Patricia Howard Financial Planning

Times are tough and getting rougher....

So times are tough. All up, some 6,000 redundancies have been announced by large Australian companies in the past month, and most economic analysts are forecasting there will be more job losses to come. There are many reasons behind this, but it is just part of the economic cycle

Know what you’re investing in

There aren’t many financial services businesses that have got on my goat in recent years the way La Trobe Financials has regarding their advertisements and now I see that ASIC has finally turned their attention on this company. Not that I believe there is anything intrinsically wrong with La

Changes to the Age Pension

As most people know the age pension is subject to quarterly reviews that index a number of key numbers used by Services Australia to calculate age pension and other entitlements. This October there are several changes you should be mindful of. The first and most significant of these changes is

What to do if you are made redundant

The ANZ has plans to cut 3,500 workers this year, Westpac plans 1,500 redundancies, NAB will retrench 410, BHP will axe 750 in Queensland alone and Anglo American will lose 300 workers. All up some 6,000 redundancies have been announced by large Australian companies in the past

Profit results are in

Share market analysts are denouncing this profit period as one of the most volatile in recent memory, with shares sold off or bought up, in wild unprecedented swings rarely seen in the market. These exaggerated responses to companies’ announcements tell us very little about what is actually going on inside

What happens to your super when you pass on?

Many assume when they pass on their super will automatically pass to their nearest family or loved ones in line with their will but as several high profile reports in the media recently show, this is not necessarily the case. As superannuation balances across the country rise, so to have

Can you be too conservative in retirement?

Most Australians die with more superannuation than they had at the time they retired, raising the question, can you be too conservative in terms of your spending and investments in retirement? The Federal Government thinks this is the case and has put in place laws to ensure account-based pensions are

Property: a poor investment in retirement

In discussing their retirement plans with me, prospective clients often raise the prospect of investing directly in property and with property prices steadily marching higher, that is understandable. However, there are several specific reasons why property is a poor investment in retirement. Firstly, it is not possible to directly own

How did so many people, loose so much money?

As a large number of clients have contacted me about the Guardian First debacle, which is often connected to Netwealth and a several other investments platforms in the media, I thought I would dedicate this newsletter to explaining it. Not that I have any insight into this disaster, although clearly,

And how were these investments allowed?

There is no excuse for fund managers putting together investment funds and then misrepresenting them to the public nor are there any excuses for financial planners for not fully explaining the risk attached to these investments. Or what is equally likely, the financial planners involved choose not to take the

So how do you make super work best for you?

For most Australians, superannuation has been a safe and reliable way of building their retirement savings and delivering a secure financial future in their later years. Nothing about the First Guardian debacle has changed that. However, here are ten things every Australian should know to make super work hard for

Why did so many people get caught?

A more important question perhaps, is why ordinary people appear to have lost precious superannuation savings and why  were no safeguards in place to protect people loosing so much money? Firstly, it has never been easier for individuals to take direct control of their super savings, and they usually do

What happened?

Media reports suggest 1,000 individuals lost some $1.2 billion in super savings as the result of bad investments in two managed funds, First Guardian Master Fund and Shield Master Fund. These funds were both started within the last five years, and all operated in Australia as registered funds,

Your New Year Resolutions

So today is July 1 and with that, we start a new financial year, complete with new year resolutions to be more mindful of our superannuation balances and how we can boost them. At least that’s my hope for everyone reading this newsletter. This is particularly important for anyone

Your fifties can be crunch time for your retirement savings

The fifties are often a hard time for people. Many find themselves squeezed between significant workplace demands, pressures brought by young adult children still living at home and possible difficult divorces all while slogging through the final years of paying off their home. Yet your fifties are potentially your last

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Can a balloon rise forever?

Time to pull those Commonwealth Bank shares out of the bottom draw

The first shares in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia were sold by the Federal Government in 1991 when it released 30 per cent of the bank’s shares to the public at $5.40 a piece with a minimum number of 400 shares for a total of $2,160. So

Higher super contributions to boost super savings by $125,000

A significant change to the compulsory superannuation contribution system starting today, means that all employees will start receiving super compulsory super contributions at the rate of 12.5 per cent up from 12 per cent previously. This is effectively a pay rise of 0.5 per cent across the board

Changes to boost women’s super

When Paul Keating introduced compulsory superannuation some 30 years ago, the main losers were women with their extended breaks from paid work, part-time workers and people with multiple superannuation accounts, collected as they move from one employer to another. Over the years, the Federal Government has worked to redress these

A Taxing Time of Year

Unbelievably, we are already in June! As always, this is the time of year to take a step back,  review your finances and where all your money is going and particularly review any opportunities you might have to reduce your overall tax bill. Making additional contributions to super must be

Reducing your tax bill this year

As June 30 and the end of the financial year looms over us, it’s important that everyone pause and think about whether it is possible to reduce their overall tax bill by making extra contributions to super. While there are a number of strategies that may or may not

What if you exceed your contribution caps

While we’re discussing putting extra money into super, it is important that you realize what sort of contributions you can make to super and when and what should happen if for some reasons you should inadvertently exceed your contributions caps. Basically, there are two types of contributions to super.

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The $3 million super tax

Are you getting your full Super Contributions?

Disappointingly there are still employers that are reluctant or slow to pay the full super guarantee contributions on the wages when they pay their staff. More, many staff members are unsure what their entitlements are. As with most things to do with superannuation, the rules are constantly changing. The Federal

What the markets thinks of Donald Trump 50 days on

Again, given Donald Trump has taken up so much space in the media since his election last year, its interesting to step back and look his first 50 or so days in Government and how it has impacted on the world share markets. To date, it seems the world has