Welcome to Michael's Musings.

Financial Planning is all about understanding money. There is a never ending stream of data being thrown at us all in this increasingly technologically-fed world but in many cases, all that extra data does is to add to the 'noise'.

Here at Michael's Musings, a Perth planner will help you sort out the real information in amongst all that noise. Feedback and comment cheerfully received, even if sometimes ignored. To log-in using your Facebook, LinkedIn or other network ID, please click this image.

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Posts Tagged ‘ Superannuation ’

Another day, another lynch-mob

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0
May 19, 2010
Another day, another lynch-mob

Far from me to sit on my porch playing the fiddle, while watching the business district i live in being burned to the ground. That once-magnificent newspaper, the Australian Financial Review, yesterday headlined the changes in the financial industry as some institutions move to drop commissions from their products. All very laudable steps. Follow...
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Super Guarantee rate increase and financial planner fees

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1
May 3, 2010
Super Guarantee rate increase and financial planner fees

Now it makes a bit more sense… Why had the industry funds been making such a push for banning commissions, to the point where you could argue that their members’ funds were being used to pay for a campaign that didn’t actually improve the position of the members (because their members were already in...
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Superannuation remains Largely Unexplained

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0
November 13, 2009

Todays Australian Financial Review (p3) carries an artile titled “Super funds warned” in which Jeremy Cooper (“chairman of the federal government’s review of the $1.2 trillion superannuation industry”) suggests that Australian super funds need to increase returns and gain greater scale to increase opportunities. The example given is “Two Canadian pension funds with a...
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Noise – it’s all just noise..!

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0
November 3, 2009
Noise – it’s all just noise..!

My brother sent this photo yesterday. It is the view from his current workplace, in Laos. Here is my view… Sometimes the hustle and bustle of the day-to-day can stop us from seeing and thinking clearly. When considering money issues, this is the most common cause of mistakes being made. It may sound easy...
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Why Industry Funds are good “Default Funds” in awards

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0
September 15, 2009

There has been quite a bit of debate in recent times on various clauses in various "Awards" as they relate to superannuation. Some argue that this takes away "member choice" and that it unfairly promotes "industry funds" (i have not used capital letters, as i have not investigated whether all awards with these provisions specifically...
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“Industry Funds” – Compare the pair

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4
September 14, 2009

Just a moment please, while i don my titanium-lined protection suit… Members of the super fund industry are particularly sensitive at the moment, so anything that i may say here will undoubtedly be taken incorrectly, misquoted or distorted in some other way. Previous attempts to bring a bit of plain English to the super...
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Should the Government control how your super is invested?

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September 4, 2009
Should the Government control how your super is invested?

There is currently no specific direction provided by Government regulation (ignoring very specialised situations) on where a super fund must invest money. There is a requirement instead that the Trustee ensured the fund assets are appropriate to meet its obligations to fund members (that’s my interpretation of far more technical wording). Over time there...
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But who’s thinkin’ aboot the Bebe?

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0
September 1, 2009

It is a favourite parody scene from some of my favourite comedies – in the midst of a terrible turmoil there is someone runing from pillar to post, pulling out their hair while yelling (usually with an enforced accent), “but what about the baby?” It may be a long bow to draw any similarity...
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Comparing Super Fund Returns

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0
August 25, 2009

For those who do not wish to visit a financial planner or those who simply want a quick response without having to go through lots of discussion, here is a very good website that offers fund comparisons. It is the Chant West “Applecheck” site. It focusses on more than just returns, and is an extremely...
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