Changes to the way the superannuation guarantee is assessed mean that many people who receive all or part of their income by commission will notice a change in their take home pay.

This is because the compulsory 9% paid by the employer will now have to be paid on commission payments as well as normal salary.

This has the potential to cause friction in some businesses, because the employers will almost certainly regard the change as an additional impost, and the employees may well believe they are being short-changed.

Employers in particular will be between a rock and a hard place, because if they pay the superannuation as an additional contribution, they will be giving their staff a pay rise in what may well be very tough times.

The win- win solution is for the employer to leave the commission rate unchanged, but adjust the payment to the employee so that extra superannuation is deducted.

Yes, this will mean a slight reduction in take home pay for the employee, but they should be encouraged by the fact that a larger part of their pay is now going into superannuation.

A major bonus is that such contributions are being taxed at just 15% and not 41.5%, which would happen if they took the money in hand.

There is a growing realisation that rising life expectancies mean today’s employees must invest as much of their pay in superannuation as they possibly can.

This is a great way of boosting those precious retirement savings.