Money Magazine July 2016

Too many people spend money ‘ they earned ... to buy things they don’t want ... to impress people they don’t like – WILL ROGERS, ACTOR, 1879-1935 I’m proud to announce that Money magazine, in conjunction with the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), has embarked on an initiative to encourage more of us to “pay ourselves forward”. Our Super Booster Day campaign will run from July 7 to September 15. Surprisingly, only 7% of us boost our super. Maybe this number is so low because we’re just not fond of super, and rules keep changing. Maybe it’s because we prefer to build wealth outside super or because keeping up with the cost of living is hard enough. Whatever the reason, you can’t deny that super is good at…

Home show bonus I’ve been reading Money magazine for a few years and can’t thank the magazine enough for all the valuable information I’ve received. On Saturday, April 27, I was at the Home Show at Sydney Olympic Park. As I was walking around looking at all the exhibitors, in the distance I saw a familiar face. Who? you may ask. Effie Zahos! I stopped her in her tracks and said, “I love Money magazine, it’s the best!” Effie thanked me and invited me to the presentation she was going to give. At the time I had my 18-year-old brother-in-law with me and he listened to every word that Effie said. He has now set himself some financial goals, which I’m very proud of. Thank you, Effie. You were wonderful…

After reading Cameron Cowley’s article on superannuation and nominated beneficiaries (Legal Matters, May), I wanted to share my recent experience regarding how long this nomination lasts as it can affect your financial situation dramatically. Due to my partner’s recent diagnosis of several life-threatening, debilitating diseases that will affect his long-term physical and mental state, we decided to get all legal documents and health directives in order so I would not have to worry about finances in the future. We were able to cover everything except superannuation due to both of our super funds (one industry, one government) only providing binding nominations for three years. As we were each other’s power of attorney and nominated beneficiary, if either of us is unable to renew the binding nomination after the three years,…

EDITORIAL Chairman & chief commentator Paul Clitheroe Editor Effie Zahos Deputy Editor Maria Bekiaris Art Director Ann Loveday Deputy Art Director Tim Verrender Senior Sub-editors Bob Christensen, Lindsey Leathart Senior Writers Susan Hely, Pam Walkley Online Content Producer/Staff Writer Steph Nash CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Chris Batchelor, Paul Dales, Nicola Field, Ross Greenwood, Sam Henderson, Greg Hoffman, Craig James, Peter Koulizos, Anne Lampe, Roger Montgomery, Anthony O’Brien, Marcus Padley, Vita Palestrant, Terry Ryder, Annette Sampson CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS David Hancock, Reg Lynch, Jim Tsinganos, John Tiedemann, Richard Whitfield PHOTOGRAPHS Getty Images ADVERTISING NSW Peter Balinski (02) 9282 8075 Victoria Hector Vasconcelo (03) 9823 6335 Queensland Nikkola Hogan (07) 3101 6636 South Australia Nabula El Mourid (08) 8267 5032 Western Australia Vikki Stacy (08) 9449 9908 PRODUCTION Controller Ian Henn Advertising Production Sally Jefferys…

ROSS GREENWOOD Channel 9’s finance editor and Radio 2GB’s Money News host Ross’s tip for the new financial year is: “Hunt for companies that require relatively smaller amounts of capital but which are proven to be capable of generating large amounts of cash. Balance sheet analysis is essential to find these elusive companies … but they are out there.” NICOLA FIELD Nicola Field, a former chartered accountant, is a regular contributor to Money magazine. Nicola says: “Make a point of shopping around for a better deal on major expenses. I recently switched my car’s comprehensive policy to a different insurer, and in just 15 minutes saved $250. Easy money.” VITA PALESTRANT Vita was the editor of the Money section of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Vita says: “Despite…

‘ It is a fantastic investment for nearly every Australian With the ruckus in the media, you would be excused for thinking that superannuation should be avoided like the plague. The headlines over the past couple of months have been either awful or just confusing. Quite a few politicians seem to have no idea of their party’s position on super, let alone basic facts. Fear and loathing are the mood of the day. I think we all understand super is overly skewed to high-income earners and, in particular, to high income earners aged 60-plus who have a most confusing-sounding “transition to retirement pension”, which becomes even more confusing when it is referred to as a TTR pension. Labor’s Bill Shorten has said that super has unsustainably generous loopholes. The Greens…