Super

With climate change being increasingly recognised as a systemic risk, the investment community is becoming more focused on supporting the transition to a net-zero-emissions economy and establishing sound transition plans The announcement by Cbus Super is the most recent example. Last month, the $54 billion building and construction industry superfund launched a new Climate Change…

In an environment of low interest rates and seemingly overvalued sharemarkets, advisers are naturally flocking to alternative asset classes to eke out returns. Yet not all alternative assets are created the same. The COVID-19 sell off and subsequent recovery has truly seperated the good from the bad. In this webinar, PIMCOs Chris Santore, will shine…

Embracing technology to improve profitability Net Wealth released their latest Adviser Tech white paper, once again exposing the slow adoption of technology in by financial advisers around the country. The report details the many new outsourcing and digital applications available to make advisers jobs easier, yet the industry remains hamstrung by the requirements of other…

Clearly, we should have seen it coming. A launch party full of B-grade celebrities on a pristine beach in a cyclone ravaged region, it had all the hallmarks of a disaster. This week saw the regulator taking action against the Mayfair Platinum Group, including its subsidiaries IPO Wealth, Mayfair 101, and M-Notes among others. The…

Despite coming through the COVID-19 lockdowns seemingly unscathed, it seems that Queenslanders have been dipping the hardest into their superannuation under the early release clauses.

Clients who have put off establishing a self-managed super fund due to the assumed high costs may be put at ease after the Australian Taxation Office released the median cost of an SMSF which is significantly lower than earlier reported figures. The ATO’s 2017-18 Statistical Overview of SMSFs shows the median operating expense of SMSFs…

The $85 billion industry fund for the higher education and research sector has finally filled the position of chief risk officer with the appointment of Andrew Raftis after Ruby Yadav resigned in December 2019. Raftis has over 20 years in compliance roles internationally including chief risk officer at AXA Asia Pacific, chief internal auditor of…

Preliminary unofficial data on registrations of self-managed super funds (SMSFs) points to resurgent popularity of the vehicle. While Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data has not been officially updated, unofficial numbers have been shared at conferences showing a spike in registrations, reversing a trend of the last few years – indicating that Australia’s army of 1.1…

Australian Super has appointed former Coles executive Sarah Adams as group executive, strategy, brand and reputation. She joins from Bushfire Recovery Victoria where she was executive director of communications and stakeholder relations. Prior to that, she was general manager of corporate affairs at Coles and held senior leadership positions within the Federal Government. First Sentier…

Strongly divided views about the wisdom of using the early release from superannuation have prompted large numbers of fund members to seek the advice of financial planners. Losing insurance cover, reducing retirement benefits and crystallising losses are the main issues commentators have highlighted. According to AMP’s technical adviser support team, early release of super was…

The superannuation industry is deeply divided over whether the government’s decision to change the super early release rules is really in the interest of the super fund members.
The measure allows Australians to apply via myGov for access of up to $10,000 of their superannuation from April this year and an additional $10,000 from July 1 2020 for another three months.

The Grattan Institute has released its submission to the government’s retirement incomes review, a review called in anticipation of five annual increases in compulsory superannuation contributions, scheduled to begin in July 2021.