Next stop - Mackay

We had a very successful talk in In Mackay at the  Canegrowers office in Mackay.

A lot of the questions and conversations were around the implications of Sucrogen who have been buying a lot of sugar mills which is having an impact on sugar prices. Farmers are a bit worried about the future. A lot of the sugar mills are up to 80 years old and it feels like times are changing.

Other issues have centred around the weather. There have also been lots of flooding which has been hard for harvesting. The erratic nature of the weather is becoming more clear.

I also met with a law firm in Mckays Law. Mark McGraw sits on the regional development council.

He was saying a lot of the cane farms have Develop Approvals on them. But a lot of them can’t go ahead because of political issues.

There also appears to be a significant resource shortage on its way. It seems the town will  only have the capacity to house 10 – 17% of the workers required for the mines.

For investors and farmers alike, this has quite a lot of implications and needs to be watched carefully

Our Amazing Farmers

Here’s Darin Hindmarsh identifying issues that farmers face and how they can be resolved.

Rodney Page our Senior Financial Planner discussing why succession planning is so important for farmers

Here’s Rodney explaining succession planning and how it can work for farmers

The trip begins

As part of our commitment to helping ensure that farmers have a well developed succession plan Rodney Page and I are heading off on a road trip to visit farmers and explain why succession planning is such an important issue.

It wasn’t a glamourous start.

I left Brisbane at 4 in the morning driving through pouring rain.

At 4.00am the Qld Government website told me the Bruce Highway was flooded  but by 5.00 the highway signs were saying  it was open again! Too late to turn back so we pushed on through Gympie.

Our first seminar was at 8.30 am to about 10 farm groups. We quickly identified some issues that needed work and Rodney is coming back to spend 3 days there on his way back.

The next seminar for the day was  at 1.00 in Bundaberg so I hightailed it throught  Childers to Bundaberg and did the seminar to about 4 or 5 farmers. All of those people wanted a visit from Rod so they are all booked in.

Wednesday, was Childers and we had more than 20 people at that seminar – all identifying issues that needed to be addressed.

How to understand the ins and outs of a self-managed superannuation fund

A self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) can be a vehicle to help you take full control of your retirement with property, but David Hasib of Chan and Naylor says investors must know what they're in for prior to setting one up:
1. To set up a viable SMSF it's wise to have at least $200,000 in your existing superannuation fund otherwise the costs of administering the fund (minimum $1000 annually) can make the exercise unviable.

2. Your SMSF must be classified as a complying Australian superannuation fund.

3. You must become a trustee of the SMSF - this means you're responsible for managing the fund and only access it according to the law.

4. You must set up and execute an appropriate investment strategy with the assistance of SMSF professionals.

5. You must always comply with the sole purpose test in the fund to maintain tax concessions are available (eg. buying a holiday home to occupy is in most cases a no-no).

6. Always keep assets separate from personal affairs.

7. Follow the superannuation and tax rules in the trust deed, which are set up and updated by an SMSF professional.

8. Know your restrictions - what you can or can't do (eg. borrowing and lending).

9. Know what retirement planning strategies you can use to achieve your goals and objectives.

10. Do you need to outsource? Know what you're truly capable of doing and what you should outsource (eg. tax returns, administration, reporting and auditing). If you're satisfied you have what it takes to set up a SMSF then you need to: set up a trust, choose to be a regulated fund with tax file number and Australian Business Number, write your investment strategy, then set up the trust bank account. The rest is history.

For more information about self managed super funds, speak to one of the financial planners at Intellichoice today.

Tax break for savings to benefit millions of Australians

More than five million Australians will earn more interest on their savings in banks, building societies and credit unions, under a government proposal to halve the tax paid on the interest they receive.

Instead of paying $160 in tax on $10,000 of savings in a bank account that earns 5 per cent interest, the Australian taxpayer will only have to pay $80 in tax on the interest earned in 2012-13.

Under the present system, all interest earned on savings is taxed. The interest is considered additional income, which is added to the taxpayer's annual earnings.

With the proposed changes, the taxpayer will be given a tax rebate of 50 per cent on the interest earned.