We plan for holidays, home renovations, and retirement but we’re less likely to plan for the unexpected. Life insurance is one quiet but powerful way to protect the people you love from financial stress if something happens to you.

Whether you’re raising a family, supporting a partner, or building a business, life insurance helps ensure that your legacy includes stability rather than uncertainty. It can be a powerful tool for your family’s financial resilience.

Life insurance is designed to provide a lump sum payment to your nominated beneficiaries when you die or, in some cases, are diagnosed with a terminal illness. The payout can help ensure that your loved ones aren’t left scrambling to cover costs such as mortgage repayments or rent, outstanding debts, funeral costs and living expenses during an already emotional time.

It can be particularly helpful if:

• you have dependents who rely on your income
• you’re the primary breadwinner or contribute significantly to household finances
• you have joint debts with a partner
• you want to leave a legacy or charitable gift
• you’re a business owner

Even if you’re young and healthy, life insurance can be affordable and locking in a policy early may mean lower premiums over time.

How much life insurance do you need?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but a good starting point is to ask yourself: “If I were gone tomorrow, what financial gaps would my family face?”

Here’s a simple framework to help you estimate your coverage needs:

1. Calculate your financial obligations

Start by listing the major expenses your loved ones would need to cover:

• Mortgage or rent: how much is left to pay?
• Living costs: groceries, utilities, transport, childcare
• Children’s education: school fees, uniforms, university costs
• Debts: credit cards, car loans, personal loans
• Funeral and legal costs: can be around $10,000–$20,00

Add these up to get a baseline figure.

2. Consider your income

How long your family would need financial support. Multiply your annual income by the number of years you’d want to replace it, for example, five to 10 years.

If you earn $100,000 and want to provide seven years of income, that’s $700,000.

3. Factor existing assets

Do you have savings, superannuation, or investments that could help cover costs? Subtract these from your total needs to avoid over-insuring.

4. Account for inflation and future needs

Costs rise over time, and your children’s needs will evolve. It’s wise to build in a buffer of say, 10-20% to future-proof your coverage.

5. Review regularly

Your life changes, and so should your insurance. Marriage, children, mortgages and career shifts can all affect how much cover you need. We can help with a regular review to ensure your policy stays aligned with your goals.

Different types of life insurance

There are a few key types of cover to be aware of:

• Term life insurance pays a lump sum if you die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness.
• TPD (Total and Permanent Disability) covers you if you’re permanently unable to work due to illness or injury.
• Trauma insurance pays a lump sum if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness like cancer or stroke.
• Income protection replaces a portion of your income if you’re temporarily unable to work.

Life insurance in super

For many Australians, life insurance is already tucked away inside their superannuation fund. Most super funds automatically include a basic level of life cover and TPD insurance, and some also offer income protection.

Premiums are typically lower than retail policies and are deducted from your super balance. In many cases, you won’t need to complete a health check to get default cover, and the premiums may be more tax-effective depending on your circumstances.

While insurance in super is convenient, it’s not always comprehensive and it’s not guaranteed to suit your needs in the long term.

If you’re relying on insurance through super, it’s a good idea to review your fund’s policy and consider whether it’s enough especially if your circumstances have changed.

If you’re unsure where to start, we’re here to guide you through the options, crunch the numbers, and make sure your policy reflects your values and responsibilities

Integrity One Wealth Advisers  Pty Ltd

Take a sec to check

Scammers aim to take advantage of weak security and plan on you being distracted with everyday life.

To keep yourself safe:

• Stop – Don’t share your personal information such as your myGov sign in details, Tax File Number (TFN), or bank account details, with anyone unless you trust the person and they genuinely require your details.
• Check – Take a sec to check. Ask yourself could the message or call be fake? Is it really the ATO contacting you?
• Protect – Act quickly if something feels wrong or you’ve noticed suspicious activity on your ATO accounts.

Always be aware of what information you share. If a scammer gets your personal information they can use it to access your bank account, sign in to your myGov account, or steal money and commit fraud in your name.

If an interaction doesn’t feel right, don’t engage. You should either:

• go to Verify or report a scam
• check our latest Scam alerts
• or phone the ATO on 1800 008 540 to check.

If you are the victim of a data breach and your personal information has been accessed, go to Data breach guidance for individuals.

Your personal information

To commit identity crime or fraud, scammers only need some of your personal information. This may include:

• full name
• date of birth
• current address
• myGov and ATO online login details
• TFN
• passwords
• bank account numbers
• credit card details
• driver’s licence details
• passport details.

