GRIPES

[kgwilson]

I thought you could still get the payment with a State Seniors card but nope it must be a Commonwealth Seniors card.

[octave]

I'm of pension age, but unable to get a pension because I skrimped and saved and invested in my superannuation and now my super precludes my eligibility for the pension. It doesn't pay any better than a basic pension but that's ok.

 

I think at the moment cutoff point for a couple living together is a combined income $3096 per fortnight. After this point you lose entitlements such as health care cards etc. nomadpete you must have a lot more super than me.

[kgwilson]

When my wife & I came here to live in 2005 & I bought a business I had no idea that Super was compulsory & when organisng an Accountant he told us to get it done immediately so I just went to the bank & put some money in it. The next year we set up a SMSF & salary sacrificed. I'd taken all my Super out in cash from the previous scheme I'd had in NZ. There are still fees to pay even though my SMSF is now a pension scheme due to the ridiculously complicated reporting process & even though there is no tax to pay I still have to pay a $259.00 fee to the ATO each year for nothing. The fund is all in cash & commercial real estate so at present the value is still holding up. Not for long I fear. Other investments have gone down the toilet but of course only on paper (not the toilet variety because I can't get any anyway).

[nomadpete]

The ATO deem my unusable unsellable back paddock to be quite valuable. Assets are therefore above the limit. And I still have to spend money trying to reduce the bushfire risk. Gotta love bureacrockracy!

[octave]

The ATO deem my unusable unsellable back paddock to be quite valuable. Assets are therefore above the limit. And I still have to spend money trying to reduce the bushfire risk. Gotta love bureacrockracy!

 

I guess it then comes down to what is more valuable the disused paddock or the pension.

[old man emu]

Superannuation is a double-edged sword. At the outset it seems to be a brilliant idea for the person contributing their hard-earned shekels.However, it's what happens when your shekels and the other bloke's shekels land in a common pot that cuts the contributor.

 

So here's what your superannuation money is doing for you:

Lease increases of between 225% and 550% are threatening the future of gliding at Camden Airport according a statement released by Southern Cross Gliding Club (SCGC) yesterday.

The club operates from grass runways on the south side of Camden Airport with hangars and club rooms, and has been shocked by the new lease conditions offered to them by Sydney Metro Airports (SMA) and First State Super, which owns the leases on both Camden and Bankstown

 

https://www.australianflying.com.au/latest/gliding-leases-soar-at-camden-airport

[octave]

Superannuation is a double-edged sword. At the outset it seems to be a brilliant idea for the person contributing their hard-earned shekels.However, it's what happens when your shekels and the other bloke's shekels land in a common pot that cuts the contributor.

 

So here's what your superannuation money is doing for you:

Lease increases of between 225% and 550% are threatening the future of gliding at Camden Airport according a statement released by Southern Cross Gliding Club (SCGC) yesterday.

The club operates from grass runways on the south side of Camden Airport with hangars and club rooms, and has been shocked by the new lease conditions offered to them by Sydney Metro Airports (SMA) and First State Super, which owns the leases on both Camden and Bankstown

 

https://www.australianflying.com.au/latest/gliding-leases-soar-at-camden-airport

 

The alternative surely is saving your money in the bank with out the tax breaks and at a lower interest rate. The question is do banks invest your money in ways that you would approve of.

 

I know where my super fund invests my money but I am less sure of where westpac would invest my money. Without super I would have to work until 67 at 57 I am semiretired although given the current situation perhaps fully retired but comfortable.

[old man emu]

Whenever money gets a return on being invested, the Government gets its pound of flesh. We accept that.

 

Where investment in super is a double-edged sword is that, when the money paid into it is invested, there is an expectation that there will be a dividend from that investment that will increase the payout figure when super is drawn upon. That's fine. That's what the idea of saving for the future is. That's the blunt edge of the sword.

