In hindsight, looking at a chart of a company’s share price, it would be perfectly easy to make money any day of the week, by buying at the bottom and selling at the top.

In practice, it is not easy at all.

It is often the opposite that occurs, with the result that buyers enter near the top of the market, and when the market falls, they decide they don’t want to lose any more money, and they sell out, often near the bottom of that dip. These times are often recognisable because everyone has a stock market tip for you in a topping market, and again at the bottom when all and sundry have decided that they can’t bear it anymore and will put their money in the bank. They have realised a loss, which is difficult to recover.

Our investment team constantly researches markets and companies, before recommending a purchase. We are looking for solid companies, with good management, good cash flow, a solid performance history, preferably a franked dividend, and something where we see some value so far as price is concerned. Fair value of a company sometimes equates to its current share price but may be much more or less than the current market price. We don’t buy if we consider a company over-priced, but we like the underpriced gems that sometimes show up.

At The Investment Collective, we like to utilize a ‘buy and hold’ strategy, populated by the companies where we see value. We may wait to purchase a stock if we think the market price is a bit high compared with what we see as its fair value, and we may also add to an out of favour stock, again, because we see value. We don’t try to find the bottom to buy, and we also don’t try to find the top at which to sell or reduce. Sometimes we are lucky and a trade is executed on one of these days, but our investment philosophy is to hold assets for the long term.

We don’t think that it’s possible to time the market such that our trades are executed exactly at one of the extremes of price, because the movement of the market in the future can’t be known until after the event. Our philosophy is to buy at close to fair value and to hold onto that company for as long as it continues to meet our investment criteria, time in the market. If it fails this test, then it’s out.

Our focus in choosing our investments is not based so much on the present, but on what the company can deliver to us as investors in the future. This means that it may take some time for a company to begin to deliver a very positive impact in a portfolio, again, time in the market.

Investing requires patience and some courage to remain invested if the current market isn’t so rosy. Time in the market – we don’t try to time it.

Please note this article provides general advice only and has not taken your personal, business or financial circumstances into consideration. If you would like more tailored advice, please contact us today.

“It’s that time of year! What do I need to think of before the 30^th of June rolls around again?”

If you use a tax agent for your annual tax return, you will have provided your information to your accountant and your tax return is probably ready to submit to the Tax Office, for last year’s tax.

What is different for me this year?

Many of us worked from home during the year due to COVID-19, this can mean a small tax deduction. If you worked out of your own home from mid-March to 30 June 2020, you can claim a deduction of $0.80 for every hour out of your home office. The accountant can work it out for you, but it’s as simple as letting them know the date you began working from home and your usual weekly hours worked. Assuming you worked 15 weeks at home at 40 hours/week, this could mean a tax deduction of about $480.

What about Division 293 tax? If you are a high-income earner (>$250K/year) you may have to pay additional tax on super contributions. Check your MyGov account to make sure you don’t miss seeing the notification from the ATO. You do need to pay the tax, but you don’t need any penalty on top for late payment.

How can a high-income earner get a tax break? If your spouse is younger than 75 and their income is less than $37,000, you can make a contribution to your spouse’s super account and receive a tax offset that will reduce your tax. The maximum offset is $540 and the optimum contribution amount to receive this offset is $3,000.

“I have surplus income, and I pay tax at the top marginal tax rate. How can I reduce my tax?” Talk to your pay office about setting up a salary sacrifice arrangement. This arrangement can save you some tax, and boost your future retirement benefits – that’s a win/win solution.

There is a cap in place that limits how much you can contribute to super on a pre-tax basis and this is made up of the employer contributions and any contribution you make, such as salary sacrifice. It’s important not to exceed this cap. The cap for 2020/21 is $25,000. You can also contribute a lump sum amount if you have made some savings during the year, and then claim a tax deduction against that amount, again it’s important you don’t exceed the cap.