They can use this information in a variety of ways, such as to commit refund fraud in your name, access your myGov account to steal your tax refund, steal your superannuation or sell your identity to organised crime groups on the dark web or via other means.

If you suspect your personal information, such as your TFN, has been stolen, misused or compromised, phone the ATO as soon as possible on 1800 467 033 between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm Monday to Friday. They will investigate and can place extra protection on your ATO account.

Consequences of identity theft

If your identity is stolen the consequences can extend far beyond immediate financial loss (such as your super being cleaned out or refund fraud committed in your name) and lead to significant personal and professional challenges. Such as:

• impact to your credit rating, making it difficult to be approved for a loan or credit card
• making it difficult for you to prove who you are and get new identity documents
• damage to your reputation, potential for access to your social media accounts and spreading misinformation in your name
• it can also take victims of identity theft years to recover their identity and undo any damage

The emotional toll is also significant. Victims of identity theft often experience stress, anxiety and a sense of vulnerability knowing that someone else is capable of exploiting their personal information at any moment.

Protect yourself

Here are some top tips to keep your personal information safe:

• Don’t give out your personal information to anyone unless you trust the person and they genuinely require your details.
• We never send unsolicited emails or SMS with QR codes or links to an online portal. Scammers often use these methods to steal your personal information or plant malware on your devices. If you receive a notification asking you do this, it is a scam.
• Always access online services by directly typing the URL into a browser, not by clicking on a link.
• Protect your TFN – only give your TFN to organisations or people who have a legitimate need for it, such as your tax agent, current employer or bank. It’s important to verify that the person you’re giving your TFN to is who they say they are.
• Never share your passwords. Consider using passphrases instead of passwords, a password manager can help you generate or store passphrases. You should also consider updating them regularly.
• Enable multifactor authentication. If scammers obtain your password, it will be significantly harder for them to access your account.
• Keep your devices up to date. Scammers can use viruses, malware and programs to access or steal your personal information on your devices including phones, computers and tablets.
• Use your Digital ID (such as myID), set to the strongest level you can achieve, to access ATO online services through myGov.

To learn more about myID visit How to set up myID.

For top cyber security tips, visit Top cyber security tips for individuals. You can also set up Voice authentication to help protect your tax account and reduce the chance of scammers accessing it.

More information on securing your devices is available from the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

How the ATO keeps your information safe

They take the security and privacy of your personal information very seriously and have steps in place to make sure your data and online transactions are secure and safe.

They keep your personal information safe by:

• confirming your details when you contact them
• having a range of systems and controls in place to make sure your data and transactions are secure
• logging access to your personal information (to help the ATO identify any unusual behaviour).

To help you stay safe online, they:

• won’t ask you for your TFN or bank details via return email, SMS, or on social media
• won’t give your personal information to anyone without your consent, unless the law permits
• won’t communicate with you on behalf of another government agency or ask another government agency to represent them.

How they communicate with you

They may use SMS or email to ask you to contact them, but they will never send an unsolicited message with a link asking you to return personal information or log in to their online services.

The ATO has a Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn account, but will never use these platforms to ask you to provide personal information, documentation or ask you to make payments.

Source: ato.gov.au May 2025
Reproduced with the permission of the Australian Tax Office. This article was originally published on https://www.ato.gov.au/newsroom/smallbusiness/ .

Integrity One Wealth Advisers  Pty Ltd

Some people genuinely enjoy tracking their spending. They carefully categorise expenses, balance the numbers, and colour-code everything in a spreadsheet. And then there’s the rest of us. Maybe you’ve tried budgeting before, and it felt restrictive and time-consuming. Maybe it didn’t stick and that’s okay.

Here’s the thing: you don’t necessarily need a budget to be good with money. You can still save, still feel on top of things, and still plan for the future without ever opening a spreadsheet or managing every single dollar you spend. It’s just a matter of picking an approach (or a combination of approaches!) that works for you.

Pay yourself first and separate your savings

The first thing you should do is move your money before you even see it. This simple shift can make a surprisingly big difference. Set up an automatic transfer right after payday so a portion of your income goes directly into a savings account. Don’t overthink the amount. It doesn’t have to be large or ambitious. Even a small, consistent transfer builds over time. What matters is that it happens first, before your brain has a chance to decide it needs that money for something else.

You can even take it a step further by keeping your savings in a separate bank account that’s harder to access. No debit card. No app that shows your balance every time you open it. The more friction between you and your savings, the more likely it is to stick around.

Clear the path of temptation

Once your savings is in motion, work out what’s pulling you into spending money unnecessarily. The sale emails, the apps you open when you’re bored, the brands that pop up when you’re trying not to shop. These tiny nudges are more powerful than they seem.

