Guiding Your Financial Future


At Novatax Financial Planners we work with families, individuals and businesses who are looking for trusted advice and a long term partnership that you can access when you need it. What sets us apart is the way we listen to your needs and take the time to explain and simplify the sometimes complex financial jargon in what we have recommended for you and why. The end result for you is confidence that you have made informed and sound financial and lifestyle decisions.

We offer advice on:

Investment Advice

Superannuation

Life Insurance

Tax Planning

Retirement Planning

Estate Planning

Call us now on (02) 4961 4242 to book your initial consultation or scroll down to find out more on how we can help you.

How We Can Help You

With highly qualified and experienced financial advisers and support staff, we provide you with the most appropriate advice tailored to your situation.

Select one of the following services to find out more. Prefer to talk to someone? Call us now on (02) 4961 4242 to find out how we can help you.

Who We Are

Novatax has been helping people plan for their financial future for over 30 years.

Novatax Financial Planners is an independently owned boutique financial planning firm. The firm has an Australian Financial Services Licence (No. 227043) issued by ASIC (Australian Securities & Investments Commission). “The principal (Director/shareholder) of the business and senior adviser is Robert Purcell. The firm has authorised several other advisers from various Chartered Accounting practices in the region to operate under our licence.

Our aim is to help clients achieve their financial and lifestyle goals via a long standing relationship of advice and trust. We want to ensure our clients have a good experience in their relationships with us. Our clients best interests are completely compatible with our own best interests.

Meet Our Team

ROBERT PURCELL

Director and Represenatative of Novatax Financial Planners

Experience

  • Over 40 years in Financial Services
  • Worked as a Chartered Accountant from January 1975 until 1987 with Price Waterhouse (6 years) and Beattie McDonald & Co (6 years)
  • April 1987 moved into Financial Planning full time, initially with Seal Investments and then running his own business from 1988 until now. The business acquired its own licence in 1989 ie a Dealer’s Licence which was the forerunner of the Australian Financial Services Licence it now holds.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Commerce (Newcastle University)
  • Chartered Accountant
  • Diploma of Financial Planning (Deakin University) including winning the award for the top graduate in NSW
  • Certified Financial Planner (CFP) with the Financial Planning Association of Australia
  • Has completed numerous specialist courses related to financial planning over the years such as Estate Planning Specialist course via University of Technology Sydney (UTS)

Support Team

• Janet Stevenson — 12 years experience with Novatax
• Sally Barnes — 20 years experience with Novatax

Latest News

Read our latest news articles, filled with handy hints and useful information.
Women still outpacing men in SMSF establishments

Women still outpacing men in SMSF establishments

More women than men entered into SMSFs in the September quarter, according to the latest AT...

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Economic and market outlook for 2025: Global summary

Economic and market outlook for 2025: Global summary

The global outlook summary highlights the top-level economic and market outlook, Beyond the landing, to be...

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Preparing to lodge quarterly January TBAR

Preparing to lodge quarterly January TBAR

The ATO is reminding SMSF trustees that if they have had transfer balance account events in the last quarter...

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How to overcome your investment fears

How to overcome your investment fears

Are you thinking of investing but feel held back? Here's how to get...

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Navigating the outcome of the U.S. election

Navigating the outcome of the U.S. election

History suggests that investors shouldn’t be concerned about material asset return differences under...

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Divorce doesn’t alter contribution rules

Divorce doesn’t alter contribution rules

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has upheld an ATO decision to impose an excess contributions penalty...

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$3m super tax officially abandoned for this year

$3m super tax officially abandoned for this year

The government’s plan to increase the tax on superannuation balances over $3 million has officially been...

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Top 20 Most Watched Christmas Movies ever - pre covid

Top 20 Most Watched Christmas Movies ever - pre covid

Check out the top 20 Most Watched Christmas Movies ever - pre...

