by Jodie | Dec 13, 2010 | Business, Debt Management, Finances, General
Free E Guide to Debt Relief
A global credit crunch with rising prices and soaring interest rates is leaving more and more Australians struggling with debt. This guide explains how you can be in control of your debt which is one of the main queries I come up against when meeting with clients.
The Sydney Morning Herald Essential Guide to Debt Management helps to put you back in control of your finances by establishing what you owe as well as how much you spend compared to your earnings.
Learn how to Take Control, Where to Look for Outside Help, Finding the Right Solution and how to go if things head toward Insolvency and Bankruptcy.
This E-Guide is available here: https://www.wealthplanningpartners.com.au/pages/pdf/smh_essential_guide.pdf
by Jodie | Dec 13, 2010 | Investments, Self Managed Superannuation Funds, Superannuation
While it might still seem a long way off, planning early for retirement is important.
The choices you make today can have an enormous impact on the kind of lifestyle you will enjoy in retirement.
The first step to planning a successful retirement is understanding what you want to do with your life when you reach retirement.
AXA and Wealth Planning Partners understand that retirement marks a new challenge with new beginnings and important changes. It can also be an exciting time for many people. That’s why we would like to offer you a COMPLIMENTARY copy of ‘Choosing the Good Life’ book.
The book offers a holistic and thought-provoking approach to planning for a healthy (and wealthy) retirement:
• Written by Michael Longhurst, a prominent psychologist and retirement researcher, the first section explores the four essential factors that contribute to a happy and active retirement – health, finance, relationships and activities.
• The second section was compiled by AXA Australia and focuses on financial retirement planning. It contains information on counting down to retirement, individual case studies, checklists, common traps and how to take advantage of Australia’s tax-effective superannuation system.
‘Choosing the Good Life’ can help you prepare for a happy and uncomplicated retirement. To take advantage of this opportunity, click on the link below to access our secure order form and AXA Australia will send you a copy with our compliments.
Don’t miss out. Click here to order yours: https://www.axaaust.com.au/secureform/secureform.nsf/Content/AXAGoodLifeBook
by Jodie | Dec 7, 2010 | Business, Investments, Self Managed Superannuation Funds, Superannuation
I have reproduced here leading deomgrapher Bernad Salt’s comments on the implications of delayed retirement planning. Certainly some food for thought here for those – whether approaching retirement in the coming decade or later – who need to take responsibility now and increase those retirement savings dollars!
Retirement is a concept that plays well to the frugal generation. Never heard of the frugals? This is a generation that comes from the Great Depression, from before the Second World War. This lot values bizarre concepts like sacrifice and going without. The frugals are better known these days not for their own modest lifestyles but for the fact that they are the parents of baby boomers.
And if there is one thing that will distinguish consumerist baby boomers from their frugal parents it’s the matter of retirement. Frugals can and do happily live on an age pension. The very idea of an age pension existence frightens baby boomers. In fact I suspect that this notion frightens baby boomers to such an extent that boomers would much rather not even think about difficult issues like, do they have enough money to live in retirement in the manner to which they have become accustomed?
The elephant in room
Questions about retirement are a bit like the elephant in the room. Everyone knows it’s there; they just want to pretend that it doesn’t exist. I suspect that many baby boomers regard ‘addressing their financial plans for retirement’ in much the same way that some approach their doctor about a potentially fatal disease: if they don’t ask then the problem doesn’t exist.
But the problems of course do exist and they exist on several fronts in Australia. Consider this fact. There are 400,000 Australians currently aged over 85. These are the frugals who came through depression and war. By 2030 this number will rise to almost 800,000. And this later, bigger, number still doesn’t yet include the baby boomers. That demographic time bomb (lots of people over the age of 85) is a surprise waiting for the taxpayers of the 2030s.
The issue is that we are living longer and even though we are prepared to work longer, especially since the advent of the global financial crisis, there is still a good 20 to 30 years of life ‘beyond work’ that needs to be funded. This point was brought home by a new survey recently completed by international research group GfK for the AXA wealth management & insurance group.
