What is Australian equivalent of Roth IRA?

[aussie in asia]

I'm 35, have been working in Asia for 10 years.  Have not contributed anything to Australian Superannuation all these years. 

What should I do??

How are the other 'expat' aussies managing their Super?  (Or how do you Americans manage your Roth IRA when living abroad for long periods of time like this?)

thanks

[anyone?]

can anyone answer this?

[Kubes.SG]

Since you are not based in Australia or a Australian tax resident, this might be tricky. 

If you plan to retire in AU then having a few million in your superannuation plan when you hit 60 is incredibly important.  The HUGE benefit is that all your income your super plan produces once you are 60 is tax free.    You probably need to setup a Self-managed-superannuation (SMS) plan, and then put in up to $25K if below 50, or $50K per year when you're 50+.  You can make contributions up to $450K over 3 years one-time.

The Kubes famile already had a SMS plan setup before we left AU so we are loading that up, without any tax benefits now as we use our after tax income, etc.  Since you don't have that setup yet, and don't have an AU employer, not sure what is involved doing it as a non-resident.  You will have to google some tax/financial management experts.

The reason this is important is that once you hit 60 all your super generated income is entirely tax free.

[thanks Kubes]

Hi Kubes

Thanks for your advice - you seem like a man who knows his stuff and does his homework.  My Dad has passed away already so i don't have someone like that in my life to advise me on these things.

would you mind sharing the name of the fund you're in?  I will look it up.  thanks a lot

[Kubes.SG]

We have our financial management agency run our Self Managed Superannuation plan for us.  Google majenda.  These guys provide services across the region from Sydney.  Seem to specialize on expat pilots in the middle east and Asia, so used to dealing with expats who need to get funds efficiently back to AU.

The AU Tax Commissioner has this to say:
http://www.ato.gov.au/superfunds/content.aspx?doc=/content/46427.htm