Females to take the lead on insurance

Females to take the lead on insurance

The gap between men and women is closing in most facets of life. But it seems there’s one area females still have some catching up to do – protecting themselves with insurance.
That’s my view I believe the problem lies in the historical notion of the male being the primary breadwinner.

There was a time when you only took out insurance on the husband. But not only does this ignore the value of what women do – both at work and at home – it doesn’t reflect the changing nature of the Australian family.

Women now earn 92% of male salaries . And despite making up 45% of the workforce, females represent only 15-20% of all insured incomes .
The lack of insurance for women doesn’t make sense – particularly when you consider how much more vulnerable women often are financially.
This vulnerability stems from less time in the workforce, with women often assuming the role of primary carer of children and/or elderly relatives.
As a result women typically have less savings, and less superannuation than men. And considering women will statistically live longer, they can ill-afford extra setbacks.
Add illness or injury to the mix, and women can find it incredibly hard to recover financially if something happens to them,That’s where insurance can be so valuable.
All women, particularly those with a family and/or a mortgage, to review their insurance needs regularly with their financial adviser.

Your cover has to keep up with your changing circumstances. There’s no point putting it off until it’s too late.

‘Australian Social Trends, 2005 – ABS
‘Australians at risk’ – IFSA, 2006

This may contain general advice.  General advice is prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and because of this, you should, before acting on the general advice, consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs and if the advice relates to the acquisition of a particular financial product for which a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) is available, you should obtain the PDS relating to the particular product and consider it before making any decision whether to acquire the product

Supporting Elderly Relatives

Supporting Elderly Relatives

It’s common for borrowing or transferring of assets to occur within a family. It could be parents helping their children to buy their first home or children providing financial support to their elderly parents. When this occurs, it may be worthwhile for the party providing the funds to formalise the transaction as a loan arrangement. This could avoid potential disputes down the track i.e. when the children go through a divorce or when there are disputes about inheritance.

The most important starting point for people with elderly relatives is putting an Enduring Power of Attorney agreement in place while the elderly person is still of sound mind. An Enduring Power of Attorney enables a person to appoint someone they trust to make financial and property decisions on their behalf.

If you wait until the person has lost legal capacity i.e. dementia, you will not have access to the person’s financial assets to pay for medical treatments and other expenses. You may have to ask a court or Guardianship Tribunal to appoint you as a guardian before you can access funds – a process that can be frustrating and time consuming. It’s possible to take an early inheritance in order to help pay for their care but such a transfer may have capital gains tax (CGT) implications for the elderly person. While the usual after-death transfer of assets still causes a CGT event, the inheritor of those assets usually doesn’t have to pay CGT (if any) until they eventually dispose of the asset.
If the elderly person is receiving the Age Pension, gifting an asset worth more than $10,000 to a family member means the amount in excess of $10,000 will continue to be assessed by Centrelink as their asset, and also deemed as income. This may adversely affect the elderly person’s Age Pension entitlement.

There are exceptions, though. If an elderly person decides to move in with their children, as long as it is to establish a right to accommodation for life, they can transfer their principal residence in which they previously lived into their children’s name. This is known as a ‘Granny Flat Right’ and it does not affect the elderly person’s pension entitlement. Because it’s the transfer of a principal residence, it generally does not create any CGT liability for the elderly person.
Sometimes the physical and mental condition of an elderly person can deteriorate to the point that they need to enter an aged care facility. The rules around this are complicated and could have significant financial implications, and could happen at a highly emotional time. It’s therefore vital to consult your financial planner if anything more than small cash transfers are being made.

This may contain general advice.  General advice is prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and because of this, you should, before acting on the general advice, consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs and if the advice relates to the acquisition of a particular financial product for which a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) is available, you should obtain the PDS relating to the particular product and consider it before making any decision whether to acquire the product.

A trades person’s best back-up tool

A trades person’s best back-up tool is insurance – are you adequately covered?

