Comfort with Money

A quaint practice that is rare compared with the “real thing” is the ceremony chosen by some couples to celebrate a long marriage, namely the “renewal of vows”. Not quite the same thing but now mandated in the financial services world is the abolition of “grandfathering” - the payment of annual fees to financial advisors. Now required is an annual affirmation from the investor that it’s OK for a fund manager to continue paying a percentage fee of the investment to the origina

The introduction of capital gains tax immediately made negative gearing a significantly less attractive proposition than it had been, although there is one possibility for deferral, but not avoiding. It’s too simple – don’t sell! The alternative is to bequeath your holding, usually property or shares, to a dependent and, at least in Queensland, the absence of death duty (thank you Joh) will allow deferral for generations. There could be generations of frustrated young benefic

Last week I posted a gripe about the “doubling up” with a second 15% tax on superannuation balances when cashed in by anyone except the member, or on his/her death, by a spouse or dependent. In its simplest form every superannuation account has the capacity to receive contributions which are taxed at 15% (going in) while un-deducted contributions are tax free in the hands of the super fund. On the death of the member a further tax of 15% is levied if the money goes into the h

Apart from the national sports of AFL and, at least in the eastern states, Rugby League, another sport, normally without contract involved, is saying nasty things about either the government and the much maligned Australian Tax Office. One should lay off the ATO because they only do what they are told by the parliament or at least the current governing party. It’s sheer idiocy to criticise the government in general terms for giving the ATO the powers it possesses and it’s equ