Focus Partners: Accounting & Financial Planning Albury Wodonga

Investing
Whether you are trying to save on a regular basis, or you have a lump sum you want to invest in an effective and tax efficient manner, you need to address some very important issues. Factors to consider include your time horizon and your cash flow requirements.

You will also need to understand a little about 'risk', which is your capacity to tolerate fluctuations in the value of the funds you have invested. This will require an assessment of your financial ability to take risk and your attitude towards risk. Consideration of both will help determine the choice of investments and the asset classes that are selected to make up your investment portfolio.

In simplistic terms, a bank account generally provides high capital stability but no potential growth on funds invested or saved. On the other hand, equities or shares fluctuate in value, but provide high potential growth. By discussing your goals, objectives, and concerns, Focus Partners can help you to identify the asset mix and choice of fund managers to satisfy your requirements.

Retirement Planning
Focus Partners has the capacity to identify if you are on target to achieve your planned retirement goals. By identifying your objectives and considering the progress you have made to date, we can clearly demonstrate if there is likely to be a shortfall or surplus. If we identify a shortfall, we can then set about providing a solution to help you achieve your objectives.

Superannuation
Superannuation is often of great concern to many and can be confusing as rules often change. This is something we understand more than anyone else. The question we get asked most often is: "Just how much super will I need to enjoy a comfortable retirement?"

Asking a few simple but pertinent questions is all we need to enable us to prepare an indication of your requirements at retirement. With the use of a computer program, Focus Partners can determine if your current financial situation is on target or if some minor or major adjustments are required.

We will provide specific solutions to each of the following concerns:

How much Super you will need at retirement?
Should you use a Retail Fund or a Master Trust?
When is it practical to consider running your own Self-Managed Fund?
How can you gain more control over the investments selected?
How much can and should you contribute?

Insurance
Personal Insurance should form a very important part of your overall financial security and strategy. It is strongly recommended that every client should have their personal insurance reviewed and updated on a regular basis to ensure they and their families are adequately covered. In many cases, the insurance can be paid for from your superannuation.

Life Insurance: Death Cover is vital to anyone with family or dependant children, especially when there is debt involved. If the income earner dies, the family and dependants will need sufficient capital to invest, so that they can continue to live in a manner to which they are accustomed.

Disability Insurance and Trauma Cover: This form of insurance is recommended for everyone, even the single person with no responsibilities. This insurance would provide for the payment of a capital sum on the diagnosis of certain specified events such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, etc., or in the event that you become permanently unable to work due to illness or injury.

You can imagine the load it would take off your mind to know you had a substantial amount of money due to you, if you were diagnosed with some debilitating disease which was going to require very expensive hospitalisation or medication.

Income Protection and Business Expense Insurance: Income Protection will provide the insured with an ongoing monthly income in the event of an illness or accident which results in the inability to work. There is a wide range of options for this type of cover and the amount of payments, the waiting period and the term of the cover, are all specified by the client at the time of application.

Centrelink
Centrelink can be confusing, and the source of frustration for many retirees. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way. Focus Partners can assist with all your Social Security and DVA concerns.

If you are about to apply for a pension or are currently receiving a part pension, we can also help to arrange your financial affairs to maximise your Centrelink or DVA entitlement. We can also assist in the completion and lodgement of all relevant documentation, making the task a simple and straight forward process.

If you require assistance, please contact our office and book an appointment. For those retirees that have mobility problems, a home visit may be possible.