Empower Blog Superannuation

What is indexation and how does it work?

Indexation is an optional benefit on life insurance policies designed to ensure you’ll always have the same financial freedom in the event of a claim. Not all insurance policies offer indexation. But for those that do, it works by offering you an increase to the sum insured in your policy at each policy anniversary. This increase is designed ...

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Retirement Savings: What Every Australian Needs to Know

Key Takeaways: According to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), to have a ‘comfortable’ retirement, single people will need $595,000 in retirement savings, and couples will need $690,000, assuming they receive part Age Pensions.1 Retirement calculators can tell you how much capital you need to support the lifest...

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Changes to super from 1 July 2024

Key takeaways: On 1 July 2024, the SG rate which determines the minimum percentage of your salary that your employer must contribute to your super fund, will increase from 11% to 11.5% The cap on concessional (before-tax) super contributions will increase from $27,500 to $30,000 per year The non-concessional (after-tax) super contributio...

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Got Over $3M in Super? You Might Be Paying More Tax Soon

Note: This document has been prepared by Actuate Alliance Services Pty Ltd (ABN 40 083 233 925, AFSL 240959). At this stage, the measure is a proposal only and has not been made law. The information included below is based on the announcement made on 28 February by the Government and a Factsheet that has since been released by Treasury with some a...

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Tax Planning Tips to Maximise your Returns (Part One)

Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman: Episode 2, Part 1 To celebrate (or more accurately, prepare) for the upcoming tax season, we’re back with the second episode of our new Property Tax education series called “Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman”. As the old saying goes, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fai...

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The Myths and Facts of Insurance  

As you would appreciate, no one would buy a brand-new car and leave the showroom without insuring it.  So why is it then that thousands of Australians leave their house every day to go to work with minimal to no personal insurance coverage at all?   Just like insuring a new car because they know they need it, why is it that many Austra...

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Opportunities await – super changes from 1 July 2022 

Changes to super contribution rules from 1 July may create a great opportunity to revisit your savings and super contribution strategies. The changes may create new or enhanced options to build your savings. Outlined below is a brief explanation of some of the key changes and how you could benefit.  Super changes ahead  Now is ...

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Retirement: where to start

While many of us dream about the day we finally get to give up work and reap the benefits of our blood, sweat and tears, we often struggle to plan for it. After all, in the scuffle of immediate priorities, saving and planning for retirement don’t always make it to the top of the pile. But there’s a good chance you could be spending almos...

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Sky News Real Estate, April 2018 – Capital Gains Tax, Land Size in Units & Heritage Homes as Investments

Ben Kingsley, Founder of Empower Wealth, joins the Sky News Real Estate Market Panel with CEO of GlobalX Peter Maloney to discuss everything from superannuation to buying heritage homes! Find out: When you need to pay Capital Gains Tax If land size applies to units, How To Maximise Capital Growth Get the answer to these questions: “I mov...

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First Home Super Saver Scheme – What is it?

In this How To session, I want to talk about the 2017 Federal Budget. Treasurer Scott Morrison has announced a First Home Super Saver Scheme. Now, this Saver Scheme is all about trying to help first home buyers save for a deposit. Let's look at how it works. Effectively what you can do is, you can salary sacrifice into your super a maximum of $15,0...

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3 questions to ask yourself when setting up an SMSF

So what are the three initial considerations you need to consider when setting up a Self Managed Super Fund or SMSF? The first consideration is who's actually making the recommendation to you? Is it your mortgage broker, is it a real estate agent, is it a property spruiker or is it a buyers agent? All these people are legally not allowed to recomm...

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The Top 3 Myths of Financial Planning

So one of the key myths of Financial Planning is that our role is to minimise your tax or reduce your tax bill. The reality is our job is certainly a lot larger than that. It's about looking at the long term objectives, how do we position your portfolio, your investments and your savings to achieve that. Tax is simply a by-product of that. And the ...

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The Impact of the Federal Budget on your retirement

In recent articles in this series, we have discussed the state of incomes of older Australians compared to other developed nations, and concluded that we fare very poorly in such a comparison. In this article, we take a look at the proposals contained in the May 2014 Federal Budget and how they may impact on the wealth and lifestyle of older Austra...

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