I do not expect to be able to access the little superannuation I have built up from employer contribution. I do not think it is right that my wealth is not available to me when it is mine and mine alone. If I want access to that wealth today, then I should have the right to do with what I want with this money. I remember going into St Marys in Sydney and seeing on the Charity Box that $1 in 1970 is now worth $10 Today. So in 40 years the value of my superannuation will be reduced to next to nothing? Frankly this is not right and is frankly just plain crazy. TP&CS
Its a very valid concern IMO. You're super is a sitting duck and I worry about the government fiddling with the regulations and extracting revenue from that large pool of investment.
The only thing you can assured of in 40 years is that there will be no aged pensions only super funds.The conspiracy theories about super not being your money are wrong. The government needs you to have your super as it won't be able to pay the pension. As more people become interested in super as their funds grow they will have the political power to vote in and out governments that work against successful long term super. Super is the best long term tax effective investment any Australian can have.
I agree with your comments, but I would further them by suggesting a super fund that allows you to invest in PMs or switch to a SMSF to better reflect your choices.
My concern is that the Gov could give themselves greater power over what you are allowed to invest in. They might decide you should should have to invest a certain amount in Gov Bonds or Gov Infrastructure projects, like toll tunnels, that no one wants to use.
Australia's super that is managed by super funds is mostly invested in the stock market. That's how they are making such high returns. Stock market crash - Super gone. Simple.
It will be there but the tax incentives will be gone. If you save hard and invest well the gov will tax you hard and give plenty to those Aussie battlers that pissed it up the wall for the last 60 years.
I'm in my early 20s and I'm not expecting for their to be a pension or for the government to not try to ruin super so I've already started saving... The earlier you start the less it you need to put aside per week.
Whatever you take from this discussion, please make sure you are planning for the future. If you don't plan, you will probably suffer in the long run and have no voice on future changes or planned changes. If you do plan and a future bunch of thieves try to undo your work, you at least then can join with others to stop the changes. An anecdote, recently a receptionist at work was asking me for advice over whether to change where her super was invested. She was in an 'industry' union-run fund, considering between another industry fund and a simple commercial fund. I didn't answer her directly but asked her to look up how many union heavies were on the board of her fund and the industry fund she was looking at. She came back to me a few days later and was shocked how top heavy both funds were with union heavies. She went with the simple commercial fund
Who cares about Gen Y? You got an iPhone and now you want that and a comfortable retirement lifestyle?!? Boy, kids these days just want it all, don't they? Blah blah affordable houses blah blah affordable education blah blah unpolluted environment blah blah. Wake up kid, you don't deserve to have nice things. Seriously though... Super is a trans-dimensional concept that differentiates between "present you" and "future you". Wealth held in your superannuation fund belongs to "future you". True ownership only transfers when "present you" and "future you" converge i.e. when you reach the preservation age.
This ^^^^ If it was your wealth to have and to hold now... then there would be no such thing as compulsory super, or tax breaks, and you wouldn't be having this conversation.
I think I'm a 'boomer' since there were 57 kids in my first year class at High School! But if I was doing it again, I'd pay the minimum requirement to superannuation in the lowest fee minder, and put 10% of my net wage into real assets from 30 on - RE, metals, collectables like antiques etc. Whatever I liked that I could enjoy and sell in my autumn years. I'd also start to buy a 'forever' abode (anything from a bedsit to a one-bedder up - whatever was affordable) that I could retreat to, or remain in rent free, and I'd pay it off as quickly as possible. But I'm old and soon spending the elements of the former that I've managed to arrange. LOL Young people these days will see an entirely new economic circumstance and I don't think superannuation will be part of it. I fully expect superannuation to be turned into some sort of government controlled annuity - most likely giving your contributions back in some formula that means everyone gets the same payment. A bit like a 'privatised' pension run by a quasi-government agency (perhaps that should be a Stasi type government agency!)
