by Jodie | Apr 29, 2013 | Advisers, Debt Management, Finances, General, Investments
We’ve all heard the stories: Lotto winners broke within a couple of years, professional athletes running out of money and filing for bankruptcy, and those with a windfall or inheritance wondering where it all went.
It’s stories like these that inspired Amanda Cassar to do a short video blog when recently staying at the Bellagio in Las Vegas to discuss the importance of a financial plan and having a professional help with managing your money.
See more here on our YouTube clip: Managing a Financial Windfall
![New Year’s Resolutions already forgotten?]()
by Jodie | Jan 18, 2013 | Finances, General
So it’s already half way through January are most of us are wondering where those few weeks of R&R went. So how are you going with those Resolutions you made? Still hanging in there or already over?
I thought I’d have a look at the Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions made and see how they tally with yours. According to the website squidoo.com, these are the Top 10 on the Resolution List are:
1. Stop Smoking
2. Get into a Habit of being Fit
3. Lose Weight – the Battle of the Bulge
4. Enjoy Life More.
5. Quit Drinking
6. Organise Yourself – this is one of the keys to reaching your goals
7. Learn Something New
8. Get out of Debt
9. Spend More Time With Family
10. Help People.
The way I see it, over half of these involve either saving or spending money to achieve.
I’d suggest perhaps just hitting your top two or three and seeing how you go with achieving these before moving on. Some motivation might come from setting a basic budget – i.e. seeing how much you’ll save on quitting smoking and reducing grog.
All this talk of new year resolutions can be a bit overwhelming. Goal setting is great, but when it comes to strict diets and gruelling work targets, studies show that if we’re too hard on ourselves we’re actually more likely to binge, burnout and end up going further backwards than forwards.
When it comes to making long term changes, the old adage of “slow and steady wins the race” is often best. We like that idea much better! Perhaps buddy up with a pal with similar plans and kill two or more birds with one stone – you may Get into a habit of Being Fit, Lose Weight, and Enjoy Life More… all at the same time! Then again Quitting Smoking and Reducing the Grog may also help with Getting out of Debt!
And always – if you need the help of friends, family or an expert – never be afraid to ask.
Hope 2013 is a cracker of a year for you!
by Jodie | Nov 14, 2012 | In The Media
Well, I do love to travel and really enjoyed heading to fabulous Melbourne for the Women in Finance Vic (WIF) working lunch. I don’t need much arm twisting to get me to Victoria and was glad to combine some appointments with clients, colleagues and a great lunch.
WIF had combined forces with the Australian Centre for Financial Studies and the Financial Services Institute of Australia (FINSIA) to put on a great lunch in Collins Street to discuss “Finding Parity for Women’s Super.”
A great panel of women leaders representing the Industries of consumer and wealth management sectors discussed:
- Why the Value of women’s super is so much lower than men’s
- Why some women don’t have super and don’t focus on it
- What various sectors of the industry are doing about it; and
- What is and isn’t working
Some of the history of discriminatory superannuation measures against women were highlighted, including the Married Women’s Fund, available for the Public Sector; along with limited or no access to superannuation benefits for working women and the exclusion of super being mandatory for those earning under $450 per month from certain employers.
Need to find a solution to the big problem
As 75-80% of Australians currently access the Age Pension (of approx. $20k p/a) self-funding for retirement is becoming of increasing importance to all.
Not surprisingly, it was highlighted that women often have multiple or many employers, especially for casual work, and an erratic working life, due to pregnancy, child birth and motherhood.
Women also have a longer life expectancy than men, and need to fund for retirement longer. On average, the girls currently have around 17% less than men in their Super funds, but require around 13% more.
Women are perhaps more disengaged with their funds feeling superannuation saving is for the future, not really important, that their family situation will take care of things. Or that most Advisers are men, and they aren’t really sure about trusting them with their small and unimportant nest eggs.
Anne-Marie Corboy, CEO of HESTA, a large industry fund highlighted that the average balance across their 750,000 members is $29 886 for men, and a bit over $26k for women. Hardly enough to set up for a comfortable retirement, for anyone!
So, what can be done?
Some of the suggestions included constantly consolidating superannuation accounts whenever changing employer, not to ‘lose’ any super funds, make the most of incentives such as the Co-Contribution and Spouse Superannuation schemes and taking a lot more interest and control over your own financial journey.
As one of the Advisers put it, ‘A Man Is Not a Financial Plan!’ So girls, time to engage more with what is yours and ensure every penny is accounted for. And if you need advice, I’d love to give it!
Visit Website
by Jodie | Nov 7, 2012 | In The Media, Insurance & Protection
This is the real-life story of Dani, as told by her financial adviser Amanada Cassar of Wealth Planning Partners
Dani is the daughter of a client I’ve had for some time. Her mum Jessie approached me to assist with some Salary Packaging strategies as she’s a nurse, and we soon became friends. Jessie is a happy, friendly, hospitable woman and extremely proud of her two beautiful daughters. She also happens to share her name with my great-grandmother – so we now consider each other as family.
