Articles

Realise Your Dream

The Realise Your Dream blogs are written by Peter Kelly and Mark Teale.

Peter provides technical advice to financial advisers and accountants on superannuation, retirement planning and estate planning. He also has extensive knowledge in all aspects of self-managed superannuation funds and is a regular presenter at conferences, seminars and workshops. He is Manager; Technical Advice with Centrepoint Alliance Limited.

Mark has a great deal of experience, having worked for the Department of Social Security and Centrelink as a Financial Information Service Officer and Regional Manager for close to 25 years and for the last 15 years, he has worked for Centrepoint Alliance as Research, Paraplanning and Product Manager. He now works alongside PK as a Manager; Technical Advice part of the Centrepoint Technical team.

Naturally, his specialties lay in the areas of Aged Care, Centrelink and Veteran's Affairs and pushing people to realise that you are never too old to set yourself a challenge yourself.

20 July, 2022

Something positive from the pandemic

With COVID-19 having reaped havoc on the lives of 25 million everyday Australians it might seem strange to be making comments about positives. And I am not just talking about washing our hands more often, or perhaps keeping a little distance between ourselves and the next person, or even wearing...

13 May, 2022

Can I access my super early?

Most superannuation benefits are “preserved”. That is, they cannot be accessed until certain conditions have been met. These are referred to as “conditions of release”. The most common conditions of release include: Retirement, after having reached preservation age see the following table) Turning 65 years of age, even if still...

16 March, 2022

Retirement - 6 months in!

On 17 September 2021, I retired from full-time work and started a new phase in my life. Although I have written numerous times about retirement, I previously had no real-life knowledge of what retirement would really be like. So, for my partner and I, retirement would be a whole new...

02 March, 2022

Retirement just got more expensive

Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with the Retirement Standard released by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia ASFA) each quarter. The Retirement Standard provides a detailed budget of the estimated minimum living cost to support a comfortable and a modest lifestyle for both a single person...

16 February, 2022

Looking to maximise your super, and get a tax break at the same time?

If you are one of those people that are looking for opportunities to maximise your super, and claim a tax deduction along the way, there are strategies that may help. However, like most things relating to superannuation, there are some conditions attached. In this blog, I will focus on concessional...

19 January, 2022

Boost your savings in 2022

With a new year now upon us, our thoughts might have turned to making New Year’s Resolutions – those promises we make to ourselves at the start of each year. Sometimes our resolutions may involve money. That is, we plan to save more, or spend less, or get rid of...