Planning for the future
It’s all about having a choice The key to life is living, not just working to retire, but there may come a time in your life when you want to change what you’ve been doing and either stop working completely or take a long holiday and work out what’s next. To be able to have this […]
Aged care costs in perspective
Putting aged care costs into perspective – a story A growing number of Australians are encountering the challenges of assisting elderly relatives with the move into aged care. One of them was a new client of ours, let’s call him Rob. Recently, he had to help his formerly active 78-year-old mother, Mary, with the painful […]
Have you set up a Power of Attorney?
Don’t forget these important documents What would happen if you were physically unable to sign important documents or became mentally incapable of making key decisions? This is when a Power of Attorney becomes a vital tool in managing your life – when you are unable to. Put simply, a Power of Attorney is a legal […]
What is your aged care funding strategy?
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2017 almost 3.8 million Australians were aged 65 and over. Consider for a moment: this figure shows those people contemplating aged care for elderly family members are fast approaching the age when they’ll need it themselves. Sobering thought. What this means is that as aged care becomes […]
Superannuation: preserved but not forgotten
It is important to be aware of exactly when and how you can access your super, and what you can do in the meantime to make sure it is working to your advantage. PRESERVED UNTIL WHEN? The super rules state that you can’t generally get your hands on your benefit until you meet at least […]
Protect yourself through superannuation
The attractiveness of superannuation as an investment and savings vehicle is well known. As we mentioned earlier, although the federal government places limits on the amount of tax-effective contributions we can make, the ability to structure insurance arrangements through super remains. HOW DOES INSURANCE THROUGH SUPER WORK? The types of insurances considered here are limited […]
The ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘how’ of contributing to super
Despite frequent changes to its governing rules, superannuation remains, for most people, a tax-effective environment in which to save for retirement. Here’s a quick Q&A on the what, why and how of contributing to superannuation from this point on. WHY SHOULD I CONTRIBUTE TO SUPER? Some super contributions and the investment earnings within super […]
Get your super together and save!
If you have had different jobs with different employers over your working career you will probably have superannuation accounts in many different funds. Apart from the time it takes to keep track of these accounts, there are three more serious concerns of which you should be aware. INVESTMENT STRATEGY Choosing the right investments for your […]
Taking control of your superannuation
Taking control of your super A popular choice for managing superannuation is to take personal control via a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF). Although membership is limited to a maximum of four people per fund, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) reports there are over half a million SMSFs, representing more than a million members. It estimates […]