Financial planning articles & tips

2016 Global Economy & Equity Outlook (Part 1) | United States Economy

Here are the other parts of the 2016 Global Economy & Equity Outlook: Part 1: United States Economy Part 2: Asian and European Economy Part 3: Commodities Market Part 4: Australian Economy Transcript: Ben Kingsley: So here we are for another year. I’m with my business partner Michael Savy who’s our chief investment officer. He heads ...

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2015 Share Market & Equities Outlook – Part 3

Sectors in the 2015 Australian Market – Mining, Retail, Healthcare and more   Ben: So let’s look at the sectors. So energy, views on energy. Michael: Look, energy, the price have dropped – with the price drop that we’ve experienced so far, energy is certainly a subject to the companies … Ben: So that’s oil price drop. ...

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2015 Share Market & Equities Outlook – Part 2

Hard Minerals & Global Market – Asia, US & Europe Ben: Let’s talk about hard minerals and hard resources. Obviously iron ore is the big talking point down from peaks of $150 a ton thereabout down to earlier in the $130 a ton, now down to collapsing sub $65 a ton. Michael: Similar to the oil market story, it is a discussion area on t...

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2015 Share Market & Equities Outlook – Part 1

2014 Wrap Up and the Oil Market If you've driven past a petrol station recently, you would have noticed the incredibly low price. By now, you would have already noticed the volatility in the oil market in recent months. What does this mean for our economy and the global market? Watch our 2015 Share Markets and Equities Outlook before making any in...

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Three things to Consider before Setting up a SMSF

The Top 3 things that I ask a client to think about before setting up a SMSF (Self Managed Superannuation Fund) generally is the first thing; can my current Superfund offer the things that I'm actually after. So for example, shares. A lot of the times, I see clients setting up their SMSF because they want control and the flexibility to buy and sel...

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Key Changes you need to know about your Retirement and Pension

So with the recent budget in May this year, the Federal Government announced a few changes in relation to Centrelink. In particular, the one that got a lot of media attention was increase in the age entitlement. It was recommended or suggested to increase the age pension entitlement from age 67 to 70. This would be phased out over the next few year...

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The Top 3 Myths of Financial Planning

So one of the key myths of Financial Planning is that our role is to minimise your tax or reduce your tax bill. The reality is our job is certainly a lot larger than that. It's about looking at the long term objectives, how do we position your portfolio, your investments and your savings to achieve that. Tax is simply a by-product of that. And the ...

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The era of entitlement IS OVER – What can be done?

Joe Hockey delivered the nation’s 2014 Federal Budget last Tuesday. He was true to his word about it being a tough budget and based on the changes they want to push through the senate and bring into law, it certainly didn’t miss any of us, as their catch cry stated “we are all in this together”. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it agai...

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Whose Responsibility?

If Old age poverty rate were to still be at its current level of 35.5% by 2050, we would be facing the prospect of over 10% of Australians living in poverty at a time when they should be enjoying their desired retirement lifestyle. Would it be the responsibility of the Superannuation or the Age Pension to avoid this? Will they even work? In an e...

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Control your retirement income

When you retire, there are different financial factors to consider because you are no longer receiving income from employment. Adverse market movements can have a greater impact on your savings in retirement because you’re not replenishing your savings with a regular pay cheque. Additionally, when you’re employed your income generally increases...

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Nothing ever Changes if Nothing Ever Changes

Have you considered if your retirement income will sustain your lifestyle? If not perhaps it is time to put away the fear of change and act now. Households are going to be in for a rude shock in retirement, as they come to terms with reduced income and the impact on their lifestyle unless they start acting now. There is a rule of thumb to help ...

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Who do you turn to for those big financial decisions in life?

The landscape is changing in the financial services space. Financial planners are moving away, due to government intervention, from commission based selling and accountants are now held more accountable for taxation returns they help produce and submit to the Australia Taxation Office and Mortgage Brokers have been licensed for a reasonable period ...

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How Much Money is Enough?

If you stopped work today, how much money would you have to live off before it all ran out? If you stopped work today, how much income would your investments generate?  Would it be enough to live off?  Would you eventually have to sell down on your investments to ensure you had enough money to live off? How much is enough? If you have read s...

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