A lady came to seek guidance at the tail end of a not so pleasant divorce. Historically the family unit was that the husband took care of all their financial affairs and she acknowledged that she was quite financially illiterate. She had received quite a large sum of cash on settlement and all that she thought she should do was to buy a house. It was obvious at the first meeting that she was stressed and quite anxious as to what to do with her money. At this time we advised her to leave it where it was and that there was no rush at this time to tie up the money in any long-term investments so that she could take time to make an educated and informed decision. Together we worked through what was important to her and what would make her happy. Through conversation and answering a number of pertinent questions it became clearer that Faith was her most important value. It was like an “ahaa” moment when she realised that what she wanted to do was to spend some time overseas following her Faith. To date the majority of her cash is still invested in liquid assets with a small portion invested in growth assets to ensure that she has sufficient funds to cover her overseas expenses. The stressed lady that we met at the beginning is not the confident woman that she is today.
A woman came to see us for aged care advice. Her mother was quite unwell and the hospital doctors would not release her back home without 24/7 care. The daughter had a full-time job and young children and there were no other family members that could take on this responsibility. As such her mother needed to get into an aged care facility as soon as possible. We worked closely with the daughter outlining the steps to take and based on the family’s circumstances and financial resources what were the most appropriate facility and the funding arrangements. Moving a loved one into an aged care facility can be quite challenging and an emotional process. Assisting the client to make an educated and informed decision alleviated some of this anxiety. Our client is now comfortable in the decision that was made.
A client presented to us a plethora of investments owned by different structures, including superannuation, and was not sure what they owned and whether they had enough to fund their retirement. We assisted the client to formulate their goals and objectives and presented strategies to consolidate their investments and superannuation into a Self-Managed Superannuation Fund. Implementing salary sacrificing and a transition to retirement the client was able to achieve their monetary goal on retirement. Now, the client continues to draw a tax free pension from their Fund that is in excess of their everyday living expenses allowing them the opportunity to spend a couple of months each year to travel and visit places that they always wanted to go and see.
