"We wish we started investing 20 years earlier!"

Mr and Mrs B:

• Sold a long standing, successful Riverina business but did not know what to do with the proceeds and how they were going to make their money last.
• Their company accountant brought them along to one of our seminars and we subsequently had a joint meeting.
• Their only investment philosophy their whole lives was to invest into their bank's term deposits.
• We recommended they establish a self managed super fund and invest in high quality, high yielding stocks trading on the Australian Stock Exchange and that we manage and monitor their portfolio.
• The investments were structured to provide a good regular income and management and monitoring of the portfolio meant Mr and Mrs B didn't have to worry about the day to day decisions within the portfolio or any of the paperwork.
• The couple have received regular payments from the fund to provide their income needs and the portfolio is now valued at more than double the initial investment amount.
• This would never have been achieved had they continued to place all their funds into term deposits.

Mrs M:

• Widowed, 68 year old, recently retired.
• Centrelink pension was initially assessed at $128.90 per fortnight ($3351.40 pa).
• This caused serious distress as her required income was $25,000 pa.
• We restructured her assets to create 2 types of pensions for her which provided income of $16,000 pa and increased her Centrelink pension entitlement to $11,900 pa.
• Total income is now $28,500 pa and indexed to increase every year.
• Mrs M is so relieved to have this level of income and the financial freedom it gives her. When I last spoke to her, she was planning a four week trip to Canada, a lifelong dream of hers.

Mrs Z:

• 55 year old Finance Manager.
• We restructured her income so that she takes a pension from her superannuation while still working.
• She then salary sacrifices some of the income she earns from her job into superannuation.
• This results in an annual tax saving of $11,000.
• As Mrs Z is planning to work until she is 65, we estimate this strategy will give her an additional $150,000 in her super fund.
• When she does retire, all that she has in super can be accessed tax free.
• This strategy has given Mrs Z the ability to save more than she ever thought possible for her retirement.

Mr S:

• 29 year old single man had saved $20,000 and wanted to invest it before he spent it. He had surplus income and he didn't want to spend that either.
• He also wanted to be able to buy a house at some stage in the future.
• After discussions, he invested the $20,000 and borrowed some more to increase the amount invested.
• He added his surplus income to the portfolio each month.
• Now he has a significant investment portfolio which has a cash component which can be used for a house deposit if he ever "settles down".

Mrs B:

• 50 year old who had been working in a high pressure job when she had a major health scare.
• We restructured her investments, paid down debt and put some money aside in the bank.
• She salary sacrificed a large amount into super for a period of time to build up her superannuation.
• Now she has been able to reduce her work to three days per week knowing that she will have enough to live on now and in retirement.

Mr and Mrs T:

• 45 year old farmer with 4 children under 8 years of age.
• Debt on farm and a reduced single income due to drought.
• Mr T was diagnosed with cancer and given a short amount of time to live.
• Mr and Mrs T had been clients for some time and we had recommended term life cover of $450,000 and income protection to age 65 for Mr T.
• We were able to assist with the claim for terminal illness payment and income protection payment.
• The terminal illness payment enabled the family to purchase a home in town and lease the farm.
• The income protection provided ongoing income as Mr T did not return to work. Importantly the insurance provided funds to allow Mr T to have a new cancer treatment interstate which prolonged his life for another 3.5 years.
• The lease payments paid out the debt on the farm and now provide an ongoing income to Mrs T.
• She still has an asset worth more than $1 million as well as the new house in town.
• Most importantly for Mr and Mrs T they were able to plan the family's future together before Mr T's death.