“I sold some shares during the year at a profit and now I’m going to have to pay tax on the capital gain, can I do anything to reduce or eliminate this tax?” Yes, if you have spare capacity under the concessional contributions cap mentioned above, you can contribute part of the proceeds to superannuation and claim a tax deduction, again providing you don’t contribute more than the cap.

“During the year I sold the family home where we had lived for 20 years, but now I can’t put it into my superannuation.” Well, yes, under certain circumstances you can put it into super if you meet all the downsizer contribution rules, one of which is that you are 65 years of age or older. You don’t have to meet the work test and any downsizer contribution sits outside normal contribution caps.

Don’t forget that you can speak to one of our friendly financial advisers for information and assistance with your tax. Call us today!

Please note this article provides general advice only and has not taken your personal, business or financial circumstances into consideration. If you would like more tailored advice, please contact us today.

Everyone needs a financial plan and everyone should make a plan that suits their particular circumstances.

You can make your own financial plan that will set you on the path to good financial health. The first, and possibly the most important part is goal setting.

We’ve talked about goals here before, so it’s important to remember to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based) goals. You will need to think about what you want in the short-term, which might be anywhere from now through to 3-4 years, the medium-term which could be from 5-8 years and then long-term goals that look well into the future.

An example of a short-term goal is to finance a new car in 2 years’ time, a medium-term goal might be to save enough for a deposit on a house within 5 years and a long-term goal could be that you don’t want to rely on social security payments when you retire.

It does not matter whether the goal is a short-term or a long-term one, the means to achieving every one of those goals is the same!

You must first look at your income and expenses. Make a budget, this is a pretty simple thing to do these days with a proliferation of budgeting and cashflow apps available, the MoneySmart website is always a good place to begin.

Now you have made your budget and identified that you have some surplus income that you can direct towards saving for your goals, but the critical thing then is to stick to it! You must be very disciplined in ensuring that the identified savings part of your salary goes into your savings and stays there. It’s worth checking with your pay office to see if they will pay your salary into 2 different accounts, but if not, then you must make the transfer as soon as your pay comes in or set up a regular direct debit to occur at that time.  You must also avoid drawing from that account until you are ready to buy the object for which you have been saving.

Unfortunately, in the current economic climate you aren’t going to get much help in growing your savings account via interest payments. This means that you will need to shop around to find an account that pays at least some interest, and as your savings grow, you may be able to use term deposits or other high interest savings accounts for a larger balance.

This will matter to you less when you’re saving for a short-term goal than it will if you are looking at long-term savings. If your goals are long-term, the best course of action is to contact a financial adviser to assist, as you will need their expertise to advise you in relation to how to invest your funds and where to invest them.

Don’t hesitate to call one of our friendly advisers to assist you with your financial progress.

Please note this article provides general advice only and has not taken your personal, business or financial circumstances into consideration. If you would like more tailored advice, please contact us today.

One of the most important facets of financial planning is to understand our client’s risk profiles. Put simply, this is your tolerance to market volatility and downturns particularly, or the ‘sleep at night’ factor.

If your portfolio is invested with an asset allocation that does not match your risk profile, you will always be uncomfortable with market movements. The converse is that it is invested in line with your tolerance, and you aren’t concerned with short term volatility.

Typically, your risk tolerance is higher when you are younger, and decreases as you age. Think about the crazy things you might have done when you were 21, compared with the measured approach to your activities when you are 65. We react in exactly the same way with our investment decisions.

At 21, we have time on our side for market volatility and growth to smooth out, but this is not true as we age. This means that we must adjust the way we invest portfolios for clients in later life so that the exposure to growth assets is reduced, and there is an increase to the defensive assets.

Defensive assets are things like bonds, cash and other fixed interest instruments, that provide an income with a relatively level and stable capital value. Growth assets are domestic and international equities, property and infrastructure investments that have the ability to both grow significantly in value, as well as fall in value in times of stock market volatility.

