MASTER YOUR SUPER:
AND DRIVE YOUR SMSF TO BIG PROFITS
Darren Kingdon
First published in June 2020. Current as at March 2020.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author and publisher.
Disclaimer
The contents of this book are produced for information purposes only and does not constitute the provision of legal or financial advice and should not be used without first consulting with a suitably qualified professional to determine what may be best suited to your specific needs.
The author does not make any guarantee or other promise as to any results that may be obtained from using the contents of this book. You should not make any investment decision without consulting with your adviser and conducting your own due diligence investigations.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author disclaims all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking action or not taking action based upon the information contained in this publication.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in Publication Data:
Author: Kingdon, Darren
Title: Master Your Super: And Drive Your SMSF to Big Profits
ISBN: 978-0-646-81914-3 (pbk)
EPUB ISBN: 978-0-646-82449-9
MOBI ISBN: 978-0-646-82450-5
Subjects: Superannuation, Investing, Personal Finance, Financial Strategy
Editing & Formatting by Polgarus Studio
Book Design Front cover by Stuart Bache, Books Covered Ltd
Book Design Back cover by Sharon Felschow, dta studio
Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group, Victoria
Visit our Website:
www.masteryoursuper.com.au
Contents
Acknowledgements
A great many people need to be thanked for their valued assistance, encouragement and ideas in writing and publishing this book.
Firstly, a big thank you to our sponsors and recommended resources for their various contributions to the content ideas and advice in producing this book. Im fortunate to have an incredible team of experts around me.
A big thank you also to a few publishing mentors of mine in Sam Stokes, founder of Master Your Business and himself a USA Today best-selling author, property guru and best-selling author Pete Wargent and to Noel Whittaker, the original godfather of personal finance in Australia, for his sage publishing advice.
Finally, a heartfelt thanks to my amazing wife for her big heart and all she does for our family whilst project managing what we discovered to be a gigantic project, including the editing, launching of landing pages, marketing and managing production of this book.
Introduction
You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you. Dave Ramsey
Mastery over your superannuation fund goes a long way towards securing your own financial peace of mind and well-being.
But for many people, superannuation is just too complicated, and full of rules and regulations which makes you feel like you need a degree in super, tax, law, and politics just to have a basic understanding of your super and how to play the game.
Do a search on Doctor Google and you will find copious amounts of information relating to the topic. Trying to unravel the technical jargon and deciphering what is real or perceived or indeed relevant to your own circumstances is a minefield.
From the time Australians were given the freedom to break away from the big institutionalised funds to establish our own private self-managed super fund (or SMSF for short), this provided a valuable opportunity for everyday people to take more control and take a greater interest in their own retirement plans.
However, complexity came with it, and whilst many SMSFs have been set up over the years, not all of them are a success, or indeed, make money.
This book is dedicated to two types of people:
1. Those who have been dabbling with the idea of taking more control of their super and are wanting to explore if its the right thing for them; and
2. For the current SMSF investor that wants to build their financial education to make smarter decisions with their money and ultimately drive their fund towards greater profitability.
The book itself is broken into three parts:
Knowing the system explains the nature of super funds, their usefulness, the industry, SMSFs, the alternatives, the rules of the game, some regulatory views, the tax regime, and the strategic capability of SMSF.
Knowing your business explains the importance of knowing your purpose, your current super and the options available to you, including whether or not an SMSF might be a good idea and some tools to help you make smart, businesslike decisions.
Knowing your strategy explains where strategies may fit on the risk versus return axis; where monies can and cant be invested and what generally works and what doesnt, including important lessons from investment masters and war stories from successes and failures we could all learn from; and the importance of having a real strategy in place.
Its your money and youve got a vested interest to do well.
Your retirement depends on it.
To financially educate is the overarching theme of Master Your Super AND Drive Your SMSF to Big Profits , and I wish you all the best on your financial education journey.
Part 1
Knowing the System
What Is a Super Fund?
If you want to save, put money into superannuation. You will never find a better savings vehicle. Peter Costello
Imagine a country that only taxes you at 15 percent on what you earned, and that reduces to 0 percent when you retire. Most people would move there. In Australia, that country is called a superannuation fund, and it is quite literally the envy of the world.
However, contrary to popular opinion, a superannuation fund is not a type of investment as such, but rather a long-term investment vehicle specifically designed to hold assets (such as shares or property) for retirement purposes.
The superannuation system is the cornerstone of the Federal Governments Retirement Incomes Policy, introduced way back in 1986.
It has been the policy of many successive governments to provide tax concessions to encourage individuals to fund their own retirement in order to reduce the number of people relying on publicly funded old age pensions.
Before delving into SMSFs, its important to first have a broad understanding of how the super system works .
A superannuation fund is a type of trust.
The trustee receives contributions, which are managed and invested for the purpose of providing retirement benefits for fund members.
