Latest news with #AssociationofSuperannuationFundsofAustralia
Sydney Morning Herald
22-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Here's what the average person with $3 million in super looks like
The average wage-earner who will be hit by Labor's superannuation tax changes is an older man pulling in more than $240,000 a year and living in a major city as the government looks to patch up the budget with its planned tax rise on retirement balances over $3 million. But the analysis of tax numbers from the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia shows that the median income for people affected by the change is much lower, at $110,000, and just a quarter have an investment property. Labor will need to secure the support of the Greens over coming weeks to pass its legislation, which will lift the concessional tax rate on earnings from the portion of super balances above $3 million from 15 per cent to 30 per cent and which it claims will raise about $2.7 billion in revenue. Only about one in 200 Australians are expected to take a hit when the laws come into effect, but critics have suggested far more people will be affected in coming years if the threshold is not tied to wage growth or inflation. Loading Opposition Leader Sussan Ley this week told the Coalition party room, ahead of the opening of the 48th parliament, that the Coalition would target Labor's tax agenda after leaked Treasury advice urged the treasurer to consider new taxes too boost the budget bottom line. Ley vowed to 'fight them every step of the way'. ASFA's research, based on the latest data from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) during the 2022-23 period, found about 77,400 – or more than nine in 10 affected individuals – have super balances of more than $3 million but less than $10 million. The remaining 7 per cent have between $10 million and $50 million banked up in super, while about 100 Australians – less than 1 per cent of those affected and less than 0.005 per cent of the population – have nest eggs exceeding $50 million.
The Age
22-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
Here's what the average person with $3 million in super looks like
The average wage-earner who will be hit by Labor's superannuation tax changes is an older man pulling in more than $240,000 a year and living in a major city as the government looks to patch up the budget with its planned tax rise on retirement balances over $3 million. But the analysis of tax numbers from the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia shows that the median income for people affected by the change is much lower, at $110,000, and just a quarter have an investment property. Labor will need to secure the support of the Greens over coming weeks to pass its legislation, which will lift the concessional tax rate on earnings from the portion of super balances above $3 million from 15 per cent to 30 per cent and which it claims will raise about $2.7 billion in revenue. Only about one in 200 Australians are expected to take a hit when the laws come into effect, but critics have suggested far more people will be affected in coming years if the threshold is not tied to wage growth or inflation. Loading Opposition Leader Sussan Ley this week told the Coalition party room, ahead of the opening of the 48th parliament, that the Coalition would target Labor's tax agenda after leaked Treasury advice urged the treasurer to consider new taxes too boost the budget bottom line. Ley vowed to 'fight them every step of the way'. ASFA's research, based on the latest data from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) during the 2022-23 period, found about 77,400 – or more than nine in 10 affected individuals – have super balances of more than $3 million but less than $10 million. The remaining 7 per cent have between $10 million and $50 million banked up in super, while about 100 Australians – less than 1 per cent of those affected and less than 0.005 per cent of the population – have nest eggs exceeding $50 million.
AU Financial Review
13-07-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Chalmers urged to loosen performance test to get super behind net zero
The peak lobby group for Australia's $4.3 trillion superannuation sector has warned annual performance benchmarking of funds is undermining the net zero transition and other productivity boosting investments. In a paper published ahead of Treasurer Jim Chalmers' three day Economic Reform Roundtable next month, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia said its members were sometimes hesitant to invest in areas such as renewable energy because they risked getting a poor performance grade.
Sydney Morning Herald
11-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
How do I protect my daughters from the ‘motherhood penalty'?
I am a 49-year-old woman who wishes I had done some things differently. I have two beautiful daughters, aged 15 and 18, whom I gave up work to raise for about a decade. My work is in marketing, and I am nowhere near back to where I was when I left. I also haven't had the career opportunities that I believe I would have otherwise. Thank goodness my husband's super is pretty good, but I have very little. My question is: how can I prevent my daughters, if they decide to have children, from being so financially (and professionally) hurt? Kathy Kathy, what you have experienced is known as the motherhood penalty. A 2023 Treasury paper called Children and the Gender Earnings Gap found women's earnings fall by an average of 55 per cent in the first five years after becoming a parent, while men's remain unchanged. This then typically creates a lifetime-earnings shortfall of $1 million, according to the Australia Institute. And because superannuation is earnings-based, it bakes in the disadvantage all the way to retirement. Take a 30-year-old woman on the median wage of around $75,000 – if she has a year off paid work (to work even harder raising a child), her projected super balance at retirement falls from $611,300 to $587,500 – a loss of $23,700, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia. But that's for just one year away from the workforce. Overall, women who have retired in the past few years have done so with super balances that are 25 per cent less than those of men. So, regarding protecting your daughters, you ask the right question at the very right time (and there are solutions I will come back to for you). The great thing about super is it gives everyone automatic access to compounding, the guaranteed way to wealth. With both your daughter's and your largest earning potential is presumably ahead of you – use the super system to take full advantage. No withdrawals in your working life mean that each year you earn returns on beautiful returns on spectacular returns. And that makes for a powerful phenomenon: the earliest money you save grows the greatest amount. Now, minors can have super funds – you just set one up directly with a super manager, then choose the fund's investment mix – in general, the younger you are, the more investment risk you can afford to take and the more you can theoretically allocate to shares.
The Age
11-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
How do I protect my daughters from the ‘motherhood penalty'?
I am a 49-year-old woman who wishes I had done some things differently. I have two beautiful daughters, aged 15 and 18, whom I gave up work to raise for about a decade. My work is in marketing, and I am nowhere near back to where I was when I left. I also haven't had the career opportunities that I believe I would have otherwise. Thank goodness my husband's super is pretty good, but I have very little. My question is: how can I prevent my daughters, if they decide to have children, from being so financially (and professionally) hurt? Kathy Kathy, what you have experienced is known as the motherhood penalty. A 2023 Treasury paper called Children and the Gender Earnings Gap found women's earnings fall by an average of 55 per cent in the first five years after becoming a parent, while men's remain unchanged. This then typically creates a lifetime-earnings shortfall of $1 million, according to the Australia Institute. And because superannuation is earnings-based, it bakes in the disadvantage all the way to retirement. Take a 30-year-old woman on the median wage of around $75,000 – if she has a year off paid work (to work even harder raising a child), her projected super balance at retirement falls from $611,300 to $587,500 – a loss of $23,700, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia. But that's for just one year away from the workforce. Overall, women who have retired in the past few years have done so with super balances that are 25 per cent less than those of men. So, regarding protecting your daughters, you ask the right question at the very right time (and there are solutions I will come back to for you). The great thing about super is it gives everyone automatic access to compounding, the guaranteed way to wealth. With both your daughter's and your largest earning potential is presumably ahead of you – use the super system to take full advantage. No withdrawals in your working life mean that each year you earn returns on beautiful returns on spectacular returns. And that makes for a powerful phenomenon: the earliest money you save grows the greatest amount. Now, minors can have super funds – you just set one up directly with a super manager, then choose the fund's investment mix – in general, the younger you are, the more investment risk you can afford to take and the more you can theoretically allocate to shares.