Portfolios need to be constructed with a mix of these two broad categories, based on the client’s risk profile. Growth investors will typically have at least 80% invested in growth assets, whilst a moderately conservative investor might have only 20% in this category. A typical balanced portfolio, is middle of the road, a mix of growth and defensive assets in balance. This type of portfolio suits many people and doesn’t require much in the way of adjustment as we age. It’s perhaps not as exciting as a growth model, but is always a solid performer over the longer term.

At The Investment Collective, we will reassess your risk profile every 3-4 years, or more frequently if you become uncomfortable with market movements. This ensures that your portfolio matches your degree of comfort with markets.

If you would like to discuss the asset allocation in your portfolio, give one of our friendly advisers a call.

Please note this article provides general advice only and has not taken your personal, business or financial circumstances into consideration. If you would like more tailored advice, please contact us today.

A measure that has been introduced in some states since the COVID-19 pandemic, is the temporary ability for deeds to be executed electronically.

The legislation enables documents including deeds, to be signed and witnessed electronically, via an audio-visual link. There are varying requirements, from state to state, to ensure the validity of the electronic signings and these all need to be carefully considered, including that these are completed before the legislation expires. In some states, no such legislation has been enacted, and those that have done so will see the legislation expire before the end of the calendar year.

It leaves me wondering how these electronically-signed documents will be treated in the future, years after our current pandemic is ‘forgotten’? Will they be acceptable in a court of law, when our memories of this current event and the relaxation measures allowed, have dimmed?

Another recent interesting case is that of a discretionary trust, where the original trust deed could not be located and only photocopies of the deed could be found. This case was taken to court after a bank proceeded to freeze a trust bank account until the original could be produced. The court ruled that the photocopy was ‘overwhelmingly likely’ to be a copy of the original which could not now be found.

It’s perhaps a timely reminder that we need to retain original signed trust deeds, such as that for a discretionary trust as in this case, or the trust deed for a self-managed superannuation fund as another example. Keeping them until the trust is finally wound up is prudent, and may just save you a trip to court if you can’t locate the original.

Please note this article provides general advice only and has not taken your personal, business or financial circumstances into consideration. If you would like more tailored advice, please contact us today.

For the last 13 years I have guided my clients through their retirement preparations and into the non-working phase of their lives.

I’ve seen a lot of fear in their faces – fear of the unknown, fear of running out of money, and probably lots of other fears that I haven’t experienced at this stage of my working life.

But now it’s almost my turn! I’m taking the easy road first by reducing my working hours later in the year, to about half time. The preparation for that isn’t very easy as I have to say goodbye to a lot of people who have become friends, and there is quite a bit of work in the lead-up to handing them to a new adviser.

I have no doubts that the new advisers will continue on with the job that I began for these people and so I don’t have any worries about the farewells, and I will still see the friends outside of the office.

Working only a few days each week is something I am excited about, and I have lots of plans for my future away from work.

The thing that I still don’t know though, is the strength of my own financial plan. Just by looking at it, I don’t know if it is sufficiently robust, but my experience tells me that it will work, in the same way that the retirement plans of my clients have worked. It is really only until it is put to the test that any of us knows if the plan is workable.

I can look back to conversations with my clients before they resigned and committed to life without a salary, to a few months afterwards, where the relief and happiness I see is rewarding. They have come to terms with the fact that they still get paid each month, albeit from a different source. They have freedom to do things that they couldn’t while a fulltime employee, and they can take life at a slower pace if they want.

Markets can and will affect everyone’s retirement fund in some way, but again, experience tells me that being invested properly in a diversified portfolio of good quality investments, will ensure that we can weather the storm. The important things are the quality of the investments and the ability to remain calm (and invested) when markets are volatile.

So, I am content with the decision that I have made. For a time, I will still have a salary coming in and won’t be fully reliant on investments to fund the green fees and the rates. I will be free to spend time doing the things that I like, including with my family and probably on the golf course. Perhaps it’s the best of both worlds for me for the future!

Our experienced team of advisers are ready and able to guide you through the lead-up to your own retirement. Don’t be tied down with worry about whether you have enough put aside for retirement.  Give us a call so that we can begin to help you gain the confidence for your own financial future, whether you are considering retirement or you are still fully immersed in your working years, with a mortgage and young family.

