I know the word hate in the English language is particularly strong in describing an attitude toward a particular subject, but I think we’d all be forgiven if we thought the ruling class in Canberra actually hates the SMSF sector.

The SMSF community has gone into a little bit of meltdown since the passing of the Superannuation (Excess Transfer Balance Tax) Bill 2016 and Treasury Laws Amendment (Fair and Sustainable Superannuation) Bill 2016 late last year.

No matter how many statistics are published about how successful and how satisfied SMSF trustees are with their superannuation funds, scepticism and dread of this sector of the retirement savings industry just won’t go away.

The end of November saw a large number of the changes to the superannuation rules passed into law that were first announced on budget night and subsequently amended.

A further month has passed since the federal government announced the scrapping of its proposed $500,000 lifetime non-concessional contributions caps, allowing more time to analyse the situation the sector will face beyond 1 July next year.

Anyone involved in the SMSF sector must think all of the planets have completely lost their alignment since budget night on 3 May 2016. Much has been said about the proposed changes to superannuation handed down on budget night, but there can be no doubt which sector will experience the greatest impact.

hey say a week is a long time in football, but in the world of superannuation at the moment a month seems like a lifetime.

Plenty of consternation, conjecture and downright disgust has been witnessed since the proposed changes to superannuation were announced in the 2016 federal budget.

Another month has rolled by and we are little clearer on what may happen in the immediate future to the superannuation landscape.