Politics is a dirty word

The Royal Commission enquiring into the actions of banks, the financial services sector and superannuation funds is now underway and may help to solve some problems.Compulsory Superannuation has been a crock for baby-boomers. It's OK for the high flying GenYers and subsequent generations with its generous tax breaks. But for those about to retire it has been useless. After a lifetime working and paying taxes those around 65 and 70 get little except the prudent savings accumulated over the years. One 70 year old recently cashed- out his super – the princely sum of $18,500. For most of the working life of people that age, superannuation contributions from employers were not available. Following the introduction of compulsory super, many only had limited part time employment and may have been largely self-employed - taking meager living expenses out of business income. With a low level of disposable income, there was no opportunity to take advantage of tax breaks and shovel thousands ...

It has long been recognised that politicians don't live in the real world. Here, they populate the rarified atmosphere of Canberra and generally ignore the people - until it's election time. Every now and then they can't help but fiddle with things - and superannuation has been the latest target. Superannuation is still a crock - the changes simply help high income earners shuffle more money. People in their late 60’s – early 70’s spent most of their working lives prior to super – and they are now facing retirement with virtually nothing except the assets they managed to acquire, because super fund managers charge fees on the total funds under management instead of charging fees based on the profits they generate each year. Superannuation has been more about building up a huge slush fund to prop up the share market and financial services industry rather than creating a system to provide retirement income for individuals. It has been great for high income earners but has don...