Archive for Health

Foundation Financial Group

August 28, 2011 cakpuad Health

Foundation Financial Group

Foundation Financial Group reviews – Invention description(s), technical and business information relating to proprietary ideas and inventions, ideas, patentable ideas, trade secrets, drawings and/or illustrations, patent searches, existing and/or contemplated products and services, research and development, production, costs, profit and margin information, finances and financial projections, customers, clients, marketing, and current or future business plans and models, regardless of whether such information is designated as “Confidential Information” at the time of its disclosure.

Foundation Financial Group jobs Much of what will go into a non-disclosure agreement are clauses that will protect the person receiving the information so that if they lawfully obtained the information through other sources they would not be obligated to keep the information secret.[3] In other words, the non-disclosure agreement typically only requires the receiving party to maintain information in confidence when that information has been directly supplied by the disclosing party. Ironically, however, it is sometimes easier to get a receiving party to sign a simple agreement that is shorter, less complex and does not contain safety provisions protecting the receiver.

Foundation Financial Group interview This Agreement shall commence as of the day and year first written above and shall continue with respect to any disclosures of CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION by DISCLOSER to RECIPIENT within twelve (12) months thereafter, at the end of which time the Agreement shall expire, unless terminated earlier by either party at any time on ten (10) days prior written notice to the other party. Upon expiration or termination of this Agreement, RECIPIENT shall immediately cease any and all disclosures or uses of CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION acquired from DISCLOSER (except to the extent relieved from restrictions pursuant to paragraph 4 above) and at DISCLOSER’s request RECIPIENT shall promptly return all written, graphic and other tangible forms of the CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION (including notes or other writeups thereof made by RECIPIENT in connection with the disclosures by DISCLOSER) and all copies thereof made by RECIPIENT except one copy for record retention only.

Foundation Financial Group Atlanta The confidentiality agreement can also limit each party’s use of the confidential information. For example, the confidentiality agreement can specify that the confidential information is to be used only to evaluate the discloser’s product and cannot be used in the recipient’s business.

Foundation Financial Group article.

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Financial Planning for Same Sex Gay & Lesbian Couples in Australia

May 18, 2011 cakpuad Health

Same sex Gay & Lesbian Financial Planning in Australia

Same sex couples in Australia have long fought for the removal of discrimination.  Following a report by the Australian Human Rights Commission into same sex relationships, the Australian Government introduced a number of reforms aimed at removing financial discrimination across a range of financial planning areas including social security, taxation, Medicare, veteran’s affairs, worker’s compensation, educational assistance, superannuation, family law and child support.  The Same Sex Reforms, announced in 2008, saw the amendment of 84 Australian Commonwealth laws with most coming into effect on the 1st July 2009.

Some of the main changes to Financial Planning matters for Same Sex Gay and Lesbian couples after the Same sex Reforms:
Superannuation:  Same sex partners and their children are now recognised as dependants on superannuation death benefits.  Where a partner dies, the surviving member of the couple may now be treated as a death benefit dependant for the taxation of superannation benefits.
Taxation: Same sex couples are now eligible to access the same tax concessions that are available to married and other de facto couples.
Child Support:  Changes to the Child Support Acts now recognise parentage for same-sex couples.  Where gay and lesbian couples with children separate, they will be eligible to apply for child support.
Social Security & Family Assistance: Members of same sex couples and their children are now recognised for Centrelink and Family Assistance purposes.
Veterans Affairs: Assistance to members of the Defence Force to acquire homes.  Members of same sex de facto relationship are recognised for pensions including war widow’s pensions.
Citizenship: Same sex partners of Australian citizens are now able to count a period of time spent outside Australia as a period of time spent inside Australia for the purposes of meeting citizenship requirements by conferral.  Children of same sex couples are now also recognised in eligible circumstances.

 

Financial Planning for Gay & Lesbian De Facto Couples in Australia

Now that same sex relationships are treated equally to de facto heterosexual relationships in Australian law, it’s important that you and your partner ensure you’re making the most of these new rights and privileges.  A professional financial planner can help take the guesswork out of the Same Sex Reforms and how the affect you and your partner’s financial situation. For more information on financial planning for same sex couples, download our Financial Planning for Same Sex Couples Ebook.

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Healthy Smoking with E Cigarettes

May 11, 2011 cakpuad Health

Everyone knows how dangerous smoking it could be. The experts agreed that smoking may cause certain critical health problems, such as lung cancer, pregnancy problem, and many others. And not only the smoker, the smokes may also bring certain health problems to anyone who heals it, which is also known as passive smoker. Though they realize all the troubles cigarette can bring, but many smokers just failed to stop smoking. They find themselves really addicted to it.