Please note this article provides general advice only and has not taken your personal, business or financial circumstances into consideration. If you would like more tailored advice, please contact us today.

New Year’s has come and gone, and we have moved into the 20’s. I’m of the school of thought that the decade doesn’t begin until next year, but it doesn’t seem to make sense does it, since the teens are finished.

Every year on January 1, people all over the world make lists of New Year’s resolutions. Being human, our lists are often lengthy and one of the most common resolutions is to get fit or lose weight, probably exacerbated by the Christmas pudding that we have all indulged in. So, we rush off to join the gym and we sweat it out regularly for a while. Gyms love January 1.

As the weeks roll on, into February and March, our attendance at the gym begins to taper off. Perhaps we are feeling a bit fitter and we have lost some of the weight. We then allow the other things in our life (and the little man on our shoulder who says it’s all too hard) to take over again which spells the end of our exercise regime.

It doesn’t matter what our resolution for the new year is – what matters is how we apply that resolution to our lives. I’ve changed the way I make a resolution by just picking one thing. This year it is that I will tidy up. It’s pretty broad isn’t it – but it covers lots of things including my:

• House
• Kitchen cupboards
• Financial life
• Mind
• Golf
• And so on

I just have to remind myself constantly that this is the goal that I have set myself for 2020, and I have made a good start. But I have to work at it. The kitchen cupboards won’t stay tidy unless I make them that way and be consistent about putting things away in their proper place.

It is the same with anyone’s financial life.  You won’t save money or keep proper control on your spending unless you have a plan to keep it tidy. The work that you put in now on planning and budgeting will pay off for you in your later life, that is retirement. If you want to be able to do things in retirement, you need to have the plan in place now so that you can achieve those dreams. The consequence of doing nothing is being restricted in retirement, and perhaps being restricted to living off the age pension.

Give one of our friendly financial advisers a call to assist you to put your plans in place to tidy up your financial life. We are good at it and we can make a difference for you.

Please note this article provides general advice only and has not taken your personal, business or financial circumstances into consideration. If you would like more tailored advice, please contact us today.

This week, I received the dreaded email – ‘Sue, it’s your turn to write the adviser article.’ My mind was a total blank, until I read a story posted on Facebook, that made me think.

The story was about a man who had been on the brink of suicide, at age 65. He felt like a failure and indeed, had failed with many things in life. At retirement he had received a cheque from the government for $105.00 and he again felt that he was a failure. Something stopped him, and instead he wrote down what he had accomplished in his life. It made him realise that he still had more things that he wanted to achieve in life, things that he hadn’t done. He knew that there was something that he could do very well, and that was cooking. He borrowed against his retirement cheque to buy some chicken that he fried up and sold door to door. Do you know who it was? Yes, none other than Colonel Sanders of the 11 different herbs and spices recipe, the founder of what is now Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

When he died, at age 88, he was a billionaire.

This story made me think about how much we hold ourselves back from achieving things, whether at work, financially, or life in general. We are masters at hiding the truth from ourselves. We will all have heard stories of people on their death beds, concerned about how much money they have. Let’s take a dose of cold hard reality here – we can’t help that person with their financial state at that point in their life, but we can help the family that they leave.

What intrigues me is why we don’t address these things in life while we can? Are we afraid to seek help from someone such as a financial adviser? Why would anyone be afraid of coming to see an adviser? We don’t judge people, but rather assess a situation and provide strategies to deal with it. Once it starts to fall in place, people can expect an immediate improvement in their overall financial situation, and probably their state of mind as well. I have come to the realisation that it isn’t so much that we are afraid of baring our financial situation to, possibly, a complete stranger, but that we are afraid to admit to ourselves that we haven’t done as well as we would have liked. So, we take the ‘do nothing’ option. Face your fears people! What are you waiting for? Come and see us – you don’t need to know what a P/E ratio is, or anything about the stock market, or even how much money you spend [although it does help to have some awareness]. We can work out the things that you don’t know and we can help you to understand some of the terminology associated with finance.  While I can’t turn you into an instant billionaire, I can certainly make improvements for you and your family.