 

However, the money is invested in all sorts of projects and activities - one of them being retailing. Companies like Woolworths and Coles expand by issuing shares. They have to make sufficient profit in order to be able to pay dividends in the short term, and to maintain the principle represented by the purchase price of shares. In order to make a profit, they control the prices of the goods they sell. The pressure to increase profits leads to miserable prices at the farm or factory gate, and inflated prices at the check out.

 

Doesn't it seem strange that retailers can make huge reductions in price for their goods during the "Sales" season? Don't you feel ripped off when you find that the price of things this week is a lot less than last week? That's the cutting side of the sword, and we are dying the Death of a Thousand Cuts.

[Yenn]

Do you think that retailers are taking a loss when they have sales. I very much doubt it, they may be taking a smaller profit, but they are also clearing the shelves for something more updated.

Just look at the ads on TV. I think it is Scali or something similar that has ads continuously on SBS. They go from one sale to another and I can't recall ever seeing a non sale ad.

My gripe with super is that the government has mandated so much percentage of wages goes to super. The super funds have to deal with this and one way for them to do that is to ensure that the CEO and directors have a good bite of it before it starts earning for you.

[octave]

The money I have put into super was taxed at 15% rather than 32%. I have spent the last few years salary sacrificing, NO TAX was taken from this by the employer BUT when it hit my super account the tax was taken out BUT at 15% rather than 32%. How does this constitute the government taking a pound of flesh?

 

In the last few years I have started to actively manage my super. I have my super with Australian Ethical Super and within that I can move it around to different investment strategies if I don't like where it is being invested. Obviously this year will be not so brilliant but last year my super account grew in value by just under 20%. The tax on this was minimal (in fact i think 0%) and when I am 60 there will NO tax payable on it.

 

Of course you can a quite a few people do self manage their super meaning you can micro manage your investments to invest in precisely what you wish to.

 

Is super still worth it?

 

But this intense debate is distracting us from the truth. The truth, regardless of the proposed changes, is that:

1. Super is a fantastic investment for high-income earners. It may not be as ridiculously fantastic as it was but it is still highly tax advantaged.
   
2. Super is a fantastic investment for nearly every Australian who is eligible to take advantage of it. My only reservation is if you pay no tax and will never pay tax. But that is not too many of us.
   

[octave]

Do you think that retailers are taking a loss when they have sales. I very much doubt it, they may be taking a smaller profit, but they are also clearing the shelves for something more updated.

Just look at the ads on TV. I think it is Scali or something similar that has ads continuously on SBS. They go from one sale to another and I can't recall ever seeing a non sale ad.

My gripe with super is that the government has mandated so much percentage of wages goes to super. The super funds have to deal with this and one way for them to do that is to ensure that the CEO and directors have a good bite of it before it starts earning for you.

 

In choosing a super fund you look at past earnings AND account fees. A super fund may have a high earnings record but my also have high fees. You then make your decision. In years with poor investment returns it pays to be in a fund with lower fees however when returns are good you are better to choose funds more on returns.

 

My super fund in recognition of the covid situation has halved its fees for this year. The fees are not that high anyway compared to the return especially last year, this year will be different but it is swings and roundabouts.

[spacesailor]

" the tax was taken out BUT at 15% "

plus 10% WHEN YOU SPEND IT.

25% OF YOUR MONEY, THAT WAS HELD TO RANSOM.

My lower " casual " payed grandkids, Are Not well looked after with their super ( or just Annuation,

One has less this financial year than previous years. 2019.

spacesailor

[octave]

" the tax was taken out BUT at 15% "

plus 10% WHEN YOU SPEND IT.

25% OF YOUR MONEY, THAT WAS HELD TO RANSOM.

 

 

I assume the 10% you are referring to is GST. You pay GST on anything you buy.

 

Lets look at the 2 situations.

 

1. Get paid by your employer, your wage is taxed at 32% you perhaps put it in the bank and earn very low interest and then when you spend it you pay 10% gst. roughly speaking you have paid 42% tax minus any interest from the bank.

