International Women’s Day on Monday highlighted the 30% difference in retirement savings between men and women. But let’s try to even things up…
OK, so you probably don’t get excited when you think of accounting or superannuation but I bet you would if I could save you a few bucks and get you some cold hard FREE cash!
So here are 5 simple yet effective strategies to boost your super …and equal up your balances!
- Salary Sacrifice to your partner’s super an amount up to 85% of the $25,000 annual limit (concessional contributions). So rather than salary sacrificing into your own account, you can put into your partner’s account, or vice versa.
- After tax contributions (non-concessional) – you can make an after-tax contribution of up to $100,000 per annum each (or up to $300,000 using the bring-forward rule). So to equal up the account balances, this is a great strategy if you have the cash ‘lying around’.
- Co Contribution – want $500 for FREE? …Well sort of. If your partner earns taxable income of less than $39,837 (up to maximum threshold of $54,837) and you put an after-tax contribution of $1,000 into super, the government will kick in $500. It’s a no brainer if you’ve got the cash.
- Spouse Contribution– more FREE MONEY!!! If your spouse is earning less than $40,000 you might be eligible for a $540 tax rebate if you contribute $3,000 to their super.
- Downsizing? The ‘downsizer provisions’ provide a huge opportunity for retirees to boost their super and reduce their tax payable on investments, and even up super balances. You can each add up to $300,000 from the sale of your house. Over 65 and downsizing, not subject to maximum limits $1.6m cap and not subject to work tests or other contribution caps. But only 15,000 have taken this up in the last 2 years so let’s not keep it a secret!
If you need some help, please click below and we can work out if you need an Accountant or financial adviser to step you through the ways to reduce your tax and boost your super!
Let’s even things up!