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ATO reviewing all new SMSF registrations to stop illegal early access

ATO reviewing all new SMSF registrations to stop illegal early access

The ATO said it is reviewing and assessing all new SMSFs before they can receive a registered or complying...

Read More

Read more news articles

Client Resources

Use these free online tools to create budgets and manage your finances.

Contact Us

Contact us now for quality financial advice from our friendly team of experts.

Contact Details

Send Your Enquiry

Investment Advice

We HELP you to decide which investments are most suitable to your situation and objectives. We can HELP you control the risks associated with investing by using genuinely diversified investments spread across various investment markets and different investments.

We regularly review this advice to ensure it is in line with your changing personal circumstances, legislation/regulations, investment markets and investment choices.

At Novatax Financial Planners, we want to help guide you through your financial future. Contact us today to book your initial consultation or scroll down to find out more on how we can help you.

Tax Planning

We HELP you with strategies to legally minimise the amount of tax you pay on your investment returns.

At Novatax Financial Planners, we want to help guide you through your financial future. Contact us today to book your initial consultation or scroll down to find out more on how we can help you.

Estate Planning

We HELP you structure your affairs so that your wishes are carried out in the most efficient manner in the event of your death. We will assist your loved ones to ensure all necessary steps are carried out in a timely manner.

At Novatax Financial Planners, we want to help guide you through your financial future. Contact us today to book your initial consultation or scroll down to find out more on how we can help you.

Retirement Planning

We can HELP you to prepare for and enjoy your retirement years by setting goals and then creating a plan to fulfil those goals. In particular making sure the money you need for every day expenditure and one off larger expenses in retirement is readily available.

At Novatax Financial Planners, we want to help guide you through your financial future. Contact us today to book your initial consultation or scroll down to find out more on how we can help you.

Life Insurance

We HELP you identify if you need any life insurance, what type, and how much would be appropriate. We HELP you arrange to have those insurances put in place to protect you and/or your family in the event of your temporary or permanent disablement or death. We periodically review your cover amounts to determine if they need to be changed, e.g. as your wealth increases the amount of cover you need may decrease.

At Novatax Financial Planners, we want to help guide you through your financial future. Contact us today to book your initial consultation or scroll down to find out more on how we can help you.

Superannuation

We HELP you to understand the complex rules that apply to superannuation and advise on strategies that may best suit your situation.

At Novatax Financial Planners, we want to help guide you through your financial future. Contact us today to book your initial consultation or scroll down to find out more on how we can help you.

Our Objectives

Our aim is to help clients achieve their financial and lifestyle goals via a long standing relationship of advice and trust. We want to ensure our clients have a good experience in their relationships with us.

To achieve this aim we provide regular advice and assistance to clients in order to:

  1. Try and obtain above average returns for their investments.
  2. Control investment risks and to set the risk level appropriately for each individual clients circumstances, understanding of and tolerance to these risks. Diversification of investments is very important in this context.
  3. Minimise tax (legally) wherever possible.
  4. Where applicable maximise Centrelink or Veteran’s Affairs entitlements.
  5. Ensure regular and one-off cash flow needs are catered for.
  6. Ensure clients consider their needs for life insurance where appropriate, including working out the amount and type of cover needed, assisting with arranging for cover to be established (quotes, paperwork etc), reviewing these levels of cover at regular intervals and adjusting them as required.
  7. Ensure clients have well thought out and properly documented Estate Plans to ensure their wishes are complied with in the event of them losing their capacity to make well reasoned decisions or dying. A good Estate Plan (and it’s associated documents such as Wills, Power of Attorneys, Guardianships, Trust Deeds where applicable) will help to protect your assets, make sure things function as normally as possible if you are incapacitated and in the event of your death, minimise death taxes and ensure your family is looked after in accordance with you wishes.
  8. Assist with the preparation of all paperwork required to implement financial plans and to maintain them over time.
  9. Be available to explain and answer any questions clients may have regarding their investments and financial situation. Educate our clients with respect to financial and related matters.
  10. Give clients peace of mind that their financial affairs are in order and are being looked after in an ongoing manner to ensure that appropriate fine tuning of the plans is carried out as and when required due to changes in their situation, changes in legislation/rules that govern their finances and changes in the economic outlook and financial markets. So clients don’t worry and can “sleep at night”.

