Question: I earn $82,000 and my husband $65,000 we have a mortgage of $95,000  I am in a defined benefit super fund and when I am 60 it will be worth $350,000 and another fund I contribute occasionally too with a value of $35,000 my husband currently has $150,000 in his super his employer contributes 17%. I am 57 and my husband 52, we don't have any other loans, I would like to work only part time from age of 60 and then retire at 62, my husband will continue working until I am 62 and then he will retire. Should we be salary packaging as much as possible into our super at this time to make the best of our super, when we retire we will downsize the house which will cover the mortgage. We can both salary sacrifice up to 50% of our salary but I believe there is a limit of how much we can put into super each year.

Answer: The question of caps is under a cloud at date of writing.  As things stand, everyone will have a maximum concessional cap of $25,000 after June 30 but there is talk about retaining the cap at $50,000 for people with balances under $500,000.  Fortunately this does not affect anything you do this financial year so maximise your contributions to super while you can.  Make sure you take advice as there are heavy penalties if you get it wrong.