 

2. Your employer puts a minimum of 9.5% of YOUR wage into your super account on which you pay 15% interest, whilst earning an average of about 9% and then when you spend it you pay 10% tax.

 

One of these scenarios is more advantageous than the other.

[old man emu]

How does this constitute the government taking a pound of flesh?

 

Just a turn of phrase. I meant that the Government gets a cut of the profit.

 

Most people don't have the financial nous to manage an important investment like superannuation, so getting an organisation to manage one's investments is the best choice. At least now everyone has money put into a super fund, even if it's only the employer contribution. In my youth I had a go at selling Life Assurance and Super, but it was a hard slog to convince young people (in their 20's) to divert money from the present to the future.

 

Super is a fantastic investment for nearly every Australian who is eligible to take advantage of it.

 

Never a truer word spoken, or writ.

[red750]

What gets me is all these hundreds of people 'stuck' overseas screaming for the government to rescue them. HOW LONG WERE THEIR CRUISES??

 

This virus has been around since early January. Tomorrow is the first of April. That's almost 3 months. Why would you get on a germ incubator with something like this on the go?

 

OK. Send an MRTT to bring them back.

[spacesailor]

Causual workers !.

A Daughter has had to do a twelve hour stint at work with only a twenty minute break .

Is this leagal ?.

spacesailor

[old man emu]

A Daughter has had to do a twelve hour stint at work with only a twenty minute break .Is this leagal ?.

 

Most likely not. Most awards require a worker to have a meal break within the first 5 hours, and another meal break sometime after 8 hours (needs citation)

 

From the Fairwork site:

Rest breaks and meal breaks

A rest break allows an employee to rest for a short period of time during work hours. Rest breaks are also referred to as 'crib breaks', 'rest pauses' or 'tea breaks'.A meal break is a longer period of uninterrupted rest that allows the employee to eat a meal. Awards, enterprise agreements and other registered agreements provide for paid and unpaid rest breaks and meal breaks, including: the length of the breaks; when they need to be taken, and the rules about payment.

[kgwilson]

On the news a reporter asked a woman who'd just returned from a cruise & was in isolation why they'd gone on the cruise after it was known cruise ships were hot beds of infection. She said she rang the company & if she cancelled she would not get her money back so decided to go. I'd say this is a major reason why a lot went. They probably didn't think it would get as bad as it has but the warnings have been numerous and loud now for months. I have little sympathy for them bleating "Come & get me" now.

[old man emu]

Major Gripe:

 

April Fools Day and no one can get out to prank anyone.

[spacesailor]

It started in Wuhan In the end of November.

But was kept under wraps untill the end of December.

Government not looking after their people after-all.

Even my grand kids were told " take your Philippine holiday or lose your money", ther,r still in quarantine.

Only seven of my brood are in lockdown.

spacesailor

[spacesailor]

Further reported.

Austrian skifield December 10, many infected from One resort, that were told to keep running as the town father,s were worried about recession for their town. ( A game of spitting a ping-pong ball into beer glasses )

American. Canadian, brits, Asians, and European nationals took it home.

It could all be lies, I writeing what I read !.

Very fast on those dates.

spacesailor

PS

Now we're sitting for Days, how many, will get DVT or something similar? .

[red750]

Major Gripe:

 

April Fools Day and no one can get out to prank anyone.

 

 

What prank could outrank the one nature is pulling on the world right now?

[spacesailor]

Fire, floods, plague, what will be next for mortals.

NO FUEL

spacesailor

[kgwilson]

There's plenty of fuel & the price difference at the moment is more than 60 cents a litre. The cheapest in Perth is 88.9c, about $1.19 in Sydney & $1.40 in the Coffs Harbour area.

[red750]

At our local 7-eleven in Vermont the price for 91 just dropped from 134.9 to 129.9, My car has about 5 days petrol in it with the movement restrictions, so hopefully it will drop further before I need to get more.