In this guide
- Downsizer eligibility age lowered from 1 January
- TWUSUPER and Mine Super enter merger talks
- Bank-owned super funds required to disclose dividends
- ASIC issues updated guidance on SMSFs
- Retirement costs rise with inflation
- Total superannuation assets fall
- HNW investor numbers ease as assets grow
- 57% pass rate for November financial adviser exam
Downsizer eligibility age lowered from 1 January
The reduced eligibility age to make a downsizer contribution from age 55 is now law, with the Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 2) Bill 2022 receiving Royal Assent on 12 December 2022, and will apply from 1 January 2023.
This further reduces the downsizer eligibility age, which changed from 65 to 60 from 1 July 2022.
Eligible individuals aged 55 years or older can choose to make a downsizer contribution into their super fund of up to $300,000 per person ($600,000 per couple) from the proceeds of selling their home. There are no changes to the remaining eligibility criteria.
Learn more about Downsizer contributions.
TWUSUPER and Mine Super enter merger talks
Mine Super and TWUSUPER have entered into a preliminary non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore a merger of the two funds. If undertaken, a merged entity would create a combined fund managing nearly $20 billion for over 150,000 members.
In a joint statement, Mine Super Chair Christina Langby and TWUSUPER Chair Nick Sherry stated the two funds share a strong heritage of member first values as historically important profit to member industry superannuation funds.
"Mine Super and TWUSUPER share the vision of creating a sustainable fund which protects and promotes the interests of workers in the mining and transport industries."
Bank-owned super funds required to disclose dividends
The Albanese government will launch a new annual super transparency report for superannuation funds that will be a “a single source of granular, consistent information for members to compare funds’ performance and expenditure”, according to Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones.
Jones said the report was part of his government’s efforts to improve transparency requirements so members could access “clearer, more meaningful and more consistent information about their fund.”
The report is expected to include details of donations, director and executive remuneration, investment management costs and marketing expenditure. And in a deal brokered with The Greens, it will also include dividends paid by bank-owned superannuation funds to related parties.
“We’ve also just secured the inclusion of dividends paid by bank-owned super funds in a new super transparency report," Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.
ASIC issues updated guidance on SMSFs
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has issued updated guidance on the provision of SMSF advice. The new information sheet has removed the reference to $500,000 as the balance at which an SMSF becomes cost effective compared to large super funds regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