Fund Manager Links

General Calculators

Please enjoy the links to these free tools supplied by MoneySmart - a great resource for general financial information. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any questions that you may have as a result of using these calculators.

Managing my money

Borrowing and credit

Superannuation

Retirement

Investing

Useful Links

Financial Videos

Our Views and Updates

Our Outlooks for Financial Markets

September 2022

June 2022

March 2022

December 2021

September 2021

June 2021

March 2021

December 2020

September 2020

June 2020

April 2020

March 2020 (updated 17.3.2020)

March 2020

December 2019

September 2019

June 2019 (updated 5/8/2019)

June 2019

March 2019

December 2018 (updated 31/12/2018)

December 2018

September 2018

Estate Planning

Here are some interesting articles relating to estate planning.

Seven items your Estate plan may have left out

Source: Firstlinks, 9 November 2020

Most estate planning for tax is inadequate

Source: Matthew Collins, 28 August 2018

Talk to your family about ageing and your will
Source: Don Ezra, 2 July 2018

10 Steps to Protect Your SMSF from Loss of Mental Capacity
Source: Brian Hor, 25 July 2018

Financial Planning Aspects of Testamentary Trusts
Source: MLC Technical News, 5 December 2013 (Damien Revell)

Family Loans and Estates
An interesting look into what can happen when lending money to family members.

Avoid Pitfalls of a DIY Will
Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 4 April 2012 (Lesley Parker)

Dealing with Second Marriages in Super
Source: IOOF Technical Bulletin: July 2013 (Julie Steed)

Interesting Article Links

There are so many different views and articles available out there, so we thought we would post links to a few different articles that we find of particular interest:

The Madness of Crowds
Published February 2018

Six Common Estate Planning Errors

Published 23 October 2019

6 Stark Superannuation Policy Differences

Published 22 January 2019

Key Changes for Financial Year 2018/19
Published 2 July 2018

Key Super Rates and Thresholds for 2018/19
Published 6 March 2018

Using Age Banding to Estimate Spending in Retirement
Source: Portfolio Construction Forum 2016 - Written by Michael Kitces, Partner and Director of Research of Pinnacle Advisory Group

Pension Concession Cards and the Impact of 1 January 2017
Source: Centrelink AdviserOnline - Written by Sean Howard

ANALYSIS: Learning the Lessons of History to Put Sequence Risk in its Place
Source: Professional Planner - Written by Paul Resnik and Peter Worcester, Published 11 July 2015

Active Managers Can Outperform When Carefully Chosen
Source: Moneymanagement - Written by Jason Spits, Published 5 May 2015

Banks Structured to Deliver Poor Advice
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au) - Written by John Addis, Published 26 May 2014

The Risks of Letting Banks Sell Super Plans Over the Counter
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au) - Written by John Collett, Published 14 May 2014

The Investing Seminar Stitch-Up
Source: Syndey Morning Herald (smh.com.au) - Written by Richard Livingston, Published 7 May 2014

The Facts of Life - Flyer

The Facts of Life - Short Film Clip
Featuring some insurance related statistics birth to death and all the times in between
Source: CommInsure

Information Overload Can Undermine Your Returns
Source: Gray Matters - Commentary by Marietta Gibbs 1 February 2014

Introduction to the Price to Earnings Ratio

How to Dig the Dirt on Your Untold Riches
Source: Sydney Morning Herald - Written by Penny Pryor 20 May 2012
(For a link to the Unclaimed Monies Website check out our Links - Useful Links page)

What is Fractional Reserve Banking?
Fractional reserve banking and the multiplier effect. Introduction to the money supply.