Like most things in life, the best way to secure your financial future is to start with clear goals in mind. Here you’ll find some clever ideas for making the most of your super dollar.
1. Consolidate your super
- keep on top of your money
- Reduce your fees
- Less paperwork
2. Make an investment choice
Super gives you the flexibility to invest your retirement savings in a range of asset classes. These include more conservative assets such as bonds and cash, and assets that are more volatile (but potentially more rewarding over the long-term) such as property and shares.
3. Bump up your super
Salary sacrifice your bonus into super rather than receiving it as cash. This reduces the tax on your bonus by up to 31.5% and allows you to make a larger after-tax investment.
4. Use super to make your insurance more affordable
By holding your insurance inside your super fund you may be able to reduce the cost of Life, TPD and income protection insurance by using pre-tax dollars and taking advantage of bulk discounts. And by sticking with your mix, you may save thousands.
5. Invest personal assets in super
The tax-effectiveness of saving through your super fund can be really powerful. This is because investment earnings are taxed at a maximum rate of 15% and all benefits received at age 60 or over are completely tax-free.
With this in mind, why not consider cashing in an asset and making a personal after-tax super contribution? This strategy works really well if your money is currently invested in a term deposit or other asset where you won’t have to pay capital gains tax (CGT) on withdrawal. And even if you do have to pay CGT on assets such as shares, the tax benefits of super may more than offset the impact of CGT.
