Terry Vogiatzis, Founder and Director of Omura Wealth Advisers, was recently named advisor of the year. (Source: LinkedIn/Getty)
More and more Australians are entering retirement and facing big questions about how they handle – and ultimately pass on – their money. Older Australians are being urged to understand all the options available to them to make sure they’re not paying unnecessary tax and not forgetting to do one crucial thing when it comes to their superannuation.
The country is facing the mother of all wealth transfers in the years ahead, as aging Boomers are expected to pass on trillions of dollars in wealth to their children. But the best way to do that can be complex, and there are certain superannuation pitfalls retirees should make sure they avoid.
It’s not fun to think about your impending demise, so it’s not uncommon for people to neglect their estate planning, says Terry Vogiatzis, Founder and Director of Omura Wealth Advisers.
One thing that is often overlooked is super assets which can cause issues later on because superannuation benefits are treated differently from other assets in a deceased estate, which can have significant tax implications for beneficiaries, Vogiatzis explained to Yahoo Finance.
“A lot of people don’t know,” he said.
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Unlike cash, property and your regular share portfolio which can be assigned to go to someone in a will, your super requires a “direct nomination” which also supersedes a will. Without that direction nomination, things can potentially get a bit messy.
“People could put their hand up [to make a claim on it]. And it also creates further complexities from an administration perspective,” Vogiatzis said.
But before it gets to that point, it seriously pays to think about the most tax effective way to pass on your super, which for many Australians will increasingly be a majority of their wealth.
You can nominate your super balance to someone who is considered a dependent, but there is also the definition of a dependent under tax law “which dictates whether or not they’re going to pay tax on the benefit,” Vogiatzis said.
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“An adult child is a super dependent, which means they can receive a benefit, but they’re not tax dependent, so they’re going to pay tax on the benefit.
“So you may want to consider nominating your spouse, giving your adult child your non super benefits.”
As founder of Pivot Wealth and Yahoo Finance contributor Ben Nash has previously written for this masthead, in many cases, a big chunk of inheritances is lost to tax, poor planning, or mistakes that could have easily been avoided.
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If a parent passes on money from their super and their child is not classified as a dependent under the tax rules, they could pay up to 32 per cent on the balance of the super fund.
For example, if they inherit $500,000 in superannuation money, you could be paying tax of up to $160,000.
In most cases, one spouse is going to nominate everything to the other spouse in the event of their passing. At that point, there is a “big tax saving that people forget about,” Vogiatzis said.
“If that person passes away with their super, their children will pay tax on it,” he continued. “[But] in most cases, they’re over 65 which means they can just withdraw everything.”
They can give their children a cash gift which won’t be taxed. “It can an save you hundreds of thousands of dollars… A lot of people don’t know about it.”
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A huge wealth transfer from old to young is slated to take place in the years ahead. (Source: Getty) ·Getty Images
It can be a tricky thing to time, however. While super is in the pension phase there’s no tax payable on the earning of the fund (below $1.9 million) but if you cash it out, then the earnings on that money are now in a taxable environment.
“You don’t want to cash out too early, but that is a strategy,” Vogiatzis said.
The Productivity Commission previously estimated that $3.5 trillion would be passed on from Aussies aged 60 and over by 2050. More recent JBWere figures put the figure at $5.4 trillion over the next 20 years. A good chuck on that will come from superannuation balances, but exactly how it’s passed on will determine how much the ATO ultimately rakes back in.
Financial advisors are licking their lips as more Australians face these difficult decisions, with a recent report by the Super Members Council finding the “general complexity” of the system is leading to “decision paralysis” among retirees.
It comes as the number of retirees in the country is set to double, jumping to about 2.8 million people in the next decade. About 10 years ago, 150,000 people would retire each year. But soon this number will jump to 300,000 per year, a trend described as the “silver tsunami”.
Meanwhile Finder research found 41 per cent of Aussies – equivalent to 8.8 million people – expected to receive an inheritance.
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One in 10 said they were depending on an inheritance to achieve major financial goals like buying a house or retiring, while one in five said it will significantly improve their financial standing but they weren’t solely dependent on it.
Unlike other countries like the UK and US, Australia has no federal inheritance tax.
There have been growing calls to introduce such a regime, with the Australia Institute in August calling for an inheritance tax with the group’s senior economist telling Yahoo Finance it could help bring in as much as $10 billion a year for government services.
However a poll of more than 4,400 Yahoo Finance readers found nearly three quarters of respondents were totally against bringing back any form of inheritance tax.
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Cornell University administrator Warren Petrofsky will serve as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ new dean of administration and finance, charged with spearheading efforts to shore up the school’s finances as it faces a hefty budget deficit.
Petrofsky’s appointment, announced in a Friday email from FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra to FAS affiliates, will begin April 20 — nearly a year after former FAS dean of administration and finance Scott A. Jordan stepped down. Petrofsky will replace interim dean Mary Ann Bradley, who helped shape the early stages of FAS cost-cutting initiatives.
Petrofsky currently serves as associate dean of administration at Cornell University’s College of Arts and Sciences.
As dean, he oversaw a budget cut of nearly $11 million to the institution’s College of Arts and Sciences after the federal government slashed at least $250 million in stop-work orders and frozen grants, according to the Cornell Daily Sun.
