How is Your Financial Health?

As we pass the half year mark in the year it is always a good time to take stock of our current financial health and look at what else we need to do for the rest of the year. What goals have you set yourself and are you on track to achieve those goals? Here we look at different aspects of your financial health.

Cash Flow Management

• Do you have a budget?
• Do you review this annually?
• Does net cash flow meet your expectations?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, you are doing something right.

Superannuation

• Do you have multiple superfunds? Unless you have a good reason to, it can become very expensive to have multiple funds. Run a check on your myGov account to see if you are a member of more than one fund.
• Are you making additional contributions?
• Do you know how much you will have at retirement?
• Do you pay contribution fees? Most funds have stop charging these so look out for rogue fees on your statement.
• Do you hold life insurance through your fund? Rules have changed for 2019 onwards for members whose superfunds are not ‘active’ I.e if you do not actively contribute to your superfund. They can end up at the ATO and you lose any insurance policies within the fund. Make sure you check all correspondence from your super so you can notify them to keep the fund active.
• When did you last review your super and more importantly the investments within super?

Family Protection and Estate Planning

• Do you have any income protection, life or TPD?
• Do you have a current will? When was it last updated? If you are newly married, you need a new will. If you just had your first baby, you may need a new will.
• Do you have a power of attorney?

Investments

• Do you have any investments apart from property and super? When did you last review them to see if they still meet your investment goals?
• Are you diversified in your investments?

Debt Management

• Do you have non-deductible debt? Including credit card debt which is the worst kind of debt you can have.
• Do you have a plan on how to reduce or eliminate non-deductible debt?
• Do you have any tax-deductible debt?

Remember to always pay off non-deductible debt before paying of deductible debt.

Mortgages

• When did you last review your mortgage?
• Are you paying more than 3.5% for your home loan?
• Are you making use of your offset account?
• Are you happy with your current bank?

Once you have understood your position, it doesn’t hurt to review it with an adviser if you have any questions. If you are meeting most of your goals, then good on you. If you are concerned about any of the above, we can help so feel free to contact our office for a chat.