Statistics show that tradespeople are three times more likely to suffer work-related injuries 1 than any other occupation. Heart disease is also the number one cause of death in Australia, followed by stroke and cancer 2.
With figures like these it’s important, that as a trades person, you have cover that takes into consideration the work you do, the unique risks you face, plus other medical factors that affect all Australians.
You need a plan that covers you, your income and your debts.
Workers compensation may not be enough
If something happens to you at work, workers compensation helps part of the way, but you could be waiting a long time and it only covers some of your expenses.
What if something happens outside work or you suffer heart disease or cancer? When your income stops, you don’t want to worry about your loan repayments, bills and everyday expenses.
That’s why you need life insurance
Life insurance goes to work where workers compensation leaves off. It includes life cover, income protection cover, total and permanent disability (TPD) cover, and trauma cover. It can also cover you if you have minor fractures and still keep working.
Benefits of insurance
• You’ll receive the rehabilitation you need to be able to return to work.
• If you’re self-employed and need to keep an eye on your business, or work for someone else and wish to return to work, some policies allow you to work 10 hours a week while still receiving benefits.
• If you can’t afford comprehensive cover, you can cover yourself for accidental injury only. Considering the majority of claims are due to accidents, it’s a pretty sensible option.
• Trauma cover not only provides benefits for things like coma, intensive care, loss of limb or sight, major head trauma, paralysis and severe burns. It also covers you for the early signs of a heart attack, melanoma or cancers.
• Generally income protection and business expense insurance premiums are tax deductible. Plus you may be able to cover your premiums through your super.

Peter’s story

Peter, a high-achieving tradesman, suffered an injury that left him unable to work on the tools effectively. He was confident he could win enough work to expand his business using other tradespeople to do the hands-on work.

Through his income protection’s rehabilitation benefit, he had access to a business coaching program which focused on helping Peter build a team of high-caliber tradesmen. Over seven months his coach helped him create and work a business plan until he was convinced the strategy was working.
It’s essential to get the advice you need

With so many different types of life insurance available, it’s important to discuss your own insurance needs with a financial adviser. To find out more, contact me on 0413892531.

1 “Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia, 2010”
Safework Australia
2 “Causes of Death, Australia, 2010” Australian Bureau of Statistics

This may contain general advice.  General advice is prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and because of this, you should, before acting on the general advice, consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs and if the advice relates to the acquisition of a particular financial product for which a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) is available, you should obtain the PDS relating to the particular product and consider it before making any decision whether to acquire the product.

Its what you know

IT’S WHAT YOU KNOW…

A LIFETIME OF SENSIBLE INVESTMENT EXPERIENCE COULD MEAN YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE A YOUNGER PERSON’S LIFE FOR THE BETTER.

According to Ph.D. research by clinical psychologist Dr Meg Jay, the person you develop into during your 20s is the one you will be the rest of your life. Jay’s 2012 book ‘The Defining Decade’ says that in terms of good and bad financial traits, the habits you set in your 20s will build an everlasting foundation.

Helping to positively influence a younger person financially could be the gift that keeps on giving, as long as the advice you are offering is welcome and correct. We can’t help with making sure the advice is welcome, but we can suggest a few useful topics.

1. What not to do
Investment advice and strategies are always best left to the professionals. The performance of asset classes and industries changes as time goes on. New regulations, tax laws and other legislation can drastically alter the performance of a financial instrument.

2. Be penny-wise from day one
Teaching younger people to be wise with their pay packets is a good start. Time is on their side in terms of compound interest. If they can truly understand this then they will benefit throughout their lives.

3. Don’t leak dollars
In ages past the big expenses were the ones to be wary of, but these days marketers and retailers are far more savvy at removing money from our accounts in a much less noticeable fashion. Teach younger generations to budget, and to look out for their funds
being eaten away by subscription providers such as digital music services, pay TV providers, mobile phone deals and pay-as-you-go software services etc.

4. Use technology
Younger people live in a world saturated by technology and this can be a good thing. A seemingly endless list of apps is available to help save, invest, seek loans, figure out retirement savings plans, and calculate superannuation payments – all of which may assist in making sound financial decisions.

5. Gender specifics
It is always worth having a conversation with young women around the gender-specific challenges they could face when it comes to superannuation, and discussing how they might prepare financially, well in advance, for periods out of the workforce raising the family.

6. Do something
Empower young people to make choices and start something for their financial futures. Doing something is infinitely better than doing nothing. Even if they make mistakes, the lessons they learn early on will offer powerful insight and knowledge later in their lives.


This may contain general advice.  General advice is prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, and because of this, you should, before acting on the general advice, consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs and if the advice relates to the acquisition of a particular financial product for which a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) is available, you should obtain the PDS relating to the particular product and consider it before making any decision whether to acquire the product.