Please note this article provides general advice only and has not taken your personal, business or financial circumstances into consideration. If you would like more tailored advice, please contact us today.

When should I seek a financial planner?

Who should see a financial planner?

• “I don’t have any money to invest so there is no point in my seeing a financial adviser.”
• “We manage our own finances so we don’t need to see a financial planner.”
• “We struggle to make ends meet so we haven’t got any spare income to do anything else so we won’t be seeing a financial adviser.”
• “I’m only in my 20s, 30s, I don’t need to see a financial adviser.”
• “It’s too late for me to see a financial adviser as I’m retiring in 6 months’ time.”

All of these thoughts are far from the truth.

When should I seek financial advice?

There is a general perception that financial planning is only for people who have money to invest. That if I don’t have any spare cash and I’m having difficulty in making ends meet, financial planning is not for me. Having a personally tailored financial plan will assist you in every facet of your financial lives regardless of your current financial situation.  In fact, your financial plan will help you achieve other personal goals simply because these goals are planned for.

Your financial adviser will fully assess your current financial situation. This means that the adviser will be obtaining information on your earnings, what it costs you to live, the value of all your assets including superannuation, and of course, what you owe.  The adviser will also assist you in identifying what you want to achieve, both now and into the future.  We consider your life risk requirements so that your family and wealth are protected in the case of death, serious injury or illness.

Once the data has been collected and analysed, the adviser will write your financial plan.  The plan will include a summary of the current situation and this in itself can be an eye-opener for the client because many of us do not take stock of our overall financial picture.  Taking into account your goals and objectives and the things that have been identified during the collection and analysis step, the adviser will make recommendations to improve your situation and to help you to meet the goals you have identified.

Sometimes the recommended strategies can be confronting, but always valuable.  For example, if cashflow is a problem for you, the plan will include budgeting advice and strategies.  If you have surplus funds for investment, the plan will include recommendations as to how those funds should be invested.  If you are nearing retirement, the plan will address streamlining and consolidating your financial affairs ahead of retirement and strategies to maximise potential Centrelink payments.

If your superannuation investment option does not match the risk profile identified during discussions, there will be recommendations to adjust the investment option. If you have debt, there will be advice as to how best to manage that debt and if a restructure is required, the plan will address that point.  If your life risk protection is inadequate, we will include recommendations to bring this protection to the correct level.

Your financial plan will also contain information on any ongoing costs you may incur if you accept the proposals, and there will be comparisons and projections between the current situation and the recommended strategies, including current and future costs.

To answer the question posed above as to when you should see a financial adviser – the answer is – as soon as possible!

For young people, a tailored financial plan will set them on a path to growing their wealth, perhaps via a savings plan.  For pre-retirees, it is essential that you consult with a planner to ensure that what you have worked a lifetime for will support you in the way you want during retirement.  Centrelink payments and health care cards are very important and this is a major part of the planning for those either in or nearing retirement.

If our recommendations are accepted and you proceed with the plan, we manage the implementation of the plan and if there is an ongoing component, this activates. Centrelink management is part of the ongoing work and it can be invaluable to retiree clients to have this onerous task managed.

Beginning the process of seeking financial advice is very simple.  It is a matter of contacting either our Rockhampton or Melbourne offices with a request to see an adviser.  Your meeting confirmation includes a list of things to bring with you to your meeting and from there the adviser will lead and guide you through the process.

What are you waiting for?

“I’ve just received a letter from XYZ Superannuation Fund saying I have an account with them. What does this mean and how did I get any money in the account?”

This is the annual benefits statement provided each year by all superannuation funds.  It is a report to members of the fund that tells the member:

• How much their employer has paid into the fund during the last financial year
• How much was paid to the fund for the administration of your benefit
• What insurance is held through the fund
• How the investments performed during the year
• What investment option your benefits are invested in
• Your total balance
• Whether you have made a beneficiary nomination

“I can see all of that stuff but I don’t know what it means. Can I draw this money out for a holiday?”