You don’t need to delete everything or cut yourself off completely, but even unsubscribing from a few promotional emails or hiding shopping apps in a folder you rarely open can create just enough space to think twice. When you’re not constantly being invited to spend, you’re far less likely to do it on autopilot.

Try a soft delay instead of a hard no

That extra space you’ve created helps with impulse spending too. Not by banning every fun purchase, but by adding a small pause. Try giving yourself a 24-hour buffer before buying anything over a certain amount. It gives you time to decide if you actually want or need the item or if it just caught you at the right (or wrong) moment. This gentle pause often results in walking away from things that seemed urgent but weren’t.

Let saving feel good

As your balance starts to look a little healthier, saving can even become satisfying. Not in a charts-and-goals kind of way, but in the quiet moments of progress. Maybe it’s a day where you don’t spend anything and feel oddly proud. Or maybe it’s realising you didn’t make any impulse purchases this week and still felt fine.

Try turning this into a habit by choosing one day a week to avoid all non-essential spending. Call it whatever you like. It’s not about being strict or punishing yourself. It’s about pressing pause, resetting your habits, and noticing how little effort it can take to save when you give yourself a break from the constant flow of spending.

These small changes tend to build on each other, even if you’re not consciously tracking them.

Use tools that save without asking

Some of the best saving happens without effort. Many banks and apps now offer round-up features that add a few cents to your savings every time you make a purchase. Buy a $5.20 coffee, and 80 cents goes into your savings account automatically. It’s like a digital jar where your spare change quietly collects, without requiring you to do anything.

Cash to help save

If you like having some limits but don’t want to track every detail, try using cash for small, everyday spending. Withdraw a set amount each week for things like coffee, snacks, or takeout. When it’s gone, it’s gone. You’re still free to enjoy your day-to-day treats, but now there’s a built-in stopping point.

None of this is traditional budgeting. But it works. And the best part? You didn’t have to give up your coffee or your peace of mind to get there. You just gave your money a chance to grow.

Integrity One Wealth Advisers  Pty Ltd

Stay up to date with what’s happened in the Australian economy and markets over the past month.

Click here to view our update.

Please get in touch on 03 9723 0522 if you’d like assistance with your personal financial situation.

Integrity One Wealth Advisers  Pty Ltd

About SMSF investment restrictions

SMSFs are complex, here we have outlined some of the restrictions to help you before you make any decisions on self-managed super fund (SMSF) investment. You must ensure you understand any restrictions on SMSF investments to avoid any penalties.

There are some exceptions, however, generally your SMSF must not:

• lend or provide financial assistance to members or related parties
• acquire assets from members or related parties
• use collectables and personal use assets in a way that provides a present-day benefit
• allow trust distributions owing to the SMSF to remain unpaid
• breach the in-house asset rules
• borrow money.

No one associated with your SMSF should get a present-day benefit from its investments.

If you don’t comply with the investment restrictions, the ATO may take a range of actions, including:

• imposing penalties
• making the fund non-complying
• disqualifying you as a trustee
• prosecution of trustees.

Who are related parties?

A related party of your SMSF includes:

• all members of your fund
• associates of fund members, which include
  • the relatives of each member
  • the business partners of each member
  • any spouse or child of those business partners
  • any company or trust the member or their associates control or influence
• standard employer-sponsors (employers who contribute to your SMSF for the benefit of a member under an arrangement between the employer and a trustee of your fund)
• associates of standard employer-sponsors, which include
  • business partners and companies or trusts the employer controls (either alone or with their other associates)
  • companies and trusts that control the employer
  • relatives of an employer sponsor.

A relative is any of the following:

• a parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, lineal descendant or adopted child of the member or their spouse
• a spouse of the member and any individual specified above.

Loans and financial assistance

Your SMSF can’t provide loans, or direct or indirect financial assistance, to a member or a member’s relative. For example, you can’t use your SMSF as guarantor for a loan for a member or a member’s relative.

Loans must:

• be in the best interests of the members
• comply with the SMSF’s investment strategy
• be conducted on a commercial arm’s length basis.

If you run a business through your SMSF, you also can’t overpay a member or relative of a member for their services. If you employ a member or a relative of a member, their salary or wage must not be higher than the standard salary for that type of role.

Acquiring assets

Your SMSF can’t acquire an asset from a related party unless the price reflects the market value and is:

• a listed security (for example, shares, units or bonds listed on an approved stock exchange)
• business real property
• an asset specifically excluded from being an in-house asset.

