Advice built around your goals, not products

As time goes by and you pass from job to job, it is not unusual to end up with several super accounts. This can result in poorly managed or inappropriate investment choices. Even if you have just changed address and have not told your superannuation fund, you may lose access to your super simply because your fund cannot track you down.

We can help you get your super working harder by consolidating funds.

You have the freedom to make voluntary contributions to your super, so that you can accumulate savings for the retirement you really want. Earnings within super are taxed at concessional rates, giving it a natural advantage over other forms of long term investment.

We can discuss personal contributions, spousal contributions and salary sacrificing so that you feel confident you are making the most of every opportunity to save for your retirement. It is never too late to boost your super, but the sooner you do it, the longer you have to accumulate retirement funds — often without making much impact on your salary.

To further encourage retirement savings through super, the government offers targeted incentives for those who may need more support. Our advice can help you identify what incentives you might be eligible for, including the spouse contribution scheme, which allows you to make contributions into your spouse's superannuation fund, and the government co-contribution, if you make a personal contribution to superannuation from your after-tax income.

We can advise if you qualify for entitlements as part of your overall super strategy.

Managed funds can be a powerful investment vehicle for building a portfolio because they allow you to pool funds with other investors, so that you can access a broader set of investment opportunities. They provide a simple way to diversify your money across a variety of assets such as property, domestic and international shares and cash.

Managed funds offer a variety of approaches, from broad based funds that give a mix of asset classes, to more specific funds that target geographic regions, single asset classes or particular industry sectors. Our comprehensive research can help you select the funds that best complement your risk profile and your goals.

Term deposits are a useful tool for providing a relatively low risk component in your portfolio, or for delivering a predictable return for a specific period. Term deposits give you the certainty of a declared rate of interest over a fixed period. They usually offer a higher interest rate than everyday savings accounts and can be set up for short or medium terms.

To give you a higher level of personal control in your portfolio, we can facilitate direct investment in specific shares. This gives a more hands-on aspect to your portfolio and can be mixed with other forms of managed investments to create a portfolio balance that is uniquely yours.

A will helps you express your wishes in a concrete way so that your loved ones avoid uncertainty and legal complications when you die. It captures your wishes on what will happen to your estate, but although it is an essential document it is not always a definitive way to manage your estate.

Without a will you leave yourself open to government discretion on how your assets are distributed and how your children are looked after if they are under 18. While the family's best interests may be considered, the actual outcomes could be very different to what you would personally choose, and the lack of a will can cause delays in settling your estate.

Your superannuation and life insurance can be two of the largest assets in your estate, but their distribution upon death is not necessarily covered by your will.

If you own a life insurance policy, proceeds can go to your estate or be appointed to nominated beneficiaries, depending on how it has been set up. Superannuation death benefits can only be paid to your estate or to 'dependents', and in many cases members' death benefit nominations are not binding on a super fund trustee. Careful management of how you set up your nominations can avoid trustee discretion to distribute funds.

Depending on your situation, you may be able to use legal instruments such as testamentary trusts, discretionary trusts or even a self-managed super fund to more effectively manage distributions and control assets, rather than simply distributing directly through a will. This is particularly useful if you want to ensure that younger family members are restricted in their use of your assets until they are old enough to deal with the responsibility, and can prevent complications that arise from blended families or estranged family members.

Understanding tax implications and structuring affairs to manage tax can be an important part of estate planning. An asset you leave for one child may be subject to capital gains tax, whereas another asset left for another child may be exempt, unintentionally resulting in different final amounts to each child. Beneficiaries on government assistance may find benefits are affected by inheritance payments.

There can also be tax implications for your superannuation benefits and associated insurance benefits held in your super, depending on how benefits are paid and whether beneficiaries are dependents or non-dependents. All these issues are much better considered at the planning stage rather than waiting for them to become a problem when it's too late.