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25 December 2024
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The arguments no longer focus on the $3 million but there is no 30% tax on large super balances, despite what everybody including Treasury says. It's a completely new 15% tax with a unique calculation which includes unrealised capital gains.
Treasury might not realise, but it's not a 30% tax, it's a completely new tax. And payment will not be due until FY28. Taxing unrealised gains will have major implications and the lack of indexing must change.
The benefits in retirement come at the cost of consumption in prior years and this trade-off should be the focus in making reforms to super. Otherwise, the system will continue to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor.
About 20% of the $890 billion in SMSFs is allocated to cash and term deposits. While understandable to an extent, more of this money is likely to make its way into bonds given the now attractive yields on offer.
Younger people should have the option to draw on their super balance to buy a home. It is the height of hypocrisy to allow retirees to use super to reduce their mortgage but deny young people early access.
Charlie Munger is famous for applying different 'mental models' to get an edge in markets. In this vain, here's a look at how ecological niches can be applied to stock markets and may help you become a better investor.
The recently passed Inflation Reduction Act is poised to have a significant impact on the US economy, especially in the renewable energy sector. Australia is well placed given our minerals are critical to decarbonisation.
Perhaps the most consequential lesson from the pandemic for companies is that relying on single links in the global supply chain is a mistake. Here's how businesses are adjusting and the implications for investors.
It’s with heavy hearts that we announce Firstlinks’ co-founder and former Managing Editor, Graham Hand, has died aged 66. Graham was a legendary figure in the finance industry and here are three tributes to him.
Last year, I wrote an article suggesting returns from ASX stocks would trample those from housing over the next decade. One year later, this is an update on how that forecast is going and what's changed since.
The Future Fund's original purpose was to meet the unfunded liabilities of Commonwealth defined benefit schemes. These liabilities have ballooned to an estimated $290 billion and taxpayers continue to be treated like fools.
ASFA provides a key guide for how much you will need to live on in retirement. Unfortunately it has many deficiencies, and the averages don't tell the full story of the growing gender superannuation gap.
The Big Four banks have had an extraordinary run and it’s left income investors with a conundrum: to stick with them even though they now offer relatively low dividend yields and limited growth prospects or to look elsewhere.
A triple headwind has seen Australia's biggest LIC swing to a 10% discount and scuppered its relative performance. Management was bullish in an interview with Firstlinks, but is the discount ever likely to close?