Retirement planning

The thought of preparing for your retirement probably doesn't send ripples of excitement up and down your spine.

The fact that there are so many buzz words associated with retirement - such as superannuation, superannuation funds, co-contribution, annuities, and allocated pensions does not help either.

The problem is, the future has a nasty habit of becoming the present while we're out living it up. And your retirement, believe it or not, is probably the biggest expense you'll ever have to fund.

Preparing for life after your career needn't be the drama it's often made out to be. All that's required from you is a bit of planning, some basic knowledge, a commitment to act, and the will to stick with the plan.

A Financial Planner could help you sort through the maze of superannuation and superannuation funds, as well as offer you advice on annuities, allocated pensions and all that you need for retirement.

Investing

Investing, in a nutshell, is the purchase of items that change in value over time and, as a result, offer potential for making the owner money over and above the purchase price they paid. The items may be tangible, such as a house or fine art, or 'on paper', such as shares and bonds. The money may be made at the time the item is sold, or arrive via regular payments such as interest, dividends or rent for as long as the investment is held - or a combination of the two.

The value of investments (and hence their ability to return money to you) may be influenced by a number of factors. The trick is to determine which investments or investment funds offer the best potential for the highest return in the time available before you need the money, and to determine the level of risk you're willing to take. That takes knowledge, experience, confidence and a dose of old fashioned patience.

There are 'debt' investments where you, in effect, lend money to an institution and they pay you 'rent' in the form of interest for the privilege, and then return the full amount to you at the end of the specified time. And there are 'ownership' investments where you buy a stake in an enterprise and share in the ups and downs of its performance for as long as you own that stake.

A Financial Planner could support your financial planning needs by tailoring your investment requirements to your risk profile. Given the range of investment funds available in the market, a planner can determine the most appropriate investment range and help manage your investment portfolio.

Financial planning, debt consolidation, making money, financial calculators, investment funds and investments are some of the areas where a planner may be able to assist.

Insuring my lifestyle

Insurance can be confusing and daunting. Some things, like car and home insurance seem straightforward. But what about protecting the most important things – you and your family? Insuring your lifestyle means finding the most relevant and cost effective insurance cover to suit your goals and lifestyle needs.

Organising your lifestyle insurance portfolio - which includes life, trauma, medical, income protection and disablement insurance - can seem like a difficult task at first. It's all about considering the consequences of things you hope will never happen, finding your way through a maze of competing and confusing products, and coming to terms with the real possibility of never seeing anything tangible in return for the money you spend.

While you will need to think hard about some difficult issues, it is possible to cut a meaningful path through the life insurance jungle. It starts with an understanding of the fundamentals and a grasp of the basic types of cover available.

Some of the available types of insurance are - term life insurance, whole of life insurance, endowment insurance and total & permanent disablement insurance.

A Financial Planner could help you find insurance cover to suit your goals and needs. We work with a range of insurance providers and ensure that our clients have the most suitable cover and insurance provider at a price that will suit their individual needs.