RA Business Advisors

employment

Small Business Booming in the Burbs’

By

Small Business Insights

Xero has recently launched Small Business Insights, which provides a monthly snapshot of Australia’s small business sector – courtesy of data aggregated from Xero’s hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Xero has decided to provide these insights with the aim to “help policymakers and large enterprises make more informed decisions that benefit the small business economy” (Xero SBI). On top of metrics that give insights to the small business environment in Australia; KPMG, small business owners, business journalists provide commentary on the small business sector.

small bus

A New Trend

One interesting trend that has been observed by Xero is the increase of small business employment in more suburban locations in major Australian cities. Bernard Salt of KPMG has reported this pattern being evident in Brisbane, as small business employment increased in the period of January – September this year. Nearby CBD suburbs Red Hill (woo!) and Clayfield experienced a 17% increase in small business employment. More suburban areas such as Camp Hill and Bridgeman Downs also had an increase of small business employment, going up 23% & 18% respectively.

This suburban small business employment trend is also replicated in other large Australian cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. It seems that middle suburbia in Australia is acting as an incubator to nurture new small businesses, says Bernard Salt. It is important to note that whether our economy is performing well or poorly, middle suburbs in our large cities still flourish and experience growth in employment. These small business employment patterns that have been uncovered by Xero’s Small Business Insights give a new perspective on Australia’s modern economy. This pattern provides evidence that small business is as vital as ever to Australia’s economy.

We as small business advisors are excited about these findings, as it displays Australia’s evolving economy – and more importantly outlines the importance of small business to our evolving economy. All information was gathered from the “Small business beats in the heartland” article by Bernard Salt – read the full article here.

small business booming in the burbs

Post Contributor:
Andrés Pascoe

Are You Paying Enough Attention To Your Super?

By

Are you paying enough attention to your super?

The tax incentives on Australians’ super contributions can welcome better investment returns in an environment full of low investment returns. Experts advise that by learning how to properly understand your super, and what it can do for you, you can save a lot of money.

Australian super contributions dropped 0.3 per cent last financial year, despite a growing working population and rising wages, with the June quarter falling a staggering 0.8 per cent. Wealth for Life Financial Planning principal Rex Whitford believes that the lack of trust between Australian people and the government has developed due to the chopping and changing of the rules when it comes to super. If you are unfamiliar with the latest super changes check out some of our ‘super’ blogs.

Despite the changes, super is still the most tax-effective structure to hold your life savings. Your super is more than just cold hard cash. It can hold property, bonds, shares, infrastructure, or a mixture of these. Maximum Wealth Advisers partner Mauro Grossi says that saving diverted to super at only 15 per cent – instead of your marginal tax rate – can add-up over time. “It’s not the government’s money. It’s your money for your future. If it was sitting in a bank account you would be far more worried about it.”

So how can super tax actually help?

  1. Earnings within super are taxed at only 15 per cent, rather than marginal tax rates
  2. Tax-deductible contributions, such as salary sacrifice, get taxed just 15 per cent. Whereas your wage income tax can be up to 49 per cent.
  3. Tax on withdrawals, income and capital gains for most people aged over 60 is zero
  4. The planned rule changes do not affect these tax rates. They only cap how much you can contribute, and will adjust super savings above $1.6 million per person out of the zero-tax environment and into the 15 per cent tax environment.

We highly recommend that you invest some time into understanding your super and learning what it can do for you, even before retirement. We have a team of highly trained, and knowledgeable experts that would love to have a chat with you, should you wish to learn more.