This survey of 500 retired and 500 working Australians completed in early 2010 confirmed that 29 per cent of retirement income currently comes from a personal savings plan with the remainder coming from state pensions and superannuation funds.
Australians unaware of their retirement income
The same survey confirmed that barely 22 per cent of Australians are even aware of their likely retirement pension. This compares with 39 per cent of Americans who know precisely what their 401k retirement pension will be. This merely confirms the view that for many Australians the idea of retirement planning, and saving, is something they are quite uncomfortable with. Or at least they are content to believe that the matter ‘is taken care of’ by the government.
The same survey goes on to show that when Australian workers apply their minds to the issue of saving for retirement some 46 per cent would prefer that this be achieved by the state raising contributions (for example by lifting the superannuation guarantee from 9 per cent to 12 per cent); only 34 per cent thought increased personal savings would be a better way to go.
In America this issue is approached differently: only 17 per cent of workers thought that ensuring there are sufficient funds for retirement should be resolved by the state raising contributions; some 58 per cent thought this issue should be resolved by the individual increasing their savings.
I see this as an important difference that highlights a uniquely Australian attitude towards retirement planning. Australians are fortunate to have had a national savings plan, the superannuation guarantee, in place since 1992.
But there are problems with this facility. It leads to complacency. The superannuation guarantee is unlikely to provide sufficient funding to allow many baby boomers to live the retirement lifestyle they expect. And, importantly, for as long as they expect. It is also relevant that many first-wave baby boomers worked and paid taxes for perhaps two decades prior to the implementation of the superannuation guarantee.
Has the Superannuation guarantee made us vulnerable?
This has probably left many within the boomer generation with a false sense of security. For the last 20 years “the state” has been taking care of retirement funding by the superannuation guarantee. But despite this, many boomers understand that they have not been contributing to this scheme for the entirety of their working lives and, even if they had, their expected retirement lifestyle is likely to be much more expensive than that of their frugal parents.
And this is why the ‘elephant in the room’ is such an appropriate metaphor for the boomers. It addresses the “r” word (for “retirement”). It’s an issue that they know is important but for the moment at least they are happy to waft along in the delusion that “the state” will take care of everything. It’s odd that this is not the view of the people from the richest economy on planet (America) and yet it is precisely the view of Australians.
This may well be an inconvenient truth but perhaps it’s time for Australian baby boomers to confront the elephant in the room and at least establish what will be their retirement income based on their lifetime contributions. After all, it is only after establishing where you stand that you can move forward. Oh, and if you do move forward, do mind the elephant.
by Jodie | Dec 6, 2010 | General
Here’s a funny that might just explain a Financial Bailout – in terms any of us can understand!…
It is a slow day in a damp little Irish town. The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the town, stops at the local hotel and lays a €100 note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.
The owner gives him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the €100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the €100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the €100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmers’ Co-op takes the €100 note and runs to pay his drinks bill at the pub. The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him “services” on credit. The hooker then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the €100 note. The hotel proprietor then places the €100 note back on the counter so the rich traveller will not suspect anything.
At that moment the traveller comes down the stairs, picks up the €100 note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town. No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism. And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the bailout package works.
by Jodie | Dec 6, 2010 | Business, General, Insurance & Protection
In Australia, almost 3,300 men die of prostate cancer and around 20,000 new cases are diagnosed every year. In fact, each day about 32 men find out that they have prostate cancer and every three hours a man will lose his battle with the disease.
If you or one of your family members was diagnosed with a serious illness such as prostate cancer, wouldn’t you want to have the best insurance cover in place? By taking out crisis cover you can help to ease the financial burden on your family.
If you say to yourself, ‘it will never happen to me’ you might think again after considering some of the alarming statistics in the enclosed flyer.
Adviser Article – PSA Testing in Prostate Cancer
