Regulatory & technical updates

Your clients may establish SMSFs to hold investments supported by borrowing, or to give them the opportunity to do so in the future.

Access our series of CPD accredited webinars to begin earning CPD points and stay on top of your professional development, including ASIC and Legislated CPD areas. In our series of webinars, BT’s technical team address technical and regulatory topics, as well as advice strategies, to keep advice professionals updated.

What if it was a travellator? Is it a question of etiquette or ethics? We are faced with a range of dilemmas and decisions in everyday life, and sometimes the answers might differ. In this session we will explore a range of ethical scenarios to determine what courses of action are available, and whether there is one right answer or not.

The aged care means test is based on a person’s income and assets. It applies when entering residential aged care.

There are various fees aged care homes charge residents, including a basic daily care fee, accommodation cost, health care fee and an extra service fee.

This guide covers a range of topics that you should consider when discussing aged care plans with your clients, including eligibility for government subsidised aged care, home care packages, the aged care means test and more.

While changes were made to the breach reporting regime in 2021, the release of ASIC Corporations and Credit (Amendment) Instrument 2023/589 made modifications to reporting requirements and reporting timeframes from 20 October 2023.

Clients may establish SMSFs to hold investments supported by borrowing, or to give them the opportunity to do so in the future. Do you feel you are across who gearing is suitable for and what alternatives to traditional limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBAs) are available? In today’s podcast we touch on the key concepts of borrowing in an SMSF.

With over 18 months until the new proposed tax on super balances over $3M commences, is it too soon to start planning for its introduction? In this podcast we focus in on the proposed super tax and talk the issues and opportunities it might create.

This 18 Oct, 2023 podcast addresses four questions recently asked by advisers to the technical hotline.

Legislation to recognise the experience of eligible existing financial advisers as an alternative pathway to meeting the education requirement recently received Royal Assent. In this week’s podcast we explore the requirements needed to utilise this pathway.

Super law requires SMSF trustees to prepare and implement an investment strategy for their fund. It also requires trustees to give effect to and regularly review their investment strategy. But what does this all mean?

As financial advisers, to provide personal advice to our clients we are required to capture their personal information. With recent data breaches top of mind for many Australians, keeping this data confidential is not only necessary, it’s the law.

The downsizer contribution strategy has been available since 1 July 2018, and can provide another avenue for clients to boost their retirement savings. While eligibility criteria have mostly remained the same, with the main exception of the eligibility age, the topic remains an area of frequently asked questions from advisers. In this podcast we will review some of recent queries from advisers.

A 5-part podcast series that asks female leaders in the industry how they see the future of advice. In this, our first episode, Tara Sutton, Head of Account Management at BT, speaks with Julia Newbould, managing editor, Conexus Financial and Stella Network Lead about the current state of the industry and what we can all do to see women in financial advice thrive.

This podcast outlines the requirements that must be satisfied for a client to claim a personal super contribution as a deduction including tips and common traps.

Before 2007, recontribution strategies were common for retirement planning tax efficiencies. Since then, they have been used less frequently for estate planning purposes. In this podcast we revisit the realities around recontribution strategies in light of the proposed tax for clients with super balances exceeding $3millon.

This podcast will touch on the recent indexation of various social security thresholds that took effect from 1 July 2023 and the potential benefits this may provide to your clients.

In the unfortunate event your client suffers a personal injury resulting in compensation, a structured settlement, or simply insurance through their super fund, opportunities exist to use superannuation to effectively manage the proceeds.

On 13 June 2023, the Federal Government formally responded to the Final Report of the Quality of Advice Review. In this podcast, we look at the Government’s response and what this means for advisers and the way advice may be delivered into the future.

This 31 May, 2023 podcast addresses four questions recently asked by advisers to the technical hotline.

Over recent months, the Government have consulted on several proposals for potential change including the quality of advice review recommendations, better targeted superannuation concessions, legislating the objective of superannuation and education standards for experienced financial advisers . In this week’s podcast we discuss the progress of these consultations.

Next Tuesday the 9th of May, the Government is due to hand down their second Federal Budget, with our team ready to do the analysis of what the Budget announcements mean to you and your clients. In this week’s podcast we look at pre-Budget announcements that have been made by the Government, and what other potential Budget announcements are being reported, or speculated upon, around the grounds.

Recently the Government released draft legislation for consultation that seeks to recognise the experience of eligible existing financial advisers as equivalent to tertiary study requirements. In this week’s podcast we discuss the consultation paper and what this change could mean for advisers.

In March, parliament completed the last sittings before the May budget. This podcast will summarise the impending changes to the government Paid Parental Leave scheme and touch on the recent indexation of some social security payment rates and thresholds.

Recently the ATO released new guidance highlighting the promotion of schemes that encourage the establishment of a SMSF for the purposes of accessing members funds before the members have met a superannuation condition of release, or an illegal early release scheme. The guidance and website offers practical tips for people to make sure they don’t unwillingly break the law. In this podcast we will discuss the guidance, possible scenarios and consequences.

The Experience Pathway and relief for Legacy Pensions continue to be on the mind of advisers, but with no confirmed progress (as yet) ongoing guidance indicates we may receive some certainty this year.

With the recent news that the gender pay gap has fallen to its narrowest margin of 13.3%, the gap that exists in super balances remains almost twice that. As celebrations commence for International Women’s Day 2023, a day that recognises not only how far we have come toward gender equality, but also how far we have to go, this week’s podcast looks at the role financial advisers can play to help crack the code on super balance equality.

On 10 February 2023, the ATO released a new guidance discussing the issue of death bed withdrawals by superannuation members, confirming their position that in most instances a benefit requested by a member before death but paid after the death of the member will be a death benefit payment. In this podcast we will discuss the guidance and possible scenarios and consequences.

Following on from a recent webinar on the indexation of the general transfer balance cap and related thresholds, in this week's podcast we look at three questions that advisers asked during the session.