What's new

Calculator update July 2017

Tuesday, 4 July 2017

On 1 July we released the updated Retirement Income Simulator for the 2017-18 financial year. There were no changes to the underlying calculations, just parameter updates as follows:

• Co-contribution eligibility income threshold
• SG maximum contributions base
• Age pension income test and deeming thresholds

Our February release included the important updates to incorporate the transfer balance cap and new contribution caps.

Back in June some may have noticed a change in the presentation of fees on the Assumptions panel. This achieved two objectives:

• allow the user to set a different percentage fee for the post retirement period
• simplify the Assumptions panel to focus more on investment returns than fees

Tags: 2017 transfer-balance-cap fees

Calculator Updates for March 2017

Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Today we released an update that, on retirement, limits the amount transferred to an account-based pension to the $1.6m transfer balance cap. The transfer balance cap is indexed with CPI, so will reduce relative to expected salary growth.

During retirement phase, any super balance that exceeds the transfer balance cap at retirement will remain in an accumulation account, separate from the super pension account.

We have updated the algorithm to meet lump sum and income requirements from the accumulation account first, subject to the minimum drawdown provisions applying to account-based pensions.

This release also introduces some warning pop-ups when you exceed the concessional cap or the transfer balance cap.

Tags: updates budget transfer-balance-cap

Calculator Updates for December 2016

Thursday, 22 December 2016

Today we released an update that allows for the Budget legislation passed late November. In particular:

• The reduction in concessional and non-concessional caps to $25,000 and $100,000 respectively
• The reduction in the threshold for higher contributions tax to $250,000
• Restricting after-tax (non-concessional) contributions once super balance exceeds $1.6m
• The re-instatement of the LISC – now called Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset (LISTO)

We have applied these measures from this release (even though they are effective 1 July 2017) as these will be the conditions under which most users will be planning for retirement.

Note the $1.6m transfer balance cap limiting the amount able to be transferred to an account based pension is more complex and will be included in the near future.

Tags: updates budget 2016

Inflation update

Thursday, 15 December 2016

In earlier posts we discussed ASIC's pending requirement to discount all future values at 2.5% pa. Recently, an amendment to this regulation was released, exempting superannuation and retirement calculators from this requirement until July 2018. Our hope is that ASIC will use this extension to come up with a solution that provides both a level of standardisation between calculators, as well as an allowance for improvements in living standards.

In the meantime, we have developed a new feature that allows the user to control the improvement in living standards as well as the level of price inflation. Look for the Change inflation rates control on the Assumptions panel.

Tags: inflation ASIC regulation

Calculator updates for October 2016

Thursday, 6 October 2016

A couple of parameter updates have been released for Australia:

• The current Age Pension rates increased from 20 September, which bring annual homeowner rates to $22,805 (single) and $34,382 (couple)
• The 37% personal income tax threshold increased from $80,000 to $87,000 as announced in the Budget

The rest of the Budget 2016 legislation is still being drafted and it could be a few months until it passes. We’ll keep our clients informed.

In the latest release, we have also moved the chart options from the View menu to below the chart to give them some more visibility.

We recently welcomed Westpac NZ Staff Scheme as a RIS client and will shortly launch a RIS for Goldman Sachs and JBWere Superannuation Fund.

Tags: updates age-pension income-tax budget design