You must also ensure the market value of your fund’s in-house assets doesn’t exceed 5% of the total market value of your fund’s assets.

Crypto assets and private company shares are not listed securities and can’t be acquired from a related party.

If an asset is not acquired or sold at arm’s length, all or part of any income from the transaction may be non-arm’s length income and taxed at the highest marginal rate.

To help you comply with the requirements, use the valuation guidelines for self-managed super funds.

Collectables and personal use assets

Where your fund invests in collectables and personal use assets, this must be for genuine retirement purposes, not to provide any present-day benefit.

Assets such as artwork, boats, jewellery, vintage cars and wine are described as collectables and personal use assets.

Natural diamonds (including pink diamonds), when held in loose form, are not considered collectable or personal use assets. As such, they do not have specific storage and insurance requirements. However, for these types of assets it is recommended trustees:

• hold adequate insurance
• consider storage arrangements.

‘Diamonds held in loose form’ means they cannot be mounted, integrated into or used as an item for adornment or other purposes which would be inconsistent with the holding of the diamond in loose form for investment purposes.

Collectables and personal use assets can’t be:

• used by or leased to a related party (if leased to an unrelated party it must be at arm’s length)
• stored or displayed in the private residence of a related party (this includes all parts of the land the residence is situated on and all buildings on that land, such as garages or sheds)
• displayed in any other premises owned by a related party (they can be stored there provided they’re not visible to clients and employees).

You must keep a written record of the reason for deciding where to store the assets.

Collectables and personal use assets must be insured. You should consider the availability and cost of insurance before investing in them. Items must be insured within 7 days of the fund acquiring them and the fund must be listed as the owner and beneficiary of the policy.

These assets can be sold to related parties provided the sale is at market value as determined by a qualified, independent valuer.

Unpaid trust distributions

If your SMSF is entitled to a distribution from a related trust but you allow it to remain unpaid, you may contravene the:

• in-house asset rules
• arm’s length rule
• sole purpose test.

In-house assets

You are restricted from having in-house assets that comprise more than 5% of the market value of the SMSF’s total assets.

An in-house asset is any of the following:

• a loan to a related party of your fund
• an investment in a related party of your fund
• an asset of your fund that is leased to a related party, such as business equipment or machinery.

Any lease must be made on an arm’s length basis and reflect the market value.

If at the end of the financial year your SMSF’s in-house assets exceed 5%, you must prepare a written plan to reduce in-house assets to 5% or below. This plan must be prepared before the end of the following financial year. Trustees must also ensure the plan is carried out.

There are some exceptions to in-house assets, including:

• business real property that is leased between your fund and a related party of your fund
• some investments in related non-geared trusts or companies.

The in-house asset rules for assets owned before 11 August 1999 were defined differently. If your SMSF owns assets that were acquired before this date, you should review your fund’s investments to ensure you are complying with the current rules.

Decrease in asset values due to COVID-19

Some SMSFs may have experienced a decrease in asset values due to the economic impact of COVID-19. If this resulted in a breach of the in-house asset rules as at 30 June 2020, or the in-house assets being more than 5% of the total assets, the fund was required to prepare and implement a rectification plan by 30 June 2021.

Business real property

Business real property generally means land and buildings used wholly and exclusively in a business. It’s an exception to the in-house asset and related party acquisition rules.

If business real property contains a dwelling for private or domestic purposes such as a farm, it can still meet the requirements of being used wholly and exclusively in a business if:

• any dwelling used for private or domestic purposes is in an area of land no more than 2 hectares, and
• the main use of the whole property is not for domestic or private purposes.

Running a business in an SMSF

If running a business through an SMSF, it must be:

• allowed under the trust deed
• operated for the sole purpose of providing retirement benefits for fund members.

The rules governing SMSFs prohibit or limit some activities available to other businesses, such as entering into credit arrangements or having overdrafts.

You should get professional advice before running a business through your SMSF.

It is important to ensure the sole purpose test is not breached. Issues that attract our attention include those where:

• the trustee employs a family member (we look at things like the stated rationale for employing the family member and the salary or wages paid)
• the ‘business’ is an activity commonly performed as a hobby or pastime
• the business run by the fund has links to associated trading entities
• there are indications the fund’s business assets are available for the private use and benefit of the trustee or related parties.

Contact us if you have any questions regarding your SMSF, we’re here to help.

Source: ato.gov.au April 2025
Reproduced with the permission of the Australian Tax Office. This article was originally published on https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/super-for-individuals-and-families/self-managed-super-funds-smsf/smsf-investing/restrictions-on-smsf-investments/what-are-the-smsf-investment-restrictions.

