Leaderboard

Good, bad or indifferent, Australian workers benefit from having money in superannuation funds. The money might only be that compulsorily contributed by employers, or it could also include their own contributions. Considering the size of the Australian workforce, and the amount paid in wages and salaries, the amount of money going into superannuation annually is incredible. The problem for fund managers is how to use that money to cover administration costs and to keep head of inflation. The obvious answer is to invest the money. But invest in what? And here is the source of what I am calling a scam. It was announced during the meeting between Albo and Trump that within a few years aroung one trillion dollars from Australian's superannuation would be invested in the USA. Why should our money go to bolster the economy of another country? There's lots of income-producing things that we have not implemented simply becasue the start-up money wasn't there. We just signed a deal with the USA to supply the metals required to make electonics etc. Why not use that superannuation money to establish a refining industry. Why are raw iron ore and coal exported for steel production elsewhere when it could be value added here? The same holds for our wool, and cotton and other agricultural products. What about re-establishing petroleum refining so that we can lift our storage capacity to beyond 25 days? Charity begins at home, so why don't we start being charitable to our kids and grandkids by keeping the money our efforts have created here in Australia?

You can cherry pick events to suit your narrative but Netanyahu and his ultra right wing cronies are "War Criminals" as determined by the UN after 2 years of merciless killing of over 68,000 Palestinians over the original Hamas attack which saw about 1200 Innocent Israelis killed and 251 hostages taken. The USA has supplied most of the equipment and munitions and provided support for Israel over the last 2 years and they still can't defeat Hamas even after destroying most of Gazas housing and infrastructure. So Hamas has come out of the woodwork and assassinated some Israeli collaborators. Hark back to WW2 when Germany was close to defeat & even after surrender, many collaborators were summarily shot. A couple of rogue Hamas gunmen target a couple of Israeli soldiers & Netanyahus response is to once again bomb civilians and then say the ceasefire is holding after 47 violations and 45 dead Palestinians.

At 85 years, Morris marries a lovely 25-year-old woman. Because her new husband is so old, the woman decides that on their wedding night, they should have separate bedrooms. She is concerned that the old fellow could overexert himself. After the wedding festivities, she prepares herself for bed and for the knock on the door she is expecting. Sure enough, the knock comes and there is her 85-year-old groom ready for action. They unite in conjugal union and all goes well, whereupon he takes his leave of her and she prepares to go to sleep for the night. After a few minutes, there's a knock on the door and there old Morris is again, ready for more action. Somewhat surprised, she consents to further coupling, which is again successful. The octogenarian once again bids her a fond good night and leaves. She is certainly ready for slumber at this point, and, after a few more minutes, is close to sleep. But for the third time, there is a knock at the door and there he is again -- fresh as a 25-year-old and ready for more. Again they ravish one another. As they're basking in the afterglow, the young bride says to him, "I am thoroughly impressed that at your age you have enough juice to go at it three times. I've been with guys less than half your age who were only good for one time. You're a great lover, Morris." Morris, looking quite confused, turns to her and asks, "You mean I was here already?"

How many of the hostages held by Hamas were killed by IDF actions?

Here's another oldie. A man was walking down the street when he saw a beggar sitting in a doorway, begging for money for a meal. The man said, "If I give you $20, will you spend it on alcohol?" The beggar replied, "No, I gave up drinking 18 years ago." The man said, "If I give you $25, will you spend it on fishing?" The beggar replied, "No, I sold my boat and fishing gear 15 years ago." The man said, "OK, come home with me and my wife will cook you a nice homecooked meal, and I'll still give you the $25." The beggar asked, "Won't your wife be angry?" The man replied, "Maybe, but I just want her to see what a man looks like when he gives up drinking and fishing."

My interpretation of the reports of Hamas attacks on Palestinians is that these attacks ar similar to what the Taliban did when they took over Afghanistan - going over alleged collaborators. A report I heard suggested that Hamas was going after gangs which were not aligned to Hamas. That's a bit like the drug wars in Sydney or the tobacco wars in Melbourne.

You're dismissing established facts jerry. No point discussing this with you. You are dead Biased. Nev

I was privileged today to be on the spot when they removed the barriers from the new travellator near the bus terminal at Forest Hill Chase. The old one was decommissioned around last Christmas and barricades proclaiming "New travelator coming soon" have been there ever since. Love their interpretation of "soon".

