Australian retirees to become the richest in the World

[ahhell]

@mostly harmless if what you mean by banking fees, or cable and cell phone surcharges is money the government collects from carriers or banks based out of customer funds, those are just takes and so more tax like than when a government required folks to pay for specific good and services.

 

[lobosrul5]

Australian super is actually quite similar to the US employee 401(k) scheme, but with slightly different rules. That does not seem to be a "tax" per se although there's plenty of involvement in the US tax system.

Employers in the USA are not legally required to pay into an employee's 401k. I mean... I think they should.

Australia's system is closer to a legally mandated employee benefit than a tax.

 

[lobosrul5]

What you haven’t mentioned is that each superannuation account is individualised. Each employee can decide the risk level of investments and can choose to contribute more from their paycheck (and get a tax deduction as well). They can then decide when to access superannuation and how much. Pretty much as far from a tax as can be imagined, but never mind that.

The other thing is that, because superannuation did not become a universal program until the 1980s, some people (like me) don’t have a 7 figure fund, but are able to draw a full or part pension.

Its future retirees who will have enough to fully fund their retirements, leading to massive government savings.

Depends on how their investments do. Past results do not guarantee future gains.

I'm glad that some of my retirement is guaranteed by Uncle Sam... well until some South African weirdo came to power. Social Security pays out much much more in inflation guaranteed money than anything else thats "safe".

 

[Wildy]

Sounds like an involuntary 401-K. I presume the employees must contribute as well as the employers?

You can do voluntary payments but it's considered part of your pay package.

I’m leaving it in the hands of my fund HESTA. They have for more expertise than me, and I believe their investments are reputable.

We're super fund buddies!

OUR desire. Both conservative and progressive governments have supported this scheme for decades.

Until recently considering the Liberals are trying to say that people should be able to access their super early in order to keep the housing bubble going.

 

[Shiner]

$500,000 stolen in Australian super fund data breach

Super industry’s peak body says majority of hacking attempts stopped but money lost by a small number of customers

www.theguardian.com

 

[lionking]

$500,000 stolen in Australian super fund data breach

Super industry’s peak body says majority of hacking attempts stopped but money lost by a small number of customers

www.theguardian.com

Yes, I read that. Hopefully these bugs can be fixed and the losses quickly refunded.

By the way, when Covid hit and funds got smashed I transferred my superannuation to cash. Two big problems, it takes more than a week for the conversion to be made (the fund dropped further in that week) and just as long to transfer back, so I missed the first part of the recovery. I lost 10s of thousands.

This time with the Trump lunacy, I let things stand. It looks the right choice.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

I don't know why there is so much vehement insistence that it is a tax.

So far as I can work out, the real argument is about compulsion.

It took a million pages to get from "why are you pretending it's not a tax?" to gleaning that the label was not the issue and the actual question was "why are you pretending it's not a <thing you are compelled to do>?"

Maybe it another million pages it'll get to "who was pretending that?".

 

[Jack by the hedge]

... when Covid hit and funds got smashed I transferred my superannuation to cash. Two big problems, it takes more than a week for the conversion to be made (the fund dropped further in that week) and just as long to transfer back, so I missed the first part of the recovery. I lost 10s of thousands.

This time with the Trump lunacy, I let things stand. It looks the right choice.

That brings to mind something from many years ago when I first remember insider trading being in the news. Even if "the little guy" got wind of some insider info, in the time it takes for ordinary folk him to make a trade, the "smart money" has already bought or sold, so the benefit has gone.