Trauma insurance commenced on 6 October 1983, when Dr Marius Barnard helped launch the first policy in South Africa. The policy was designed to help clients pay for medical expenses associated with heart surgery (Marius and his brother Christian performed ... Read more

Can superannuation investments be attacked when a person becomes bankrupt? The critical points of attack in relation to superannuation are potentially contributions, a superannuation account balance, pensions and fund control. Financial planners typically ... Read more

There are many market myths in the superannuation industry. This paper shows that fund choice is alive and well and constitutes a multi-billion dollar competitive battlefield. This competition augurs well for the retirement of individual Australians. ... Read more

One often thinks of challenges and opportunities as opposites, but according to the latest research from AMP Capital Investors and Investment Trends, the growing self-managed super funds (SMSFs) market appear to be offering up both to accountants. Over ... Read more

Group Insurance has always been a tremendous platform for making insurance more accessible to more people, but increased competition and strong economic conditions have meant Group Insurers have had to re-asses their mantra and it is becoming commonplace ... Read more

Until 11 May 2004 it was possible for all types of superannuation funds to provide defined benefit pensions to members. At the time the definition of a defined benefit pension was any pension except for one determined by reference to life insurance ... Read more

The choice to set up one's own selfmanaged superannuation fund (SMSF) is becoming an increasingly popular one for many Australians in the lead up to the Federal government's reforms to simplify and streamline superannuation from 1 July 2007. ... Read more

Clearing houses are not just for corporate super funds, they are also very important for advisers who need super funds to be more efficient. Clearing exchanges would be something you would expect to be as far from the advisers "concern" as ... Read more

For clients contemplating establishing a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) one of the key considerations will be whether the trustee should be a company or two or more individuals. We estimate that around 60 per cent of SMSFs have individual trusteeship ... Read more

As a segment of the superannuation industry, self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) display a wide range of characteristics. Some have investment portfolios with highly diversified arrangements traded on a regular basis. Others invest within a limited ... Read more