Dear Reader, Just as predicted in ‘Long COVID Decade Australia: What happens next, how to prepare’, the assault has begun… Australia’s all-powerful superannuation industry is using COVID-19 to get its hands on even more of your money. It’s asking the federal government to deposit up to $5,000 into the bank accounts of low-income earners. Only…it’s not the federal government’s money, is it? It’s yours. As MacroBusiness reports: ‘The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) wants the government to top up the retirement accounts of low-income earners who withdrew money from their super to help them get through the pandemic… ‘According to AIST chief Eva Scheerlinck, those who had to access the scheme were “already experiencing disadvantage and … were already facing a retirement savings shortfall”. ‘She’s called on the government to help them make up this shortfall with a one-off contribution of up to $5000 paid into the retirement accounts of those who earn less than $39,837 a year, accessed their super early, and met certain eligibility criteria. ‘“This would be the most effective way to close the COVID super gap for these Australians,” she said.’ This is not altruism. It’s a brazen move to increase funds under management, and therefore fees. But whose money is it? As I say, it’s the taxpayers’. Yours. One thing is for sure. The superannuation industry didn’t get to the size it is today ($3 trillion) by being shy about asking for more pork from the government. It knows an opportunity to snaffle even more of your money when it sees one. As MacroBusiness continues: ‘If lifting the retirement living standards of lower-income Australians is truly the goal, it would make far more sense to abolish compulsory superannuation altogether and redirect the immense budget savings into raising the Aged Pension – Australia’s true retirement safety net. ‘Of course, the parasites in the super funds management industry would never support such sensible policy. The super gravy train is simply too profitable.’ This all leads to something we go into in depth in the bonus chapter of The New Great Depression: Winners and Losers in a Post-Pandemic World. The winners in this world will be those who see what’s coming, and make preparations now. The losers will be those who just sit back and watch. Those who simply let things happen to them. As I write in the bonus chapter: ‘As Australia’s baby boomers retire, they’re going to discover that their retirement plans are at the mercy of government tax incentives. And those can be changed… ‘I bet they will be as the fallout of long COVID unfolds. Our entire superannuation system will be unmasked as a giant tax trap. And the door will slam shut behind you with cries of “fair taxes”, “tax the rich” and “inequality”.’ But there are several courses of action you can take — now — to defend your wealth. And to clear yourself from post-COVID ‘superannuation tax traps’. Click here to read on… Regards, Nick Hubble,
Editor, Strategic Intelligence Australia | 