I will spread your name and service amongst the staff at … as well as my family members John. Thanks a heep!

This week we heard a WRX drive up & we didn’t recall anyone of our clients who had one.

‘You don’t know who I am do you’.

‘Simon’

‘No’.   ‘You are back from Vietnam & you have lost weight so we can’t recognise you’.

Our client has escaped & the newsletter ‘the Escapologist’ would congratulate him.

Happy, relaxed , married with a daughter, dental bills a fraction & a two story house for only 50,000. Yep a fraction of what you pay here & makes sense as maybe you will never own your place here.

He hasn’t  quite escaped.

His mail here included one from the Traffic Department saying his licence was cancelled

Why?

He was out of the country for a vote & was fined.

It wasn’t paid as he was out of the country.

Hence his licence was cancelled.

 No wonder he wanted to & has escaped.

And this week we also have the new privacy laws.

Does this mean you have more privacy?

No way!

It means all those institutions who want to lend to you & extract your money know more about you.

Don’t miss a credit card payment by more than 5 days or you are on there.

Are these changes for your benefit?

Why was our client so happy?

We work for him & his family & much of it has been online since our first meeting some years ago. He did go online to find us.

 Our advice was to & for  him & not your money extractors the ATO or the banks.

We are on his side & on your side.

That’s why advisers are rubbished

Because we ‘keep the bastards honest’.

‘Just a mosquito’.

            Only today here we had Gerard who needed funds from his super to help meet a short term cashflow problem.

 He was referred to us by a colleague who knew we could help him.

Gerard at the age of 60 has only 60K in super as he has always been self employed & has lost 40,000 to 50,000 on so called ‘investment property’ in the past.

We won’t go off on that today.

Two simple withdrawals from his super this year will help him survive.

Gerard was also very unhappy with some of his in-laws of his collecting from Centrelink.

That is another good reason to minimise the taxx that he is paying & we did that also. Gerard is over 55 & now when in pension phase there is no 15% taxx on the earnings in the pension fund.

We also had this week a 10% increase in our health insurance premiums.

What will they be in 7 Years?

As we still jog to the Post Office daily it is very tempting to give it a big miss.

We consider that we are supporting a system that exists for itself.

Only yesterday Peta rejected out of hand the number 1* rated science based alternative.

‘I’m a nurse’ . Therefore she smokes.

She has just had a ‘stroke’ & tests & they don’t know.

They never will.

Good luck & we will have zero sympathy.

Here is another reason why the number 1* rated science as ‘insurance is only ‘temporary’.

AustralianSuper insurance premiums to rise by 35%

Friday, 14 March 2014 11:35am

AustralianSuper will substantially increase its death and temporal and permanent disability (TPD) insurance premiums due to rising policy costs.

The 35% price hike is due to come in at the end of March and was confirmed by AustralianSuper group executive of membership.

He added that Australia's largest super fund was also "thinking about the right level of default cover for new members" following the increase of claims and the losses suffered by insurers.

If you do want a 10% reduction in your health insurance premiums for the life of your cover  then we do have an offer for you with a major health insurer.

Remember ‘ if we were in your position what would we do so that you are better off in three years time.

You are welcome to contact us as others do on 07 3848 1088 or email us or visit our websites.

‘Hi John
No mate. I wish I could.
I'm now full-time. Fly back home Wednesday 26th. Need to see you on Thursday 27 around 1pm. I have to bump up my income protection to $2600 from $1600.
M’

We are helping two couples tomorrow, both aged over 55.

If you feel as you are on a financial treadmill then maybe lunch here for a start.

Our mechanic Greg yesterday pointed out a motor he had to pull out from another car. It was meant to be serviced 40,000Km ago & wasn’t. Hence instead of spending maybe 1,000 the owner has to spend 4,000

i.e. it costs not to have a financial review.

Mind  you this should not be at the bank which may have you on your current financial treadmill or the industry fund which has the country in its current state or the accountant who looks backwards at your returns & is acting as compliance for the ATO.

John McAuliffe

life insurance misperceptions

New research has revealed the extent to which Australians have misperceptions about their life insurance and are consequentially setting themselves up for disaster.

Zurich today released research that has exposed a ‘misinsurance’ gap in the Australian market and shows that many do not understand what they are and are not covered for through their superannuation-based life insurance.

Called Misinformed, Misinsured? the research polled 394 employed Australians in order to pinpoint what they believe they are covered for through their life insurance, and how this aligns with their own stated risk priorities.

the results are concerning.

“We’ve seen a massive explosion in self-service insurance, and similarly we’re seeing a lot of people that have insurance automatically given to them through superannuation,”

“One of the conclusions is that this is lulling people into a sense of false security. There’s an opportunity for providers at every point to provide education to consumers.”