Yeah, it's a whole lot different world today. But at least we didn't have to put up with drugged-out crazies, and machete-carrying criminals!

My original super, accrued in the 30 years I was in the bank, before Paul Keatings compulsory super, was called Officers Provident Fund, basically all member voluntary, and not preserved. When my bank was taken over, euphemistically called a merger, the new entity did not need two lots of staff, and many of the staff of the minnow (my bank), were retrenched. Lots of staff looking for new jobs that didn't exist. Because my wife was working, she earned enough to tip our combined income over the threshhold for unemployment benefits, so social security deemed I was not entitled to the dole. I was educating three kids, two in secondary college. Soc Sec advised that I should draw down this unpreserved money to live on. Worried that my mortgage could be foreclosed, we also paid it off from this fund. So when I got a job and could pay super under Keatings scheme, I was virtually starting from scratch. My salary was a few thousand less than I was earning in the bank, and the 3% employer contributions were not much. So when I retired (under duress) in 2010, II didn't have a lot accrued. I have now been retired for 15 years, and what I had didn't last long, about 5 years. I have relied entirely on the pension since about 2016. Since my wife died in 2022, I have managed to clear all debt and accrue a couple of thousand in savings. There won't be much more than the house to leave to the kids.

My grandkids wouldn't know what war is . They weren't allowed pop-guns of any type Completely different mentality to us " war babies " , lots of war films to learn from . They had none of that . The best they had was sport ! . spacesailor

Five-Star Restaurant

I have tried to stick with the facts.. I may have missed some - I'm not perfect. You're correct about the 8 or 10 Palestinians that were killed as corroborators..and just because others do it does not make it right.. what basis was their information? However, that wasn't the only Palestinians that were killed. There were something like 27 others.. However, it was a fight between Hamas and some other clan/power broking family. This isn't the original article I read, but makes cleat that it is a fight for power: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg5e551j593o The other article merely mentioned a family. I also believe I wrote what is the threshold that takes what has happened from trying to neutralise the threat to unjustified. And I stated that 60,000 people is too high.. Ahh.. there it was.. I am not saying Israel is without fault and never had.. My question had been what else were they to do? I wasn't aware of the retaliation nor the two IDF soldiers shot when I wrote my last response. Yes, I would suggest, especially given the stages of the conflict and delicate ceasefire, it was a step too far and not in good faith. I still maintain, looking at the history of the place, it wasn't a sign they want to indiscriminately kill Palestinians, unless a) they didn't issue their warnings as they previously had done, or (not and) they were targeting a site not known to be a Hamas hideout or whatever. Israel has for years responded similarly to similar events.. presumably as a sho of strength to dissuade Hamas - but we know how that ends. So yes, I agree Israel was reckless at best, but probably trying to make a statement. As for Netanyahu being a war criminal - currently it is alleged. No trial has taken place. There has been a committal proceeding. I haven't read the report to determine if the probable case is really justified... And to be honest, who am I to say against a collaboration of senior international legal experts. But, on reading an article, both Hamas leaders and Netanyahu and another Israeli minister are indicted (doesn't make it right); but it is not genocide they are indicted on, but intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly2exvx944o Very different crimes. Yet, unless you can contribute additional facts, intention is going to be a very grey area in this case. Not so, for Hamas

I no longer have super. I used to be with Care Super because I worked in a call centre handling Care Super members and employees for eight years. until I retired in 2010. Their return was pretty good. Here are the figures from their website.

This is why you have to take an active interest in your super Yep, that is a pretty good return. Mine was 10.7% but that was last year, over 20 years, it was more like 6%. The year we retired was a cracking 19%. We would take our monthly payment, and the balance kept going up. This was never likely to continue in the long term. Then came the Covid crash, although this seems to have been made up for since. My worry now is the coming Trump crash. We observe closely to see if/when we should pull out our super and put it in term deposits.

