The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) recently released a report into the effect of tax concessions on superannuation and outlined suggestions for further reforms.
The report appears quite level headed with the suggestion that tax benefits should not flow to superannuates with over $2.5 million in super. The argument suggested by ASFA is that above this level savings are not required for supporting a comfortable retirement, but rather are a form of wealth accumulation and estate planning for very high income earners.
The ASFA makes a fair point and at $2.5 million it still sets a very big target for all Australians to aim towards for their ultimate super balance.
For investors looking to grow their funds for retirement here's a potentially clever way to gain from ASFA's recommendations, benefit from the tailwind of a growing superannuation pool, and also boost your own retirement portfolio:
More regulations and a lower threshold will likely increase the tax planning and amount of structures self-managed super fund (SMSF) investors employ. This situations stands to benefit companies catering to SMSF clients such as Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) and Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG), which both offer highly regarded private client services. Likewise financial planning organisations such as AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) will also likely see an increased demand for their services.
