This is not the update we expected to be sending. We have now had a few days to digest the fallout from a remarkable referendum result. The world is looking at Britain and asking: What on earth has happened? Those tasked with running Britain are asking the same question. Trillions have been wiped off the sharemarkets and on Friday the [...]

The Less is More Budget Scott Morrison’s maiden budget speech was the first since Peter Costello’s debut 20 years ago that did not include the word ‘surplus’ an unreported, but perhaps telling, fact. It is no secret that the 2016 Federal Budget made negligible progress on improving Australia’s bottom line. Projecting a small surplus way out in 2020/21 it has [...]

For us, the big story out of Budget 2016 is of course Morrison’s crackdown on high-end super tax concessions. Ten years on from Costello’s tax-free super savings and now, on the other side of the resources boom, Morrison has redefined the purpose of super as a substitute or supplement to the welfare safety net of the aged pension, not a [...]

Far-reaching changes were made by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC – the UK tax office) in April 2015 disallowing thousands of migrants from transferring their UK pension funds to Australia. Representation continues with HMRC and full detail is available from Scott. Key points are: April 2015 – The Pension Age test was introduced by HMRC requiring all QROPS to [...]

Given the relentless media coverage of the issue, it will come as no surprise that markets have been in a state of volatility since the start of the year. This volatility comes off the back of the second half of 2015, seeing a 10% reduction in the value of the Australian market. So all in all, not a market that [...]