Almost 80% of those surveyed said they had never conducted a needs analysis of their own life insurance; and big misperceptions included assuming a super fund life policy covered trauma, which it legally can’t, and a complete lack of knowledge about the salary continuance cover offered by a superannuation fund.

“Super funds give a degree of cover that is not tailored to your circumstances, it’s more of a formula,”

 “People assume that the amount they’ve got is the right amount for them, but generally it isn’t because it’s not based on their personal circumstances.”

One important finding to come out of the research was misperceptions about salary continuance cover due to personal illness or injury, which was particularly worrying considering participants’ levels of savings.

Generally income protection will kick in after a three month wait,  however a majority of respondents (38%) said they would survive financially for just one month if they were forced to stop work after injury or illness, before needing to start selling assets.

“A significant proportion of people assumed it was a two week wait or less – so they’ve badly underestimated it,”

a number of participants believed that their super fund insurance covered things like visits to the optometrist and the dentist.

“We’ve got people thinking they can go and get their teeth fixed.”

Advisers are faced with a huge opportunity to educate and help Australian’s to cover themselves correctly.

“There’s no doubt that from an adviser’s perspective this demonstrates that the need for quality advice has never been greater.

An article we just read that may motivate you to contact us for a life needs analysis for your own' peace of mind'.

We could also send you several insurance companies claims paid out for the last year to prove to you that they do pay out so as you can maintain your lifestyle.

Recall  'if we were in your position what would we do so that you are better off in three years time.'

You can call us now on 07 3848 1088 or email us or visit our websites.

John McAuliffe

Lifters not Leaners

 Robert Menzies' immortal phrase, ‘lifters not leaners,’ Mr Abbott told journalists when he was clarifying 

‘Kiwi workers living in Australia will not be entitled to broader welfare benefits, despite them paying local tax’.

We have more than once reflected when flying across the ditch that Australia is not the only ‘lucky country’.

 In fact we have that thought when flying back from several Asian countries.

This week we asked Kim who has two children in Thailand, why would you borrow 500,000 for a house here when you can buy a house there for 50,000?

Will Australia remain lucky?

If the faithful & it has to be faith that keeps voting in another union solicitor then ‘good luck’ as we don’t need another one to hold us back in the 19^th century. It would be fascinating to know what these union heavy weights get paid.

 Surely workers @ Toyota & SPC Ardmona would have been prepared to have forgone entitlements rather than lose their jobs. Apparently some judge Mordy Bromberg says that the workers can’t vote on such matters. A strange decision & probably jumping to a law written by union solicitors ‘fighting for Fair’.

So who are the lifters?

You are.

Do you really want to waste your funds on the leaners?

Where does your taxx go?.

If you need any encouragement to look after yourself then consider

ALMOST one third of Australians expect a large financial shortfall at retirement, a private survey has found.

How are you going so far?

And again from the Courier Mail

THE true cost of buying a house in Australia is more than $1.2 million.

Yes it is a multiple of what you borrow.

After 29 years in financial services it is worse than this as everyone increases their debts to buy cars, renovate the house , take overseas trips & pay school fees & survive through redundancy.

I.e. it is a bigger multiple.

So what do we suggest?

 Ann  who is an accountant emailed us recently.

Hi John

It is time I revisited my financial plan.

Could we catch up on 3rd or 4th January?

Thanks

You could too & yes we do help all including Pat & Lea who definitely didn’t get any advice from their industry fund . You get what you pay for.

They needed advice as Pat is past retirement age & still with a mortgage which is charging more than their funds are earning.

i.e. a very simple debt reduction strategy & eliminated taxx to zero on Pats super .

Pat & Lea will always have the faith & they also have faith in us.

Mary called us this week as her industry fund only pays her for 2 years if she is disabled.

Then what?

 ‘Centrelink is useless ‘she says. We viewed Landline on 9/02/14 & a farmer dumped the paperwork he had to complete. It was a weight.

Mary is very concerned if she can’t work as she still has 177,000 mortgage & ‘what if?’ is of major concern to her. It would take her more than 2 years to pay off the mortgage.

We proposed several solutions to Mary including a solution not out of her cashflow & another non financial holistic solution.

 We help the lifters have a fair go.

You are welcome to call us on 07 3848 1088 or email us  or contact us through our websites as Ann & Mary did & others do.

They are very pleased they did & voted with their money.

Remember ‘ If we were in your position what would we do so that you are better off in three years time?

It costs not to as we discovered with the orthodontist.

John McAuliffe