Apr172025 by adminNo Comments
Family Law (Superannuation) Regulations 2025

Family Law (Superannuation) Regulations 2025

The Australian Government has announced the commencement of the Family Law (Superannuation) Regulations 2025, marking a significant update to the legal framework governing the division of superannuation assets during family law proceedings. The new regulations, which came into effect from 1st April 2025, replace the Family Law (Superannuation) Regulations 2001 and are designed to ensure the continued fair and accurate treatment of superannuation in the context of relationship breakdowns.

Alongside the new regulations, the Family Law (Superannuation) (Methods and Factors for Valuing Particular Superannuation Interests) Approval 2025 has also commenced. This instrument, approved by the Attorney-General, details the specific actuarial methods and factors to be used in valuing superannuation interests for family law purposes. It maintains continuity with previous methods while allowing for technical updates and future reviews

More information about this change can be found at
https://www.ag.gov.au/families-and-marriage/families/superannuation-splitting/valuing-superannuation-interests-defined-benefit-interests

For defined benefits, our online valuations can be found here:
https://www.connectingthedots.com.au/our-services/superannuation-valuations/

Apr162025 by adminNo Comments
Actuarial Certificates via BGL SimpleFund360

Actuarial Certificates via BGL SimpleFund360

connectingthedots is pleased to renew its actuarial certificate service with BGL SimpleFund360. Account balances and transactions are compiled in real time and presented as charts instantly. No data entry required and all without passwords.

All our certificates are reviewed by our actuary owner and users can review fund balances across the current tax year in real time as follows:

Then the results are presented immediately as a daily percentage chart allocated between taxed and untaxed balances together with the overall Tax Exempt Percentage for the year. A sample is as follows:

More information can be found about us on BGL’s help page here.

We hope that you like our approach to providing timely and relevant actuarial certificates.

If you would like to take advantage of this service, please defer to BGL and their SimpleFund360 platform.

 

Feb42025 by adminNo Comments
Beating Inflation with Ease: Our Investment Returns

Beating Inflation with Ease: Our Investment Returns

Using risk optimisation techniques gained from over 25 years experience in aggregating insurance risks, connectingthedots is able to "cherry pick" the ASX and apply the same techniques to investment portfolios.

This gives an average return for Australian equities of 26.1% per annum since 2017 with 30.0% in the last year. This is achieved by applying our Investment Strategy and by systematically optimising the risk-return balance at a portfolio level over regular time periods. When managed actively, these returns can be boosted by an additional 10-20% p.a.

Our cumulative performance is set out in more detail in the chart following (passive strategy):

This performance compares more than favourably to that for all MySuper funds with an average of 7.9% for 2023.

This methodology is reflected in our Corporate Investment Strategy.

Access to these returns is only available to our shareholders and employees via our superannuation fund.

All our applications are built in R using shiny-server. Consultation services are available to wholesale and corporates via our contact form.

Dec132024 by adminNo Comments
Australian Life Tables 2020-22

Australian Life Tables 2020-22

The latest Life Tables for 2020-22 have been released by the Australian  Government Actuary at 13 December 2024. This updates the previous tables by 5 years (2015-17).

The average life expectancy has increased by 0.55 years to 85.3 for females and by 0.49 years to 81.3 for males (without further improvement).

Historic Annuity Table
Historic a(55) Annuity Table

A more in depth article about this can be found on the Actuaries Institute website at https://www.actuaries.digital/2024/12/18/release-of-australian-life-table-2020-22/.

Our services can be engaged via our contact form.

Jan72024 by adminNo Comments
Regulated MySuper Funds Return an average 7.9% for 2023

Regulated MySuper Funds Return an average 7.9% for 2023

The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) surveys all MySuper funds each year for performance monitoring via mandatory statistical returns. This forms part of an annual superannuation performance test as detailed at https://www.apra.gov.au/2023-annual-superannuation-performance-test-mysuper-products.

Looking at the Fund Level data in the latest Annual Survey of MySuper funds - released in December 2023 - the average fund return was only 7.9% over the last year (after fees).

Full details of APRA's latest MySuper publication of Fund Level data and the list of surveyed Funds can be found at https://www.apra.gov.au/annual-fund-level-superannuation-statistics

Jan152023 by adminNo Comments
SMSF Ownership of Crypto-currencies

SMSF Ownership of Crypto-currencies

SMSF’s and Crypto-currency

Self-Managed-Super-Funds are permitted to own crypto-currencies with the case for holding crypto-currencies within an SMSF as follows:

  • They are liquid assets with a deeply supported market of sufficient capitalisation
  • They offer diversification benefits with respect to all other asset classes such as bonds, cash, equities and property
  • They are not subject to sovereign default risk
  • They offer asset protection equivalent to gold and other precious metals
  • They are priced across multiple currencies and thus hedged internationally
  • They are arguably more suitable than many Personal Use assets (some of which are highly illiquid)

Crypto-currencies are not risk-free – nothing is, even cash. But they are highly amenable to “risk management” strategies and are a valid asset class when considered within an overall portfolio. However when it comes to investing in crypto-currencies outside the top 5 inclusive of bitcoin, it’s buyer beware.

Whether you are a believer in crypto-currency or not, it is not going away anytime soon.

Finally, if you were in any doubt about its legitimacy then consider the ATO’s SMSF Annual Tax return which has a separate line item for crypto-currency under Item 15C – Other investments in Section H as follows:

ATO SMSF Crypto

PS: connectingthedots accepts crypto-currency payments from superannuation funds and other clients.

NB: Crypto currencies (i.e. coins) are not a financial product and hence their recommendation or otherwise is not considered financial advice under Australian law at December 2024. Please note that by using this website, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. These can be found on our homepage in the footer.

Jan92023 by adminNo Comments
ATO Superannuation News

ATO Superannuation News

The Australian Taxation Office issues regular updates on superannuation matters. These have been aggregated for 2023 and are listed here.

To return to the main menu, please click here.

May252021 by adminNo Comments
Retirement Income Covenant – Sample

Retirement Income Covenant – Sample

Connectingthedots is pleased is offer a sample “Retirement Income Covenant” for use by SMSFs and superannuation trustees alike. We’re making setting retirement objectives seamless.

Click to view

A clean template of this document is also available by email here.

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To return to the homepage, click here.