Though you won’t find two people exactly the same on this planet of ours, and by same not only referring to looks but rather personality, likes, dislikes and the person as a whole, there’s one universal thing connecting us all and that’s the financial security. Who doesn’t want to live day by day knowing their future is safe and sound? They don’t say money makes the world go round for nothing, but what matters is making prudent decisions regarding its managing and keeping. While the well-known saving, and we might as well say vintage, method in the past was storing money in mattresses, you’d be surprised to know there are still many people who opt for mattresses as the money hiding place.
Perhaps trust in banks has waned, but funds, like the superannuation, are in constant rise in Australia thanks to their convenience and reliability. Those numbers of increase don’t lie as the SMSF is the surest road you can take when it comes to investing in your future and reaching retirement days with a peace of mind. It’s important to abide by the ATO (Australian Taxation Office) rules if you want to successfully manage your super without making any breaches as there are financial penalties that you’d be supposed to pay. Since the fund is your means of acquiring enough money for your retirement days, it’s a sort of investment that can further be boosted through personal super contributions.
Avoiding breaches, as first you know your fund has to follow the sole purpose test, i.e. the purpose of the fund is for retirement savings and trustees mustn’t make use of it for their own benefits in the meantime, no matter whether the fund is based on individual or corporate trustees. It’s advisable to get the help of a company that can assist with running the SMSF as well as give you an insight to the way you can further contribute to your fund through personal super contributions. This kind of super contributions is best explained simply: it’s contributing to the SMSF with an amount of your after-tax income, that is, from the pay you take home, also known as after-tax savings, and are not to be confused with salary sacrifice which is a contribution made with an amount of the before-tax salary.
Personal contributions are the easiest and surest way of saving more through investing as it’s your personal money that’s added to the fund and since after-tax contributions, also known as non-concessional, are already taxed you don’t get to pay taxes once your fund receives them but be mindful not to exceed the amount of super caps for the year as that is sure to get you tax payment obligations. This investment option is also suitable for people aged under 65 who aren’t working and are still eligible for making personal non-concessional contributions and self-employed people who can get a tax deduction for their personal contribution as long as they earn less than 10% of employee taxable income. The key to a secure future is making wise investment decisions in the present.