,

LifePath goes to Cambridge UK

  Last November Trent Allen and Brad Monk attended a course at the Cambridge Judge Business School in Cambridge. The course was also attended by other financial planners from Australia. This is part of the LifePath ethos of continuing…

Retirement Planning – Learning from experience

It is no secret that retirement is more successful for some than for others. One of the secrets to success is planning that begins decades earlier. Here we speak with a 67-year‑old who has begun his (semi) retirement with style and hear his…

Changes to the Social Security Asset Test

Important changes to the social security asset test effective 1 January 2017 have passed through parliament. The Government has called the changes ‘rebalancing the asset test’ as they aim to increase entitlement for those with lower levels…

Market Update – December 2015

What have been the major economic events of the past few months? 1. United States News out of the United States in October was dominated by negotiations over a new funding deal for the government and the debt ceiling and the Federal Reserve…
,

Trent and Brad visit UK Aged Care facility

Welcome to London, 11 degrees, overcast and a breeze that could freeze water. It was exactly how you would expect London to be. Trent & I had the opportunity to complete a business course at Cambridge. It was a fly in fly out visit. Other…

Legislative Threshold Update – 1 January 2016

Post 1 July 2014 rules Fees and charges for residents who: first enter a residential aged care facility on or after 1 July 2014, or first entered residential aged care before 1 July 2014 and subsequently cease to be provided with care…

Do you know how much is held in RADs/Bonds?

Did you know there is now almost $20 billion held in RADs/bonds by residential aged care providers? According to figures released by the Aged Care Financing Authority (ACFA) at the LASA Conference recently, there was an increase of $3.3billion…

Removal of rental income exemption for aged care fees

Residents who enter aged care from 1 January 2016 will have their rental income from renting out their former home included as assessable income when determining their means-tested care fee (MTF), even if they are paying some of their accommodation…

Means tested fee – The assessment of rental income from January 2016

(Please be aware that this has not been introduced into parliament at the time of writing, but is expected to be passed by both parties.) A common strategy used in aged care is to rent the former home and ensure that some of the accommodation…

Aged Care Workshop

We are holding our education workshops again. What started off as 3 in-house workshops have now expanded to 20 with many being held offsite at hospitals and aged care facilities. The workshops are focused on updating people on the new laws…

Legislative Threshold Update – 20 September 2015

Post 1 July 2014 rules Fees and charges for residents who: first enter a residential aged care facility on or after 1 July 2014, or first entered residential aged care before 1 July 2014 and subsequently cease to be provided with care…

What I saw at a Chinese Aged Care facility

Last month I visited Beijing for a Financial Planning Conference focused on the future of China. This is a very important country when we look to research asset allocation for our client’s investments. The majority of our investment clients…

Comparing Allocated Pensions against Annuities

Generating and maintaining a long-term income is an important aspect of retirement. Commonly, most retirees find themselves deciding between the two board types of income streams: account-based pensions (formerly known as allocated pensions)…

Make the most of the family home

For the majority of families, their home and superannuation will be the two most valuable investments they will own in their lifetime. Here we discuss how the family home might be utilised to potentially assist in wealth and lifestyle creation. For…

Market Update – September 2015

Ask most investors and they will readily tell you that since the beginning of August our local share market has experienced some volatile movements (read ‘falls’) and once again questions are being asked about the ‘safety’ of share markets. What…