Legislative Update – Proposed Superannuation Changes (Announced 5 April, 2013)

The Federal Government has today announced further proposed changes to superannuation. It is important to note that the changes announced will not be introduced into Parliament before the Federal Election (scheduled for 14 September, 2013) but will form part of the Labor Party’s election platform. Summary of Announcements Tax on pension income from super Investment

Investment Newsletter – February 2013

Global equity markets have performed strongly during the months of January and February 2013. We have seen some short term pullback in the last week, mainly over an uncertain election result in Italy. Some key themes affecting the market are as follows:

Australian House Prices – Where to from here?

Australian House prices enjoyed a very strong boom over the last 20 years (with some moderation during the Global Financial Crisis [GFC]). But despite the fears during the GFC, house prices have not fallen sharply like those in the US and other parts of the world. Some key statistics on Australian house prices at the moment

A tough year for shares

The last financial year has been a disappointing one for both global and Australian shares. For the 12 months to 30 June 2012, global shares returned -5.4% (MSCI World (ex Aust) $A; source: AMP Capital Markets), while Australian shares again underperformed global shares returning -9.6% (S&P/ASX200 Accum Index; source: AMP Capital Markets) over the same

New July 2012 Thresholds: A Superannuation Update for Employers

New July 2012 Super & Redundancy Thresholds From 1 July, 2012 the superannuation and bona fide redundancy thresholds that apply for the 2012-2013 tax year are: [fusion_old_table id=4 /] Marginal Income Tax Rates for Residents From 1 July, 2012 Personal Income tax rates from 1 July, 2012 will change to become: [fusion_old_table id=5 /] Above

2012 Federal Budget

This Newsletter is provided to Harvest clients, Policy Committees and corporate contacts to keep you and your employees better informed on matters regarding super and wealth. It is not a comprehensive summary. For further information, contact Mario Isaias, Noel Hucker or Inbam Devadason of Harvest on 02 8908 4300. Drop in Concessional Cap for over

What are Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)?

There has been growing interest in ETFs and Harvest has been asked a number of times recently, "what is an ETF?" The Australian securities Exchange (ASX) defines ETFs as "investment funds, traded on an exchange, that invest in a basket of securities or other assets that generally seek to track the performance of a specified