A Brief Introduction to Superannuation

"I'm tired of being misunderstood." - Super

"Ignoring me won't make me go away." - Tax

They say that ignorance is bliss, but when it comes to superannuation it pays to know more rather than less. A lot of Australians think that they have it all figured out, but in fact, there are many misconceptions about super, the most common one being that super is just about retirement.

We're here to tell you that it's not so simple. We view super not as an investment, but rather as a tax structure under which a number of investments can operate. Your aim should be learn how to use this tax structure in your life to maximum advantage.

In our world, super is not the centre of the retirement universe, but it does have its place - and it's an important one - as part of a plan to generate income in retirement.

When we talk about super we are referring to both public offer funds and self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF), the latter offering more flexibility, and the former requiring less work. The gap between what options these two types of funds provide is becoming smaller, as regulations change and public offer funds become less restrictive.