Another interesting article highlighting the choice that is now being offered under the new 'Home Care' regime which commenced on 27th February 2017.

As you are aware, a number of changes to the superannuation system are coming down the line from 1 July 2017. It's important to discuss how these changes will affect your personal situation with an experienced Financial Planner.

Last year, more than 1.3 million Australians received aged care; about 82 per cent of those people received aged care at home. Many people find this statistic shocking, because the words "aged care" are often linked to "nursing home" in their heads.

A sure sign of a good financial planner is that they don’t rush you, carefully listen to you and clearly explain where they can add value, and where they can’t.

The ASFA Retirement Standard benchmarks the annual budget needed by Australians to fund either a comfortable or modest standard of living in the post-work years. It is updated quarterly to reflect inflation, and provides detailed budgets of what singles and couples would need to spend to support their chosen lifestyle.

The concept of retirement, as we understand it today, is completely outdated.

Today, the archaic notion of retirement has morphed into this: Work for 40-50 years. Then, have a party, get a gold watch, go to the beach, sit down in a reclining chair with an umbrella drink and get ready for an exciting 20 or so years of golf.

There's much more to it than this.

There are many things that play into our relationship with money, including our upbringing, education, and employment, but we often overlook the psychological factors at play.

Retirement can bring about mixed emotions for some people. Whilst it is something that hardworking people should look forward to, often people can fear this time in their life as they struggle to discover a new identity without paid work.

In our busy lives, talking about money with our family members may prove to be a daunting and sometimes an emotional subject to bring up. However, avoiding a conversation about money may have us running the risk of us not passing on the knowledge and wisdom gained in our life time.

When it comes to retiring, there are a number of risks that retirees face that are specific to the retirement life stage.

As people live longer, more and more will end up in aged-care. The number of people in permanent aged care in Australia is expected to more than triple in the next 35 years, from 225,000 today to 700,000 in 2050. 

The past few weeks have been messy with Brexit, the Australian election, another terrorist attack in France and an attempted coup in Turkey. In fact, the last 12 months have been - starting with the latest Greek tantrum and China share market plunge a year ago. 

When we think of Aged Care, most consumers think that it means moving into residential care (nursing homes) until the end of life. People who enter residential care have to face their own mortality. Commencing the process to look for Aged Care can be daunting. 

We are constantly being reminded that we live in an era of ‘heightened volatility’ in investment markets. In this age of smart phones and social media there now seems to be a non-stop stream of financial news and views, often alarmist and designed to grab your attention. There is compelling evidence that reacting to this barrage of information can actually lead to worse investment decision making.

Whatever your age or stage of life, having an estate plan in place is a must! This is a way to ensure that your wishes are carried out and that your assets are distributed in the way that you want upon your death. These articles will certainly stimulate your thinking around this topic and provide a checklist that you can start to work through.