Integrity One Wealth Advisers  Pty Ltd

The Australian Council of Trade Unions is pushing to limit negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts to just one investment property.

So who stands to win or lose the most if it happens? And is the Albanese government likely to act on the proposal, given Labor has been burnt on the issue before?

Research on Australian housing finance shows negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts were not designed with rental housing in mind – yet this is where they’ve had their greatest impact.

How do the tax breaks work now – and what might change?

Under current negative gearing rules, investors are able to deduct losses incurred from an investment property (such as interest payments and other expenses) against their own taxable income. These can be claimed on an unlimited number of investment properties.

High-income earners tend to have greater incomes to buy properties, and larger tax bills to make deductions against.

With the 50% capital gains tax discount, only half the increase in price of an asset is taxed when it is sold. High-income earners also tend to benefit more from this than low-income earners.

Under the ACTU’s proposal, the current negative gearing and capital gains tax discount arrangements would stay the same for the next five years.

That would give investors time to adjust their property portfolios before a change to only getting tax breaks on a single investment property.

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus put forward the idea at the national economic reform roundtable. She warns continuing to give investors tax discounts to own multiple properties is making home ownership “nearly unimaginable for young people”.

Who would win and lose under the proposal?

According to analysis of the most recent Australian Tax Office statistics from 2022-23 by RMIT researcher Liam Davies, there were 2,261,080 individuals with an “interest in property” – meaning they have an investment in at least one rental property.

Of those investors, 1,117,175 (49.4%) were negatively geared. And of those who were negatively geared, 810,875 have an interest in one property, and 306,300 have an interest in two or more properties.

1 in 7 property investors would be affected by the ACTU’s proposal

Source: ATO Taxation Statistics 2022-23, Table 27

So yes, there would be some losers under the ACTU proposal. About 306,300 out of 2,261,080 investors – 13.5%, or roughly one in seven property investors – would be affected by the new proposed limits. That’s just over 1% of all Australians.

But for the majority of other investors who negatively gear now – 810,875 people at last count – they would continue on with the same tax breaks as before.

What tax breaks cost now – and what they could fund

It’s also worth noting that negatively geared investors “lost” (or claimed deductions for) a total of A$10.4 billion in 2022-23, with $4.8 billion being “lost” by investors with an interest in two or more properties.

The ACTU estimates its change would raise about $1.5 billion in tax revenue each year.

That money could go towards housing in other areas – such as the government’s Housing Accord target of helping finance 40,000 social and affordable homes over the next five years.

We’ve known for years that a tiny fraction of investors actually get the vast majority of these tax breaks.

The Parliamentary Budget Office has reported around 80% of the benefits of the capital gains tax discount go to the top 10% of Australian income earners, while 60% of the benefits of negative gearing go to the top 20% of income earners.

Over the past decade, foregone revenue from negative gearing and capital gains taxation has totalled more than A$80 billion.

Tax breaks that were never meant to work this way

Neither negative gearing nor the capital gains tax discount were initially targeted at rental housing.

Negative gearing provisions actually date back to an unclear loophole in the 1936 Income Tax Assessment Act.

And until as recently the mid-1980s – just two generations ago – there was no capital gains taxation in Australia. Back then, it was much harder for investors to get finance to buy rental properties.

The big change came in 1999, when then-prime minister John Howard acted on a Treasury recommendation and applied a blanket 50% discount to all assets held for a year or more.

At the time, the stated aim was to get more people investing in Australian businesses, such as through the share market. Instead, many people ploughed money into housing and have bid up house prices ever since.

What are the prospects of change?

Within the past year, Labor has repeatedly ruled out changing negative gearing or the capital gains tax discount.

Labor has been cautious about it ever since Bill Shorten’s failed 2019 election campaign, which proposed limiting negative gearing to newly-built dwellings and reducing the capital gains tax discount from 50% to 25%.

But the simplicity of the ACTU’s proposal – and the fact that it would leave the majority of property investors untouched – may make it simpler to implement and also easier to win over voters.

The Greens have already said they back the ACTU’s proposal. So if the Albanese government chose to act, it would have enough support in parliament to pass it.

Public support for limits on how many properties investors can own has also grown in recent years. Gen Z and Millennial voters now comprise almost half the electorate – and their most pressing concern is housing (un)affordability.

Source: https://theconversation.com/how-many-of-australias-2-2-million-property-investors-would-lose-out-under-a-new-plan-to-curb-negative-gearing-262595

Integrity One Wealth Advisers  Pty Ltd