Monday, May 15, 2006

Superannuation Lecture

Well, this week I get to give a lecture on superannuation, and Peter Costello changed all the rules last week. So, what should I teach my students? The old rules in the textbook (copyright 2006), or the new proposals that aren't yet law (but most likely will be long before students apply anything they learn this semester)?

My approach is to ignore or minimise the provisions that will soon be obsolete, talk a bit about the history of the legislation, and discuss the budget proposals (noting that they are not yet law). Fortunately, the budget came out a day before I had to submit my final exam -- I was able to remove questions about provisions that will become obsolete (such as RBLs).

I'm not sure if anyone ever reads this blog. But if you are reading this, could you let me know how you would handle this situation? I'm glad I didn't write all the lectures up at the beginning of the semester and have them printed for students (like I do in my intro finance class). The laws change too fast in personal finance.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Karen:

I am not an Australian (a southerner from the US). Also, I am an amateur in the world of finance (my studies were in literature.) I cannot comment on the Australian retirement system, except to point out the following academic paper on Australian investment expenses:

The Trouble with MER: The Disclosure of Fees and Charges in Australian Superannuation and Investment Funds.

As an American, I invest in Vanguard Index funds. I know that Vanguard has an Australian subsidary and can only hope that they are providing low cost access to Australian and World markets for the benefit of the Australian investor.

regards,
Barry
Financial page

5:30 pm  

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