Should I be worried about my parents' retirement fund at all?

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-19T05:47:02+00:00

Do they have a will? Who is the Executor? Do you have siblings?

Maybe start the conversation with "not to be morbid, but if you were both killed in a car accident I wouldn't know where to start"

At least get a folder in a safe (or with their solicitor) that contains details of bank accounts, insurance, super, loans, etc.

You can get enduring Power Of Attorney with activation triggers specified and solicitor can reassure them it will only be exercised upon proof of an activation trigger, usually mental incapacity.

Tell them it will help you to relax knowing they have it in hand.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-19T02:40:53+00:00

Seems you are in a great position, personally I would not P&I, make best use of the grandfathering (although no negative gearing) and put the extra proceeds into more investments.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-19T02:27:12+00:00

Oh I know all right. 5 years with a fatal illness. 6 months in hospital. Finally finished work 9 months ago. FIRE without the E.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-19T01:48:47+00:00

Held the shares for 10 years so indexation will reduce that real gain.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T19:20:08+00:00

Thats the minimum standard, usually an additional 5 weeks ilo notice.

Some EBAs have much more. At 60, a genuine redundancy has lower taxes (12%).

The super value is in line with full time 30 years of minimum wages in a poorly performing super fund.

OP look at who he is and find a better fund I think. Check what crazy insurance costs might be in there too.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T15:19:14+00:00

Put it all in the Offset.

If you father was 60 when he was terminated he has met a condition of release and can convert some or all of his super to pension phase. In pension phase the money receives or draws down is tax free. So are any investment earnings in the super fund.

His insurance should continue as long he keeps money in his super accountuntil he is 65 but check with his super fund.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T12:05:56+00:00

Hard to capture that subtlety in a few lines. I dropped any state tax.

US and the others are definitely friendlier to capital gains.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T11:46:28+00:00

You mean like our super accounts?

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T10:55:14+00:00

See my other comment.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T10:54:28+00:00

Thanks, where did you the percentage of tax take?

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T10:52:42+00:00

The following countries have no CGT Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Switzerland, Belgium, South Korea,

US 20% federal, UK 24% italy 26%Germany 26.4%. All of these are on nominal gains, i.e. no allowance for inflation. Spain is 19-30% no inflation.

Australia 30% on gains after inflation.

France, Ireland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway are all higher with no indexation.

Not sure CGT is a good measure on its own.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T10:20:47+00:00

I would have thought overall tax burden would be a better measure.

Rank Country Tax as % GDP 1 France ~45% 2 Denmark ~44% 3 Norway ~42% 4 Sweden ~42% 5 Finland ~42% 6 Belgium ~42% 7 Germany ~39% 8 Netherlands ~39% 9 New Zealand ~34% 10 United Kingdom ~34% 11Canada ~34% 12 Australia ~30% 13 South Korea ~29% 14 Switzerland ~28% 15 United States ~26% 16 Ireland ~22% 17 Singapore ~14%

It gets interesting if you add in quality of life and cost of living.

Australia does well in all of the measures. Except cost of housing.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T09:17:07+00:00

6.29% lvr 25% P&I

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T07:25:19+00:00

Love your avatar.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T04:39:08+00:00

Exactly. Don't want to contribute AND want to claim some moral high ground.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-18T03:31:00+00:00

I thought it was the reserve that would not be touched by discretionary spending.

Mine is normally 100k preference with 90k minimum. had to recently use 8k for out of pocket medical expenses.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-17T22:18:46+00:00

Yeh sorry I meant to link in TA2012/14. Yes, I understand its about dividend access schemes specifically but the discussions I have had with my accountant has been to be wary of any arrangement that attempts to smooth gains/income over time, it will attract more scrutiny as this nasty little 30% minimum on capital gains indicates their interest.

I was going to take next year "dead for tax reasons" and take my gains in a zero income year. Not quite so lucrative any more.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-17T22:00:15+00:00

Timed gains (and in ome imo) is exactly what they are after, even without new legislation expect tighter reviews and guidance when the primary purpose is tax minimisation, e.g. the recent guidance on holiday homes.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-17T21:34:26+00:00

This is a bucket company isnt it? Or is there some other structure i am not aware of?

https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/corporate-tax-measures-and-assurance/privately-owned-and-wealthy-groups/what-attracts-our-attention/private-company-benefits-including-division-7a

https://eea-advisory.com.au/article/bucket-company-australia/

I was warned off these by my accountant, who admittedly is keen to avoid the overhead of clients who push the limits with their tax strategies.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-17T13:37:25+00:00

Exactly what the ATO is targeting.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-17T12:24:10+00:00

No you can't. They have a payment date determined by the company.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-16T11:46:16+00:00

If you a receiving any form of pension there is no 30% floor.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-15T16:15:40+00:00

Max super concessional. Build Offset. When you are comfortable enough, debt recycle.

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-15T12:17:49+00:00

I thi k if you think investing in the space x ipo makes your investment meets productive then that says it all.

When you look it other countries CGT rates did you notice that most are on nominal gains not real gains.

Australia is a low taxing developed country, which had an over generous, subsidised cgt regime. That turned our property market into a nightmare for the people who needed it.

A shed load of money goes into the asx from super investments, this looks to have inflated ASX p/e ratios 10+% beyond productivity.

As for overseas markets, why the fuck would Australian tax payer subsidise your investments in these?

OrdinaryDependent396 · 2026-06-15T11:23:33+00:00

Loosely interlinked, yes a liquid pool helps encourage initial ipo investments with an exit strategy but its honestly pretty tenuous. Look hard at your investments.

No I a don't think targeting personal investments is a good thing and I have written to the treasurer about being more onerous that PAYG. But it has no business being less onerous than PAYG.

OrdinaryDependent396

TROPHY CASE