No, superannuation is accumulated through compulsory contributions made by your employer during your working life, and you can’t draw from it until you reach at least 60 years of age.

“Wow that’s a long time, and a bit of a waste of time if you ask me.”

Yes, it is a long time but it is not a waste of effort.  Your employer must pay 9.5% of your salary every year into the fund of your choice – imagine how much that might be in 40 years’ time!  Let’s say that your salary is $55,000 per year now – that means your employer has to add at least $5,225 to your fund every year, and the contributed amount will increase every time you get a pay rise. Some of the amount contributed is paid out in tax, and the rest is invested with the object of growing over time. How much it grows will depend on the investment option or asset allocation that you choose.

The Fund must advise you how much you have paid to them in administrative fees during the year. This section is important.  Take some time to compare the fees you have paid in your account with fees in other funds. If your fund is very expensive compared with others, then consider switching funds.

You must compare ‘apples with apples’ – don’t look at a High Growth fund and compare that with a Moderately Conservative fund. The rate of growth may be significantly different and the fees may also be different.

Has your fund performed as well as or better than the fund you compare it with? For example, if your Balanced fund has returned 7.8% in the last financial year and other Balanced funds you have checked are returning 10% for the year, it may be prudent to look a little closer at your own fund and potentially consider a switch.

Check performance over a longer timeframe – 1 year out-performance is good, but has your fund outperformed over 5 years or more?  If not, you may want to look more closely and potentially find a fund that has a better longer-term performance.

Switching decisions should be based on long term performance coupled with the rate of fees you pay each year. Remember that switches come with a cost so you need to have good reason to do so.

“How did I get all of these super funds?”

When you begin a job, you should advise your employer where you want your contributions paid. If you don’t do this, then the employer will send your contributions to the fund it uses by default and that creates a new super account. If you have had a number of jobs and you now have more than one account, you should research all the funds to discover the better performing or lower cost fund, and consolidate (rollover) your benefits into the one account. Make sure you advise your employer if this account is not the one where they are currently paying your contributions.

Here’s an example comparison between 3 funds, made on these assumptions:

• Salary $55,000
• Starting balance $10,000
• Life, TPD & Income Protection insurance in each fund

You can see a big difference in the ending balance between the 3 funds because of the rate of fees, the 1-year performance and the insurance premium paid. If you are invested in Fund C, should you be rolling over to Fund A? You must do the homework to ensure that the long-term performance of Fund A is consistently good. You want to have your benefit invested in a fund that can give you a good and consistent return over a longer period than 1 year.

“Why am I paying for insurance?”

Have a look at the insurance section on your statement so that you know what insurance coverage you have.  You may have a default amount of life and/or total and permanent disablement (TPD) cover.  Life insurance pays a benefit to your family in the event of your death, but TPD will pay a benefit that you can draw on if you are totally and permanently disabled. Be aware that the sum for which you are insured is likely to decrease as you age. This is important, as you may be grossly underinsured at a time where it is most needed.

The other type of insurance you may have is income protection – this one replaces part of your salary if you are unable to work through illness or injury.  Check the premium on your insurances, and check waiting and benefit periods on the income protection policy.

If you consolidate funds, you will lose insurance benefits in any of the funds you roll out of so be aware you may then not have sufficient, or any, insurance. You should consult a qualified professional for insurance advice.

Nominating a beneficiary to receive your benefit upon your death, and keeping this nomination current, is important. Many nominations lapse in 3 years from when they were made, so you should regularly check your nomination remains current. Another thing to look out for is a nomination made to an ex-spouse. If you separate from your partner, you should make a new nomination. If you don’t, then your benefit is going to be paid to that ex-spouse, even if you have entered another marriage.

Please note this article provides general advice only and has not taken your personal or financial circumstances into consideration. If you would like more tailored financial or superannuation advice, please contact us today. One of our advisers would be delighted to speak with you.