Funds Focus

Summary & Key Highlights
The headline grabbers in this budget have been the First Home Super Saver Scheme, and allowing individuals over the age of 65 to contribute up to $300,000 from downsizing their principal residence into super.

The Government has devised a new strategy to allowing super contributions to be used as a deposit for first time home-buyers. From 1 July 2017, first home buyers will be able to make voluntary contributions to super – including salary sacrifice and

The Budget made some significant changes to Superannuation. This month saw the Government announce further changes. We have provided some clarification on the implications

The $1.6 million pension cap
Lifetime non-concessional contributions cap of $500,000 Replaced with a reduced Non Concessional Contribution Limit
Reduction in Concessional Contributions cap to $25,000
Catch up concessional contributions
Tax deductible personal contributions
$300,000 threshold for higher

Defined Benefits (DB) superannuation schemes are few and far between in Australia and offer a rare commodity in financial services: a guarantee which is paid for by the scheme and not the member.
In this article, we assess a DB scheme we consider to be “golden handcuffs” for anyone lucky enough to be a member of it – and how Holden employees can take advantage of this.

Each scheme differs, but DB schemes generally offer a guarantee of either a lump sum or income at retirement,