Letters of the Week

The SMSF honey pot

Your recent tip and subsequent signs that Pooh Bear is wetting his lips over the SMSF honeypot is a serious worry: we do all the leg work (with a little help from Eureka), we charge no one anything, we bear all the risk – who else did 30% of their honey following their adviser's advice in the last four years? – we forgo the Porsche and the annual cruise to distant lands, all to avoid having to bleed the taxpayer for perhaps 30-40 years (and God knows he/she will need all the help possible). And there's old Pooh salivating over our honey pot so he can keep his for later! Pooh – I’m not happy.

M Tyrrell

Helping the account search

In the letters column of October 17, J McEwan's article headed "In search of an account" asked whether anyone knew of the existence of an old style cash management bank account with a cheque book facility. I suggest that AMP's eASYCash Management Account be considered as it does have a cheque book in addition to all other facilities. This particular account was chosen as the best "all round" available to be the hub for our family SMSF, which I administer entirely in a DIY manner, with the only duties performed off site being the audit and annual report to the ATO.

P Ellis

How to buy gold

I enjoyed Adam Carr’s article about why gold is not likely to fold anytime soon (click here).

Where, what and how should an investor find a way to invest in gold? In gold bricks themselves? Keep them in a safe deposit box? How to get delivery of them anyway? In companies that mine gold or in funds that invest directly in gold?

Thanks for any advice on this.

S Parker

Editor’s response: You may find Caleb Samson’s recent article on the different ways to buy gold in Australia, and the pros and cons of each, to be helpful. It can be read here.

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