I am not denying the low to zero tax which superannuation...

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    I am not denying the low to zero tax which superannuation provides. I pay quite substantial Medibank on my own funds which if inside super, would be medibank free. However, with my own funds I can buy whatever shares I wish (not so with funds held in my Annuity who allow only top 300 companies), I avoid those IOOF charges which appear each month based on the total amount in the Annuity, I avoid the government changing and chopping the rules. The recent changes of a ceiling of $1.6mill. is perhaps not too punishing, I recognise, given that any excess will come under the 10% earnings and 15% cap.gain tax (or half after 12 months) but now the think-tanks have zapped people's Defined Benefit Scheme by adding a multiple of 16 to the super cap.
    That would have caught me if I was 100% in super.

    I once had a DIY fund in Growth mode. One had to jump through loops for that one, too. All my shares moved in there were in my name, found they needed to be sold and bought again in the name of myself and another trustee. Then there was a requirement for me to buy a shelf company so that a company name could be used. The setting of it up, the statement of aims (forget the name) the proportions needed to be held in specific asset classes, the rules went on and on. Anyway, I cut my losses and departed and maybe 3 or 4 years.

    I'm aware that my way of doing things means I am donating to the government's coffers but the amount is not large. It allows me maximum choice as to what I buy because my money doesn't get removed from the super annuity, I can juggle my own monies the way in which it best suits me, I have a quite simple tax return to make per year (one not two as I had with a DIY), my Defined Benefit comes tax free these days, and if I wish to put in a bid for a house, I have my cheque book to back me. I don't get my full imputation credits back but some of them I do.

    Anyway, should I go back to work to satisfy the work test (how stupid is that demanding oldies to jump through a few more hoops for their enjoyment) I can put in $150,000 each year until age 75. How much impact of shifting this amount until that age? Not much. Not worth the effort, in my honest opinion. If I continue making capital gains, I have sufficient cap.losses to write them off against for quite some time, so may as well play about reducing these negatives. Anyway, that is my way of figuring what I am doing.
 
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