Among all the smoking addiction treatments available, considering those electronic cigarettes would be a good start though. This is an electronic version of the cigarette, in which it won’t produce smokes and uses the electronic components instead of the fire. E cigarette was designed to be similar with the real cigarette but it comes with wider flavors options available. Smoking e cigarette will be as good as the real one, but it offers less of bad side effects and even tends to be healthier.

Many websites are now providing series information and E Cigarette Reviews you can explore them all as base consideration before making a purchase. E-Cigarettes-Review.net is one of these sites you can visit for some information, advices, and recommendations to high quality brands and how to shop them all online.

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The Looming Death Of Commissions For Financial Planners In Australia

March 1, 2011 cakpuad Health

With the compulsory transition to fee for service pricing in the financial planning profession by 2012, many commission-based financial planners are left wondering how they will make the switch to fee-for-service.  Commentators in the industry have focused on the difficulties that planners will face in the logistics of making this transition, but what about the impact on clients?

When our firm decided to offer fee for service financial planning it was because we felt that it provided a greater level of holistic services to our clients, plus enabled us to provide a more technical level of financial planning based on strategy and with less bias on recommending products in order to get paid.  Becoming fee for service allowed us to focus more on the needs of our client, and gave us the freedom to give advice in more grassroots areas of financial planning such as budgeting – something which we did under a commissions-based model but we didn’t get paid for this advice.

We have noticed however, a real resistance in the Australian consumer to the fee for service model.  Whilst it is true that the well-informed client comes to us specifically to seek fee for service advice because they believe it is better, there seems to be a large proportion of clients who have become so used to the commissions model, that when faced with the prospect of paying their financial adviser for their advice many baulk at the prospect.  Whilst it’s true that the commission-model client ends up paying more in premiums etc to cover the cost of the commission to their adviser, there is something more challenging in the prospect physically handing over your own money to pay for advice.  In the lead up to the fee for service transition in 2012 this poses some concerns.

In a recent study conducted by GESB, they found that 44% of Australians believe that a five-year financial plan should cost less than 0.  When you consider that the time it takes for a financial planner to meet with a client, research and formulate a financial plan, write a financial plan, then consult and implement that plan is as a minimum 8 hours work that is well below what a financial planner could possibly afford to charge if they want to stay in business!

Why is it that many Australians aren’t prepared to pay a reasonable sum for financial planning advice?  Perhaps it is because the true cost of advice has been hidden from consumers by commissions for so many years.

With the profession transitioning to fee for service by 2012 this raises a concerning issue.  Unless consumers change their stance toward paying a realistic amount for the cost of a financial plan, we believe there will be a significant decline in the number of people who will seek professional financial advice.  This is of course worrying for the viability of the financial planning profession, but of greater concern is the prospect that the overwhelming majority of Australians will not have a financial planner to help them.

For more information on fee for service financial planning and free ebooks and articles, visit our website http://www.financial-planner.com.au

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Rebuilding Your Life Financially After Divorce And Separation

February 20, 2011 cakpuad Health

Divorce is a dreadful event emotionally for everyone involved, but it also has a huge financial impact on Australians due to our family law arrangements.

When it comes to splitting assets, everything can be considered part of the matrimonial asset pool:  the home, investments, savings, and even your superannuation.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) indicates that around half of all marriages end in divorce with 47,000 divorces granted in Australia each year.  When you consider this figure doesn’t include defacto couple break-ups it’s easy to see how many people are impacted by the financial ramifications of relationship breakdowns.

Financial Advice for Divorce

Rebuilding your life financially and emotionally after divorce and relationship breakdown is a difficult task.  In addition to the emotional impact, your divorce and separation also has financial ramifications.  Whether you were the main income earner in the household, or a stay at home mum, your financial status has changed as a result of the separation and you need to ensure that your assumptions are realistic going forward.  To start rebuilding your life you need to start with a budget to ensure that you have an accurate idea about your new cost of living.  Many people find that an experienced financial planner can assist them in this rebuilding phase to:

assess your income and expenses and develop a budget moving forward
help you to identify your financial goals – it is likely that these will have changed now that you are divorced
formulate a financial plan to help you secure your financial future through appropriate investing and life insurance.  This may incorporate any funds received from your financial settlement.

