Self Managed Superannuaiton | My Journey to Eliminate Debt

SMSF Update: tax matters & dividends

02. November 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: Investing, Self Managed Superannuation Fund, sharemarket, Shares, taxation · Tags: self managed superannuaiton, Shares, SMSF

Just wanted to say I’m thinking of those affected by Sandy today. The footage coming out this morning has been so sad, such devastation. It really does put things back in perspective to see so many people who have just lost everything. Makes our daily problems seem so insignificant.

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Well my first SMSF audit was due a few days ago in preparation for submitting my first SMSF tax return. The whole process was very easy. I logged into my esuperfund account and they have a checklist of Yes/No questions to answer, some papers to be scanned in and then click to submit. The whole process took me about 20 minutes. Because of the way esuperfund is set up they already have a record of all my transactions. I’ve been unsure of how much detail I want to share here so I’ve decided to report the total balance and the dividends and interest earned which I’ll update on this page. I’ve also listed some resources I use there.

October was a big month for dividends which totalled $463! (on approx. $20,000 portfolio). I also received interest on cash deposits totaling $174 for the quarter. I’m really pleased with how it’s going. I love doing the research and being responsible for my own money! Today I purchased another $10,000 in stocks. I’m building a nice portfolio of top 100 ASX, high dividend paying stocks along with a few stocks to trade and some cash. I have a ‘shopping list’ of stocks that meet my criteria and I wait and watch till the price is right ( i.e. on special!) to buy.

I’d really love to be putting more money away for retirement but first we have to get rid of this mortgage!

Taking SMSF sharemarket profits – $1200 in 8 weeks!

11. August 2012 · 5 comments · Categories: Self Managed Superannuation Fund, sharemarket, Shares · Tags: options, self managed superannuaiton, Shares

Eight weeks ago I bought my first share holdings for my Self Managed Superannuation Fund. Well I’ve been watching my stocks steadily climb and yesterday, when one of my stocks reached 19.4% profit, I decided it was time to cash in. I sold four stocks and made a profit of just over $1200 in 8 weeks with approximately $8,000 invested.

I’m pretty chuffed with that result!

I also took the opportunity to pick up some bargain basement mining stocks – Iluka and Newcrest and also some Tol shares.

Right now I’m reading up on options trading and this book, Getting Started in Options by Michael Thomsett is a nice easy introduction. I plan on starting options trading sometime in the next month. But I want to spend a bit more time paper trading first. In the meantime 444express is going great guns with her trading if you are interested in following along.

Now, lets hope I can repeat my first success and keep growing this retirement fund of mine!

Belated July Finanical Roundup

05. August 2012 · 6 comments · Categories: Budget, Saving, Self Managed Superannuation Fund · Tags: budget, self managed superannuaiton

Financially July was a really good month for us so here is my belated July roundup.

Spending

We paid cash ( $3047) for the completion of the balcony. In order to do that and not take money out of our savings we did not make a full mortgage payment, but we are still well ahead with the mortgage.I feel confident that we have increased the value of our home by much more than $3000.

I joined the Anytime Fitness gym. I’ll do a post on this later ( I love it!) but it costs me $15 a week plus $99 joining fee and $58 for my key. My health is really up and down a lot and although I’ve lost a fair bit of weight (12kgs) I still need to lose more and improve my fitness. This $15 a week is an investment in me! It’s on a 12 month contract.

Savings

Emergency Fund: We saved $1500. Our ING emergency fund savings are now sitting at $7075. I’d like to get that up to $10,000 by December.

SMSF: My superannuation fund has already earned $1470 in just the short time I’ve taken it over!! WooHoo!! Thats much more than the professionals could do over the last two years where my balance went down despite my contributions. Phooey to those who say that it is not profitable for accounts under $200,00. In total my retirement savings went up by $2,661 last month

Groceries: We have reduced our grocery spending by about 50%. of what we used to spend. Most weeks I am spending about $50 – $70. I have found a great way to reduce my final grocery bills at the checkout by 30- 40%. I’ll do a post on this shortly for Aussie readers. We don’t have coupons downunder unfortunately but this method is working well and is not difficult.

DH had a good month with his repairs sideline income making almost $1000. He uses this money to fund his sports interests and hobbies. He already has an order for some work next month so I can see some new gear turning up soon!

Electricity: Incredible as it seems prices went up again in July. We have increased our use of solar lights and I have trialled a few new indoor lights (will post about that too soon!). We are tracking carefully to keep our costs as low as possible.

Debt

Our mortgage increased this month by $555. No other debt.

I am going to try and get back to more regular blogging this month, I need the accountability! I thought I’d throw it open for questions you might have, about us, Australia, anything really! Just ask in the comments, it’s be a nice change from the 100′s of spam comments I’m getting lately lol!

Have a great weekend!

Lots happening!

30. May 2012 · 6 comments · Categories: Family, Self Managed Superannuation Fund, work · Tags: family, self managed superannuaiton, work

Well it’s been a long time coming but the first of my superannuation funds has transferred the money into my Self Managed Super Fund! Just over $22,000 sitting there, already earning more in interest just by being in a bank account! The second fund has over $10,000 in it. I am only transferring part of this so that I still have insurance cover. I am hoping to get all these transfers finished soon so that I’m ready to start my own investing plan for the new financial year (1st July). I also want to salary sacrifice some money into my super fund in the next month as it is taxed at a lower rate (15% instead of 37%). I’ll post a full finance update in a few days.

I spent all day yesterday in meetings with management and have the same today. I am feeling more optimistic that our jobs are secure for the next 6 months at least. Even though they will confirm nothing, the information they are giving out suggests that in the short term we still are needed. My feeling is the section will be axed sometime in the next few years, but just not yet. Our big fear was that we would be laid off in the next financial year, so I am not as worried about that now. Two colleagues have told this week that are resigning at the end of the year if not sooner. Me, I’m going to stay here as long as possible and save, save, save!

On the home front, and possibly the biggest news is that DD booked her ticket for the UK last night!! We have just three weeks to get organised and then our nest is empty. I am going to try and take the week off work before she goes. So much to do and think about – it’s exciting and emotional all at once. But I’m really happy for her, I just hope it all goes smoothly.

So I expect to be flat out here for a few weeks and then I’m going to be trying to adjust to a very quiet house and DH & just being a couple again after 27 years of parenting.

DD is hoping to move to the Oxford area. Any tips, hints or advice that might help her is most welcome!

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