Superannuation

Discussions about Australia’s retirement income system typically begin by reciting the political slogan that there are “three pillars” to the system — the age pension, compulsory super, and voluntary savings.

By Brendan Coates, Matthew Cowgill and Will Mackey from The Grattan Institute, cross-posted from The Conversation: A key question for the government’s retirement incomes review is who ultimately pays for compulsory super contributions, especially since they are set to climb from 9.5% of wages to 12% over the next five years.

Scrap Superannuation It fails to meet the standards of a retirement income system.

Over many years, this site has shown that Australia’s compulsory superannuation system is an inefficient, costly monster that needs fundamental reform.

New data released by Chant West shows that industry superannuation funds easily outperformed their retail counterparts over the last decade: As shown above, the top 10 best performing superannuation funds over the decade were all industry funds, easily beating the average return of 7.9% per annum.

Rice Warner forecasts that Australia’s superannuation industry will have $7 trillion worth of assets under management by 2034, compared with $2.7 trillion at present.

Looks like the at once all powerful yet invisble MB has done it again.

An income-dependent Boomer mate recently asked me what I thought of Listed Investment Companies and Listed Investment Trusts (LIC and LITs).

It’s fair to say that Industry Super Australia (ISA) has a vested interest in raising the superannuation guarantee (SG) from the current 9.5% to 12%, since this would result in more funds under management to ‘clip-the-ticket’ on, and more fee revenue.

The Canberra Times’ Crispin Hull penned an article over the weekend defending Australia’s compulsory superannuation system and imploring the Morrison Government to maintain the scheduled increase in the superannuation guarantee to 12%: The [superannuation] system needs some changes, but not in the way that big business, Coalition MPs and right-wing think tanks are suggesting.

The Australian’s Judith Sloan is the latest commentator to lambast Australia’s compulsory superannuation system.

Dr Cameron Murray – author of Game of Mates and occasional MB contributor – has estimated that the number of people employed in the superannuation industry, as well as its cost, rivals that of Australia’s total armed forces.

A new Treasury paper, released on Friday, claims Australia’s retirement system is giving the wealthiest Australians twice as much financial assistance as those on the lowest incomes: The overall level of public support provided by the retirement income system should be targeted to those who need it most.

New research by the Australian Institute’s Centre for Future Work, commissioned by Industry Super Australia, claims that wages have generally increased at a higher rate in years when the superannuation guarantee rate has also risen.

History doesn’t repeat but it sure does rhyme.

Stephen Anthony – chief economist at Industry Super Australia (ISA) – clearly has a vested interest in raising the superannuation guarantee from 9.5% to 12%.

Earlier this year, the Council of Financial Regulators (CoFR) recommended the federal government impose a ban on property investment through self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) after 18,000 SMSFs were found to have over 90% of their savings in a single asset class, primarily investment properties.