Where I would invest $10k

This year and into the future, I will be making a concerted effort to “catch up” with my super and maximise the benefits of carry-forward contributions. As any small business owner, freelancer or working mother will attest, it can be extremely difficult to build retirement savings for individuals who take time out, work irregular hours or experience some other period when they make no, little, or limited contributions. While not available to everybody, carry-forward contributions were introduced to even the playing field, making it easier for people with irregular work patterns to save for retirement and benefit from tax concessions attached to super.

Assuming I was in the highest tax bracket, if I was to make a $10,000 “catch-up” contribution taxed at 15% – rather than my marginal tax rate of 47% – I’d receive a $4700 refund in next year’s return, bolster my retirement fund with a $8500 deposit ($10,000 minus 15% contribution tax) and stretch my hard-earned dollars even further by taking advantage of the current market downturn. Not bad at all!

Into which super fund will I be contributing my $10,000? An ethically aligned, environmentally friendly portfolio – free of human and animal rights abuses, of course. There are murmurs of underperforming ethical funds, due in part to their higher exposure to tech and healthcare – which have taken a battering over the past six months. Despite recent challenges and high commodity prices driving up resource stocks, many ethical funds over a five-year period remain strides ahead of their ‘non-ethical’ counterparts. Being in my 30s, I’m in it for the long haul, I’m not interested in short-term market movement, but focused on the bigger picture and end result.