

A FRESH bunch of superannuation rule changes came into force on July 1, opening some new opportunities for Australians to build bigger nest eggs.

While the new rules lowered the cap on tax-deductible contributions to $25,000 a year and introduced more restrictions for wealthy savers, existing incentives remain.

Here are five ways to supercharge your super fund in the new financial year.

1 EXTRA CONTRIBUTIONS

Adding extra money as soon as you can gives your super fuel to grow over many years.

Salary sacrificing pre-tax income into super has remained popular and the new rules allow any worker to make contributions at any time and claim a tax deduction.

Steve Greatrex, principal of Wealth on Track, recommends making extra super contributions early.

Financial planners say people should make extra pre-tax contributions early in the financial year and early in life because the $25,000 annual limit — down from $35,000 — prevents over-50s from growing super as quickly as they previously could.

“Once you start doing it, you don’t miss it,” said Adelaide’s Wealth on Track principal Steve Greatrex. “Now that the caps are lower, it’s going to be harder to catch up.”

2 CO-CONTRIBUTIONS

If you can spare $1000 and earn below $51,813 — or would like to help out a family member earning below that amount — you can make an after-tax deposit into superannuation and the government will add up to $500.

That’s a handy 50 per cent return on your money. “Why wouldn’t you?” said (another adviser).

3 CHECK YOUR INVESTMENT MIX

“Keep an eye on where your super is invested,” (she) said. “Make sure it’s not sitting in cash (earning 2 per cent) if there are other options available.”

People with years before retirement can afford to go for growth, but Ms (she) said they should not take unnecessary risks with speculative investments.

“If you are 25, you have got a long while before you can access your super. Make sure you have quality assets and review it on a regular basis.”

4 SPOUSE CONTRIBUTIONS

People who pay money into the super fund of a low income spouse can get $540 back from the government through a tax rebate.

The threshold for the spouse’s income jumped from $13,800 to $40,000 on July 1, enabling many more couples to benefit.

5 BUYING AND SELLING HOMES

Two new housing-focused super incentives have started, one that allows first home savers to make tax-deductible contributions to a super-linked account for a home deposit, and another enabling over-65s to downsize their home and pump up to $300,000 into super on top of existing caps.

Mr Greatrex said these incentives could deliver “huge” benefits to some people.

2 Comments on “Five Things To Think About With Your Super”

  1. Hi I am 59 and my wife is 58 and we are looking to retire at 67. We still have a healthy mortgage of $400,000 ( only debt ), but an equally healthy combined super of $550,000. We will both continue to work until retirement and plan to pay off the mortgage to leave super savings of say $400,000.

    We have a nice house worth about $800,000 and plan to sell and move to the seaside with a similar costing unit or house.

    I have read where $400,000 in super for couples at retirement is the sweet spot where you still qualify for the full pension which would leave us $52000 per year to live on. We would be quite happy with after losing a lot during the financial crisis in 2008.

    Does this sound like correct reasoning, based on the information provided.

    1. Thanks Mark. I am uncertain as to where you get the $52000 per annum. The ideal is to get your situation modelled by an expert so that you can see your cashflow and capital modelled for your lifetime. Cheers Steve

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