SWMBO has her super invested with Telstra Super, because she worked for them for a while. The return on this fund is impressive, more than 7% on average, over the last 20 years.That period includes the disastrous GFC and the pandemic period, as well as a couple of other financial shocks. Interestingly, Telstra Super have a fairly even balance of Australian and U.S. shareholdings. The managers continually revise their investments. The major thing with Telstra Super is that profits are returned to Super Fund holders, not to already-wealthy private shareholders, as many Super Funds do. Telstra Super has won awards as the Fund with the best performance for the last 18 years. SWMBO draws out 5% a year (the minimum) and the level of funds she's got, just keeps on increasing, despite the drawdown.

Spicy peach Peach peach Which peach Peace peace!

I totally agree. I have been doing my research for the last 35 years. Independent audits indicate that its portfolio broadly aligns with my ethics. I suspect that many people don't actively choose or manage their super.

You HAVE to do a lot of research. The stock markets are USED /manipulated by some slick operators. Insider trading is RIFE. You are only getting the BIT Left over. . The Market runs on FEAR & Greed. Nev

I know what shares are in my super. When it says Australian shares, that is Australian plus meeting the fund's ethics. Amongst other things, no fossil fuels or anything involving land clearing. Many investments in renewables and community projects. So no, not just any Australian shares.

Bond and Skaise were Australian shares. Not necessarily ethical. There's plenty of other shonky ones that I won't name for obvious reasons. Nev

Three were killed on 15 December 2023 by the IDF after they emerged from a building shirtless and visibly unarmed carrying a makeshift white flag and calling out "Help" in Hebrew. The IDF acknowledged that the three hostages, who were kidnapped by Hamas during the 7 October attacks, had been killed after they were "mistakenly identified as a threat," prompting renewed protests in Israel against the incumbent Netanyahu-led government. "Mistakenly identified as a threat", Yeah right! The bombing undoubtedly collapsed some Hamas tunnels and could have been responsible for some of the deaths but there is no way of corroborating this. The fact that Hamas can't find some of the bodies of those unaccounted for would suggest this is the case.

I retired early (57), so we are living on our super. For about the last 30 years, we invested in Ethical Investments Super Fund because the investment portfolio broadly aligns with our ethics. Within this investment fund, you can choose among other things Australian shares or Overseas shares. We always stick to Australian shares, although overseas shares generally perform better. In the last financial year, Australian Shares in my super earned 10.7% whereas International shares earned 16% (but a little riskier) We prefer to invest in our own country so we are proactive and choose Australian rather than International even though we could probably make more with international. I would urge people to be proactive and select shares in areas that you support. It is extremely easy to change your super mix.

They are already trying to value Add. Deserts are not good places to grow Cotton. Traditional steel making is Carbon intensive. We are a dry Country, sparsely settled. There's so much super money It would distort the Local Market IF not spread overseas. Nev

What are the facts that I have missed? That 60k Palestinians are dead? I haven't missed that. What about the other facts surrounding that fact? I haven't seen anyone here proffer corrections or rebuked except that I am biased. Sorry doesn't hold water with me because, well, it should be obvious.

In New South Wales, this applies: UNIFORM CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES 2005 - REG 10.20 (2)(b) any originating process in the Local Court must be served in one of the following ways-- (ii) it may be left, addressed to the defendant, at the defendant's business or residential address, with a person who is apparently of or above the age of 16 years and apparently employed or residing at that address, Therefore a document could be addresses to the location of a church (God's House) and left with a member of the clergy since clergy may apparently be employed at the church. However, in terms of employment of clergy, there is some argument at Law whether clergy are actually employees.

IF HE really was GOD, I wouldn't want to do anything HE would dislike. Nev

I GOT it. Nev

? ? ?

Hooch peach

A better idea, would be a chart with lots of crosses under gang member images, along with "KIA", MIA", and other casualty indicators. 😄

Maybe it's IMAGE inary? Nev

One warm day doth not a summer make......

Solve the kangaroo problem..... send them to america!

American chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky dies unexpectedly aged 29

I may be starting to lose it. The dog went batshit this morning when there ws someone at the front door. It was the driver of the garbage collection truck. Keeping an eye on parked vehicles as he picked up the bin, he noticed that I had left the key in the car door, and brought it to the house. I had been reattaching the rear dashcam camera, which had fallen from the rear hatch window yesterday afternoon, and I forgot to lock the car and remove the key. The car was unlocked with the key in the door all night. On the Astra, the door key also locks the rear hatch and petrol tank door via the central locking.