On finding out her youngest had been diagnosed with leukaemia at age 22, she was distraught, but went straight into protection, carer and nurture mode – it seems to come especially easy to her as both a mother and a nurse!
Jessie also requested that I go through some of Dani’s paperwork to see if there was anything financially she had that could help out. Included in that bundle was a statement of superannuation benefits for an industry fund which included lump sum cover for Death and Total & Permanent Disability (TPD). Dani’s prognosis was grim for the immediate future and likely the coming 3-5 years or beyond, meaning a possible total disablement claim. In any case, it wouldn’t hurt to try.
I assisted Dani when she was feeling up to it, to complete the paperwork, liaise with her doctors, the hospital and submit the paperwork, all within a couple of weeks of the insurance lapsing due to the fact that she’d now left work and no further employer funds were being paid.
And that’s possibly when the true battle began. Dani’s health was up and down; eventually reducing to 32 kgs; falling and breaking her tailbone; being accidentally overdosed by the hospital along with the usual treatments for her condition. Tests eventually confirmed Dani had beaten the leukaemia but had a serious complication following the marrow transplant known as GVHD (Graft vs. Host Disease) where the immune cells in the graft recognise the recipient as a foreign host and attack the hosts’ body cells.
The doctors also were slow to respond to the paperwork requirements and unwilling to complete the relevant pages requested by the insurance company to confirm TPD and finally and sadly, we had to switch to a Terminal Illness claim when Dani was told she had less than 12 months to live. Hundreds of pages of reports followed and after much frustration and work over fourteen months, the Case Manager finally rang to advise me we had a payout on the way!
Dani has put on a couple of kilograms, is still in hospital but remains incredibly positive and was delighted to turn 24 a few months ago. I’ve been asked to assist her to find a new home, close to hospital and where she can concentrate on recuperating as best she can and devote more time the creative arts she loves.
This story reinforces strongly for me the immense value of insurance, the importance of advice and the significance of the precious relationships we forge along the way
Being financially independent now provides Dani with options – she can concentrate on her health and wellbeing, provide medically for her needs and allows her some financial freedom.
Visit Website
![New Year’s Resolutions already forgotten?]()
by Jodie | Oct 26, 2012 | Advisers, Business, Finances, General, Investments, Superannuation, Women
Well, I do love to travel and really enjoyed heading to fabulous Melbourne for the Women in Finance Vic (WIF) Lunch recently. I don’t need much arm twisting to get me to Victoria and was glad to combine some appointments with clients and colleagues with a great lunch.
WIF had combined forces with the Australian Centre for Financial Studies and the Financial Services Institute of Australia (FINSIA) to put on a great lunch in Collins Street to discuss “Finding Parity for Women’s Super.”
A great panel of women leaders representing the Industries of consumer and wealth management sectors discussed:
- Why the Value of women’s super is so much lower than men’s
- Why some women don’t have super and don’t focus on it
- What various sectors of the industry are doing about it; and
- What is and isn’t working
Some of the history of discriminatory superannuation measures against women were highlighted, including the Married Women’s Fund, available for the Public Sector; along with limited or no access to superannuation benefits for working women and the exclusion of super being mandatory for those earning under $450 per month from certain employers.
As 75-80% of Australians currently access the Age Pension (of approx. $20k p/a) self-funding for retirement is becoming of increasing importance to all.
Not surprisingly, it was highlighted that women often have multiple or many employers, especially for casual work, and an erratic working life, due to pregnancy, child birth and motherhood. Women also have a longer life expectancy than men, and need to fund for retirement longer. On average, the girls currently have around 17% less than men in their Super funds, but require around 13% more.
Women are perhaps more disengaged with their funds feeling superannuation saving is for the future, not really important, that their family situation will take care of things or that most Advisers are men, and they aren’t really sure about trusting them with their small and unimportant nest eggs.
Anne-Marie Corboy, CEO of HESTA, a large industry fund highlighted that the average balance across their 750,000 members is $29 886 for men, and a bit over $26k for women. Hardly enough to set up for a comfortable retirement, for anyone!
So, what can be done?
Some of the suggestions included constantly consolidating superannuation accounts whenever changing employer, not to ‘lose’ any super funds, make the most of incentives such as the Co-Contribution and Spouse Superannuation schemes and taking a lot more interest and control over your own financial journey.
As one of the Advisers put it, ‘A Man Is Not a Financial Plan!’ So girls, time to engage more with what is yours and ensure every penny is accounted for. And if you need help, I’d love to give it! Please call on the mobile 0410 455 158 if you’d like a hand on how to get started.
