He is unhappy because he paid 52,000 in Tax.

Yes were talking to our client Ann* & asked about her daughter & family.

 He Richard* the son in law is unhappy because he paid 52,000 in taxx.

Yes we do have his very recent taxx return where his accountant has completed Richard’s taxx return for $187. No advice on what to do about it & charging 187 for filling in some numbers which his book keeper would actually do.

Richard has known of us for a year & he has certainly had other issues such as a new house & a new dot of a daughter in the last 6 weeks.

Ah the House! We recall Ann saying that ‘it was the biggest mistake she has made’.

 I.e. Ann bought it as an ‘investment property’ so that her daughter could have a place to rent. Of course that is what parents do. i.e. help their daughters. 

However when Dad loses his job then the credit card runs up to service & subsidise the loan. Very sad & bad & unfortunately true. Dad was the very first we have heard in 30 years to state honestly & realistically  that he would have to work forever as he still has his own mortgage & debts.

Richard has been working earning these good wages for some years & has nothing to show for it. As they had little savings Richard  had to waste 15,000 in mortgage insurance so that they could buy the house from Ann. They still have very little equity & in fact want to move  to a bigger home in 4-5 years.

So what is Richard to do. 

Well as it is apparently financial literacy week then the regulator has suggested places for free advice. Yep there is probably a billion such sites but is Richard going to actually solve his problem doing that. Very unlikely.

 How is he going so far?

Well he has called us as he has 52,000 reasons to do so & also wants a bigger house & more holidays &  said ‘ don’t have any education on either investment property or shares’.

He wants some guidance & we have said  ‘We have high expectations of your completion of monthly cashflow homework & attendance at regular meetings.’

But he must ‘pay to play’ & the costs have all gone up & we are strangled by Krap.

As Macca* said today when we were discussing billycart races ‘he wouldn’t  be allowed to today’.

Nor is it our problem. But we do have a solution & it is advice.

Unfortunately we heard of a very sad case in New Zealand this week. A man who had been working as a miner in WA shot 2 social security staff. He could NOT rent a home from Social Security & was homeless. He was homeless perhaps because he had not saved anything whilst over here. 

It would not be uncommon for such as Richard or this man & many others we know of who have spent everything on brand new utes, tripped to Bali or elsewhere or  separated  & have nothing to show for it.

We hear of another case very close to us.

 The daughter has bought a house with her boyfriend who had to borrow money from his parents to fund the deposit. That’s bad enough but then we hear that he is still paying rent of 550 p.w. on his previous rented house as the lease doesn’t expire until February 2015. They won’t get ahead that way. In fact they will very probably separate within 10 years as they won’t get ahead & then children if any will also suffer. She does have a 1^st class honours degree but it certainly isn’t in financial literacy.

How common is that?

We just heard of another client’s son moving from flying helicopters in Darwin to doing same in Canada. His father agrees his son hasn’t saved a penny either.

We SHOULD & could teach them all the ‘cashflow for kids’ game. Ask us TODAY when our next lesson is on? An essential lesson from Grade Early on.

What happens when interest rates go up as Glenn discusses today.

It will be someone else’s fault. Of course. It’s want or ‘want’.

To quote from Dan today ‘You can’t make people care about their financial future. It’s something they have to care about themselves. The more responsibility they take for their own affairs, the more likely they are to make responsible decisions about saving for the future.’ 

As an ex maths teacher we do enjoy solving problems but the problem is easier earlier rather than later. Just ask the orthodontist. Every problem is different & not answered on a website.

As we said to Richard ‘we believe that we can generate significant financial certainty for you throughout our relationship & importantly add substantial value to ensuring you achieve all that is important& valuable to you as you have articulated to us.’

As Richard & others do you are welcome to call us on 07 3848 1088 or email us or visit our websites

John McAuliffe