Time for super review

Retirement savings plans need assessment

By Darin Tyson-Chan
Fri 09 May 2008

Superannuation strategies need reviewing in order to take advantage of the market downturn.

Advertisement

Australians should re-examine their tax and contribution superannuation strategies before the financial year end, an accounting chief has advised.

"We've got two months until the end of the financial year and we're telling clients to get their year end planning done and especially their superannuation contributions and that sort of thing," HLB Mann Judd head of wealth management Michael Hutton said.

The main thing for people to keep in mind is that the turbulent nature of the current markets should not distract them form their formulated retirement savings strategy, according to Hutton.

"It should change the strategy of making pre-year end super contributions because superannuation is not an investment, it is an investment vehicle," he said.

Hutton also feels that the downturn in markets has created a good opportunity for people to transfer wealth from their own name into another entity like their superannuation fund in particular to minimize capital gains tax liabilities.

"In turbulent times like this they might have some assets they can sell that realise a capital loss and or not much of a gain," he said.

"It also allows people to get more assets into their superannuation fund without using up all of their contribution limits and if the bounce back [in asset values] happens in the better entity with concessionally taxed superannuation."

These opportunities must be acted on now as they cannot be taken retrospectively meaning after June 30 the benefit may be lost forever, Hutton warned.

Go to today's news

More stories by this author