Owning your own home is the great Australian dream. Faced with housing shortages and escalating rents, having a personal sanctuary can spell the difference between a comfortable, secure retirement and one with challenges and uncertainty. If you're contemplating a move to a smaller, or more conveniently located residence for your retirement years, selling your family home could be a great way to unlock the equity you've diligently built over the years, whilst giving your superannuation a substantial boost.

It is worth noting that a lot of the announcements in the federal budget come into play at different times and over various periods. Any proposed changes in government revenue or expenditure need to be legally authorised. This means some decisions within the budget need to go through the parliamentary process before becoming law.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers was given the task to improve the Australian economy without fuelling inflation, amidst weak and uncertain domestic and global economic outlooks. The key message appears to be aimed at supporting cost-of-living and a “Future Made in Australia”.

Colonial First State conducted a national survey of 2,247 Australians to gauge their views on retirement. All respondents held either a superannuation, pension or annuity account or have investments in their name and are the sole or joint decision maker.

Make every effort count by tying off any loose ends prior to the end of financial year. With a few simple moves before June 30th, you could put yourself in a better position. Following from last week, here are a further few tips to consider.

With the financial year drawing near, now is an opportune time to begin organising your affairs. In the next two weeks, we'll explore a few things to consider in the lead up to 30 June.

Capital growth sets you free, but cash flow pays the bills.

Financial planning is not just about setting monetary based goals, assessing resources, and creating strategies to manage and grow finances effectively. It also involves planning for short-term and long-term lifestyle objectives.

The publication of the Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE) earlier this week has resulted in a few modifications to the Super Contribution limits starting July 1, 2024.

We regularly talk about keeping it simple, having a strategy and focusing on the long term with your investments. Something we haven’t touched on is the benefits of regularly contributing towards your investment portfolio.

Around this time last year, we wrote a piece on the stage three tax cuts and what would this look like.

Diversification is commonly misunderstood by investors. In simple terms, it is a concept of combining asset classes to manage risk.

According to the productivity commissions research paper completed in 2021, around $3.5 trillion of assets will shift from “baby boomers” (people born between 1946 and 1964) to their heirs over the next 30 years. This is touted to be the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history.

With rates where they are, we thought now is a good time to share an educational piece on bond markets.

We’ve previously touched on the power of investing in your human capital and how it can lead to better outcomes in the future. Education bonds are a way for individuals to help the next generation, by using a tax effective structure to support future educational needs. All information discussed in this weekly is factual in nature and for educational purposes only.

Investment Bonds are a type of managed investment product, where funds are pooled with other investors and invested into investment options chosen by the investor. These long-term investments are attractive for their potential tax efficiency, depending on investors circumstances, such as high marginal tax rates or those looking to invest for children or grandchildren. All information discussed is factual in nature and for educational purposes only.

Every year APRA conducts an annual performance test for superannuation products. The assessment under the performance test is intended to hold registrable superannuation entity (RSE) licensees to account for underperformance. A RSE is a regulated superannuation fund. All information discussed below is factual in nature.

Traditional investments like stocks, bonds, and cash are all well and good, but they don't offer the full range of potential returns and risk profiles that investors are looking for. That's where alternative assets come in.

The sixth intergenerational report was released last week by Jim Chalmers and the Albanese Government. It offers a broad long-term view of the forces that will shape our country’s economy and monetary position over the next 40 years (2062/2063). It is near impossible to accurately predict what happens in 5 years, let alone the next 40, but it does shed some light on what the government thinks we might look like in the years to come.

Should I put my hard-earned savings into owning a piece of multiple companies at once? Or channel them into bricks and mortar? Both have their attractions, and understanding which combination will work for you is key.

Findings from the Retirement Income Review in 2020, showed that much of the Australian community do not make the most of superannuation assets in retirement.

Your 40’s are a transformative period in your life. It’s that stage of adulthood where you’ve accumulated valuable life experiences, probably made a few questionable decisions, and hopefully learnt a good lesson or two, and have settled into a career and relationship.

Your 30’s are usually the time where you likely start thinking about the future and what you want out of life. Things such as purchasing that first property, starting a family, settling down or exploring the world are probably on the horizon.

What is the best age to start investing? A more sensible question would be, what is the best time to start developing consistent financial habits? The answer to both is, the younger the better.

Many Australians used to associate wealth with home ownership. As our country becomes more diverse and inclusive, with individuals having greater freedoms, this association is changing. The Demographics Group and AMP released a report exploring Australian attitudes towards what ‘feeling wealthy’ now means to individuals.

We end our series on Aged Care on the topic of costs, in particular, accommodation costs. We hope this series has shed some light on the complexities of aged care and that you come away more informed.

We previously discussed↗ what aged care services are available. This week we will provide an overview of costs and next week we will delve deeper into the main costs and the mechanics of the income and asset assessments.

In our previous weekly↗, we discussed how to start the conversation with loved ones on Aged care, and the assessment process for government funded support. This week we will talk about what options are available. Next week, we will dive into the costs of these services.

Family gatherings are sometimes few and far between. At your last gathering you may have noticed that Mum/Dad or both are starting to need some, or a lot, of care.

This may prompt you to start to have quiet conversations about “what are we going to do to help Mum/Dad?”. Aged care can be confusing, especially as it tends to be thrust onto families quickly, so in the next few weeklies, we’ll discuss a basic overview of what to expect when it comes to deciding and looking for care.

Following on from our previous weekly↗ on planning for the EOFY, now is a good time to tick off a few more items on the list before the new financial year begins.