How can financial planning help me?

We are all different but often people at a similar stage of their life have similar concerns about money. 

Please click on the group of interest to you below:

Young Couple Young Family Established Family Empty Nesters Pre-Retirees Retiree YOUNG COUPLE

Maybe you are like this young couple or share some of their concerns.

Ben and Alice are both working and have more income than ever before. They rent a house and are concerned that all their money gets spent. They are worried they are not getting anywhere. In fact, they are not sure where they want to be. They talk of travel and more education but they also would like a home of their own – not more wasted rent money. Alice is worried about the HECS debt from her Uni studies and Ben thinks his credit card debt is too high.

Their FinancialLine adviser helped them to

• Develop a spending plan so they could afford to pay off their debts and start saving
• Clarify their lifestyle goals – yes, they do want to buy a house
• Arrange insurance so they would continue to get paid even if they were sick or injured and couldn’t work
• Invest their superannuation for the long-term
• Put wills in place leaving their assets to each other

top YOUNG FAMILY

Maybe you are like this young family or share some of their concerns.

With three young children under age five, Kate and Tony live a joyful but chaotic life.  Tony works in the local hospital and Kate would like to get back into employment once the youngest is a bit older.  Cash flow is their major problem – never enough of it.  They qualify for some Family Tax Benefit but keeping up with the mortgage payments is a struggle.  They have family health insurance and Tony has some life insurance in his super fund.

Their FinancialLine adviser helped them to

• Restructure their home loan to improve their cash flow
• Structure Tony's salary to take advantage of special tax concessions for hospital workers
• Increase their Family Tax Benefits
• Boost Tony's life insurance so the family would be covered if anything happened to him
• Reorganised their home, contents and car insurance to have better cover at a lower premium

top ESTABLISHED FAMILY

Maybe you are like this family or share some of their concerns.

David and Sue are always busy with two teenage boys (and all their mates) around their home.  They are both working full-time and their biggest concern is that they never have time to sit down and plan anything.  Life goes on at jet speed.  With two incomes they have got their mortgage under control but meeting the boy’s education expenses is their biggest challenge.  They recognise they have to start saving more for the future both in superannuation and outside but are not sure where to start.

Their FinancialLine adviser helped them to

• Reorganise the way their superannuation was invested to improve their long-term returns
• Start a gearing program using the equity in their home to drive their mortgage down faster
• Save tax so they have more to spend on the boy's education
• Update their wills and put enduring powers of attorney in place to provide security in case one of them couldn't make financial decisions

top EMPTY NESTERS

Maybe you are like this couple or share some of their concerns.

Whilst Manfred and Helen are still working full-time they are enjoying greater freedom now their children have left home.   They still see their kids who live locally and travel regularly, often calling in to see their first grandchild interstate.  Sometimes they feel a bit guilty that life has been so kind to them – enough money to do most of the things they want and the mortgage paid off.  Their main worry is they don’t want to work forever and they are having too much fun to want to save.

Their FinancialLine adviser helped them to

• Set up their own superannuation fund so they could manage their own retirement money
• Invest their superannuation to suit their goals and attitude to investing
• Use their home as security to borrow to invest in a long-term share portfolio
• Set up a spending plan to cover essentials, savings and "fun money".

top PRE-RETIREES

Maybe you are like this couple or share some of their concerns.

Peter and Coral have both been divorced but live comfortably together and still see lots of other members of their large families.  The property settlements left them both with diminished assets and they still have a mortgage to pay off.  Peter is keen to sell his business and slow down a bit – maybe consult to the new owners part-time.  Coral loves her work as a sales rep but wished she did not have to travel so much.  Their biggest concerns are to get rid of their debts and have enough to live off in retirement.

Their FinancialLine adviser helped them to

• Drive down their mortgage faster
• Reduce their tax with smart superannuation contribution strategies
• Establish a succession plan for Peter's business
• Ensured that if either of them died, their assets would go to the chosen members of their families

top RETIREE

Maybe you are like this lady or share some of her concerns.

Beryl lives on her own after her husband Frank died last year.  She gets virtually a full age pension and feels secure with the regular Thursday pension payment.  Frank always looked after the money side of things so she has had to learn fast.  The house is getting to hard for her to manage but it’s good for when the family come to stay.  One of her friends has moved to a retirement village and she’s thinking of doing the same but all the decisions are a bit daunting.

Their FinancialLine adviser helped them to

• Understand the financial issues of moving to the retirement village
• Keep the age pension by investing the money from the sale of the family home
• Increase the income she receives on top of the age pension
• Re-arrange her will so her assets goes to the grandchildren when she dies