He also serves on a work group established in November 2025 to streamline the school’s administrative systems.
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Earlier, at the University of Pennsylvania, Petrofsky managed capital initiatives and organizational redesigns in a number of administrative roles.
Petrofsky is poised to lead similar efforts at the FAS, which relaunched its Resources Committee in spring 2025 and created a committee to consolidate staff positions amid massive federal funding cuts.
As part of its planning process, the committee has quietly brought on external help. Over several months, consultants from McKinsey & Company have been interviewing dozens of administrators and staff across the FAS.
Petrofsky will also likely have a hand in other cost-cutting measures across the FAS, which is facing a $365 million budget deficit. The school has already announced it will keep spending flat for the 2026 fiscal year, and it has dramatically reduced Ph.D. admissions.
In her email, Hoekstra praised Petrofsky’s performance across his career.
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“Warren has emphasized transparency, clarity in communication, and investment in staff development,” she wrote. “He approaches change with steadiness and purpose, and with deep respect for the mission that unites our faculty, researchers, staff, and students. I am confident that he will be a strong partner to me and to our community.”
—Staff writer Amann S. Mahajan can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at amannsm.38. Follow her on X @amannmahajan.
My spreadsheet reviewed a WalletHub ranking of financial distress for the residents of 100 U.S. cities, including 17 in California. The analysis compared local credit scores, late bill payments, bankruptcy filings and online searches for debt or loans to quantify where individuals had the largest money challenges.
When California cities were divided into three geographic regions – Southern California, the Bay Area, and anything inland – the most challenges were often found far from the coast.
The average national ranking of the six inland cities was 39th worst for distress, the most troubled grade among the state’s slices.
Bakersfield received the inland region’s worst score, ranking No. 24 highest nationally for financial distress. That was followed by Sacramento (30th), San Bernardino (39th), Stockton (43rd), Fresno (45th), and Riverside (52nd).
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Southern California’s seven cities overall fared better, with an average national ranking of 56th largest financial problems.
However, Los Angeles had the state’s ugliest grade, ranking fifth-worst nationally for monetary distress. Then came San Diego at 22nd-worst, then Long Beach (48th), Irvine (70th), Anaheim (71st), Santa Ana (85th), and Chula Vista (89th).
Monetary challenges were limited in the Bay Area. Its four cities average rank was 69th worst nationally.
San Jose had the region’s most distressed finances, with a No. 50 worst ranking. That was followed by Oakland (69th), San Francisco (72nd), and Fremont (83rd).
The results remind us that inland California’s affordability – it’s home to the state’s cheapest housing, for example – doesn’t fully compensate for wages that typically decline the farther one works from the Pacific Ocean.
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A peek inside the scorecard’s grades shows where trouble exists within California.
Credit scores were the lowest inland, with little difference elsewhere. Late payments were also more common inland. Tardy bills were most difficult to find in Northern California.
Bankruptcy problems also were bubbling inland, but grew the slowest in Southern California. And worrisome online searches were more frequent inland, while varying only slightly closer to the Pacific.
Note: Across the state’s 17 cities in the study, the No. 53 average rank is a middle-of-the-pack grade on the 100-city national scale for monetary woes.
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
The up-and-coming fintech scored a pair of fourth-quarter beats.
Diversified fintech Chime Financial(CHYM +12.88%) was playing a satisfying tune to investors on Thursday. The company’s stock flew almost 14% higher that trading session, thanks mostly to a fourth quarter that featured notably higher-than-expected revenue guidance.
Sweet music
Chime published its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results just after market close on Wednesday. For the former period, the company’s revenue was $596 million, bettering the same quarter of 2024 by 25%. The company’s strongest revenue stream, payments, rose 17% to $396 million. Its take from platform-related activity rose more precipitously, advancing 47% to $200 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
Meanwhile, Chime’s net loss under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) more than doubled. It was $45 million, or $0.12 per share, compared with a fourth-quarter 2024 deficit of $19.6 million.
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On average, analysts tracking the stock were modeling revenue below $578 million and a deeper bottom-line loss of $0.20 per share.
In its earnings release, Chime pointed to the take-up of its Chime Card as a particular catalyst for growth. Regarding the product, the company said, “Among new member cohorts, over half are adopting Chime Card, and those members are putting over 70% of their Chime spend on the product, which earns materially higher take rates compared to debit.”
Today’s Change
(12.88%) $2.72
Current Price
$23.83
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Key Data Points
Market Cap
$7.9B
Day’s Range
$22.30 – $24.63
52wk Range
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$16.17 – $44.94
Volume
562K
Avg Vol
3.3M
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Gross Margin
86.34%
Double-digit growth expected
Chime management proffered revenue and non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) guidance for full-year 2026. The company expects to post a top line of $627 million to $637 million, which would represent at least 21% growth over the 2024 result. Adjusted EBITDA should be $380 million to $400 million. No net income forecasts were provided in the earnings release.
It isn’t easy to find a niche in the financial industry, which is crowded with companies offering every imaginable type of service to clients. Yet Chime seems to be achieving that, as the Chime Card is clearly a hit among the company’s target demographic of clientele underserved by mainstream banks. This growth stock is definitely worth considering as a buy.
