Q&A
Adil wants to top up his savings to he can retire soon
Which is better: boosting super or buying a property?
QPaul, I am a regular reader of your columnin Money magazine. I earn $90,000pa and my wife earns $40,000pa before tax. I am 58 and my wife is 55. We live in a company-provided accommodation. We do not own a house or any investment property. Our savings are in superannuation in a growth fund. Our combined super balance is around $520,000. We plan to retire at 65.
An online retirement calculator shows that with a modest 8% return per year, our combined superannuation should be around $850,000 when we retire. We can then buy a property for $500,000 and use the rest of the super with the pension for our retirement.
My wife is concerned that we do not have a house now. However, I feel ramping up the super is the best tax-effective strategy. We do not have any debts and hold $25,000 in bitcoin and minimum savings of $5000 in a bank account.
Interesting question, Adil. Super is a really tax-effective option for you in particular. As you earn $90,000, salary sacrificing into super to the maximum and only paying 15% tax makes a lot of sense. As your wife is a lower income earner, and so a lower taxpayer, it is not as powerful for her, but still an effective strategy. Of
