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31 December 2024
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The Design and Distribution Obligations (DDO) come into effect in two weeks. They will change the way banks promote products, force some small funds to close to new members and push issues into the listed space.
Australia's major banks face many challenges but they are strong and remarkably adaptive and resilient. They have also finally accepted they are too big to behave badly.
The tax benefits of holding money in an SMSF come with a responsibility to follow the rules, and the penalties can be severe for what seem like innocent or mistaken breaches.
The Royal Commission did good work but it is not above criticism: faced with limited time, it spent too long on some subjects and missed crucial issues that will impact millions.
After a year of analysing financial services like it has never been done before, the RC Final Report was released today with 76 recommendations which are expected to be adopted. What will change?
Round 5 of the Royal Commission focused on superannuation. Conflicts of interest, trustee responsibilities and delays in meeting the legal obligation to transfer default clients to MySuper products featured.
What to do if super guarantee payments from multiple employers, combined with salary sacrifice arrangements, have resulted in a breach of the concessional contribution cap.
Amid the Royal Commission words like toxicity, rot, darkness and attrition, the super industry must rebuild trust with accessible, open and candid communication, and stop scoring own goals.
The ATO has issued an update on illegal early release of super, when an SMSF is worth having, reporting obligations and trustee checklists. Make sure you stay on top of the rules.
Going through ASIC’s pronouncements and corporate plans can help gauge whether a business is at risk. Big and small AFS licensees such as non-bank planners, accountants, and life advisers will be increasingly scrutinised soon.
The existence of segregated or unsegregated assets in an SMSF determines how the tax exemption on a pension is calculated, and timing is critical.
Readers made many insightful comments about trust in financial institutions last week, and we welcome further constructive feedback about the unbelievable cash laundering through CBA ATMs.
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?