Children’s Education Funding Every parent wants to provide their children with the best possible education. Depending on your educational choices (public, independent or private) the cost of funding your children’s education expenses can exceed $400,000 per child and therefore requires good long-term financial planning. A recent investigation by the Australian Scholarship Group found that parents [...]

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Retirement Planning Pitfalls – Life Expectancy One of the difficulties with retirement planning is that there are so many unknowns. For example:  How much income will you need in retirement? Will you need aged care services? How will inflation impact the price of goods and services? What investment return will you receive? How long will [...]

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SMSF Changes On The Way If you currently run your own self-managed super fund (SMSF) or are thinking of starting a new SMSF, then you should be aware of the Government’s proposed legislation impacting SMSF Trustees. The legislation, which is a result of the Governments Super System Review into the governance, efficiency, structure and operation [...]

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Retirement Calculators Tested And Reviewed This month we tested free online retirement calculators to find the one that gave the most accurate results. The results were surprising with some calculators inflating results, while others failed to include significant retirement income sources. The Problem With All Retirement Calculators We Tested Online calculators attempt to simplify a [...]

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The Changing Role Of Financial Planners In The Beginning The financial planning industry started to develop when life insurance brokers began helping their clients with financial issues outside offering just life insurance products. These life insurance brokers were predominately sales-people, which meant the planning profession grew from a sales-based background. As a new poorly regulated [...]

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Superannuation Consolidation Saves Fees (And It’s Environmentally Friendly!)

Thumbnail image for Superannuation Consolidation Saves Fees (And It’s Environmentally Friendly!) June 22, 2012

Superannuation Consolidation Saves Fees (And It’s Environmentally Friendly!) Do you have more than one superannuation fund? Have you lost super from previous employers? Perhaps it’s time to consider consolidating your superannuation funds.

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Finding A Financial Planner – 10 Biggest Mistakes

Thumbnail image for Finding A Financial Planner – 10 Biggest Mistakes February 24, 2012

The 10 BIGGEST Mistakes People Make Choosing A Financial Planner  …and how you can avoid them all Mistake #1 – Choosing Based On Location Many people choose the financial planner who’s closest to their home or work. If you do this then you’re at risk of getting the wrong advice, paying too much or being [...]

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How To Choose A Financial Planner

Thumbnail image for How To Choose A Financial Planner February 16, 2012

Choosing A Financial Planner If you want to know how to choose a financial planner you can trust, then you’re in the right place. With over 15,000 financial planners in Australia, choosing the right financial planner can appear to be a daunting task. That’s why, in this article we’ll discuss the 3 steps for choosing [...]

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