Many people who divorce find that the financial impact can set them back years.  This is particularly evident where divorce occurs later in your working life – you have less time to rebuild your finances before retirement.  By getting the advice of a financial planner experienced in divorce and separation, you can make the most of a difficult situation and start getting your financial life back on track.

For more information about how to rebuild your finances after divorce, download our free ebook Divorce and Separation.  In it you’ll find some great information to help you.

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Migrating to Australia Financial Planning. Intro to Pensions, Tax, Superannuation and More

January 7, 2011 cakpuad Health

Migrating to Australia

Choosing to migrate to another country is a big decision – one of the largest decisions of your life.  With the decision to migrate to Australia comes several financial as well as emotional changes as you establish yourself in your new homeland.

Each year, around 170,000 people migrate to Australia from all over the world including nations such as the UK, South Africa, China and India.  There are 3 main routes for migrating to Australia including:

1. Skilled Migration Program – the most common method of migrating to Australia.  In the 09/10 financial year, 64% of migrants to Australia came via the Skilled Migration program.

2. Family Migration Program – this accounted for around 36% of migrants to Australia in 09/10.

3. Special Eligibility Program – this seeks to assist the migration of refugees to Australia.

 

Financial Migration to Australia

Moving to Australia is a complex process and one which has repercussions to every aspect of your life.  One area that many people tend to overlook when preparing to emigrate is financial planning.  To successfully set yourself up financial in Australia, you should consider getting professional financial planning advice to assist you in understanding how to manage your assets such as pensions and retirement savings in your home country, and how to move these to Australia as cheaply and as easily as possible.

Free Ebook:  Migrating to Australia

The Sydney financial planners at Financial Spectrum have written a free Ebook about Migrating to Australia from a financial planning perspective.  The ebook gives an introduction to basic concepts such as how to transfer your assets from overseas to Australia (e.g. cash, pensions, and other assets such as property), and how to establish yourself financially in Australia.  There is also an introduction to the Australian Tax system, , banking in Australia, superannuation and how to seek professional financial planning advice for migration to Australia.

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Greater Information Leads To Superior Financial Health

August 27, 2010 cakpuad Health

Greater Information Leads To Superior Financial Health

Financial health is a depiction of the state of a company’s or person’s finances. A person with good financial health normally handles their finances well, makes payments on time, and manages their money well. On the other hand, a person in poor financial health normally is not making their payments on time and owes a lot of money.

In the past few years, the average savings rate among Americans has declined sharply. Worse still, borrowing to fuel consumption is an increasingly common habit. Many Americans are spending more than they earn, which is a recipe for financial disaster. There are several things you can do to restore financial health.

Reduce your expenses

Building wealth is like attempting to fill a container with water; you cannot fill it up if the container is full of holes. The first priority is to plug up the holes or make them smaller. The main objective is to earn more than you spend or spend less than you earn. This will enable you to accumulate savings which you can use to pay off your debts and invest in the future. There are several online tools which can help you track expenses.

Pay off your debt

The money left over after reducing your expenses should be used to pay off debt. A good place to begin is paying off debt with the highest interest rates first.

Establish an emergency fund

Once debt has been eliminated, you should at once establish an emergency fund. There are different opinions of how large the emergency fund should be. For a start, you can save enough to cover three months of expenses.

Increase your income potential

This includes enhancing your skills to secure a promotion or a better job, taking a second job, and finding alternative ways of supplementing your primary income.

Save for short-term goals

Instead of borrowing money to buy what you want, you should consider saving for them. Certificate of deposits and online savings accounts are some of the best ways to preserve your capital and grow your money to meet short-term goals. These goals include saving for your college education, your first home and business start-up fund.

Invest for long-term goals

Money intended for long-term goals such as college saving for your children’s college education or saving for your retirement, should be invested. A good strategy would be to invest in a diversified portfolio made up of low cost passively managed funds. The investment should reflect your investment time horizon and your risk tolerance level.

Get proper insurance coverage

Having proper home, life, auto, disability or health insurance coverage can help protect the assets which you have accumulated over the years. There are a wide variety of options available with different premium expenses and coverage details.

Feeling good about financial health is as vital as maintaining proper physical health. Saving and investing, keeping debt and credit levels manageable, keeping cash flows positive, and safeguarding financial assets are crucial for fiscal fitness.

Abacus Financial (Los Angeles, CA) is the national expert in workouts of distressed commercial real estate borrowers and operating companies. Abacus is a national investment firm dominant in the specialized discipline of Value-Added Acquisitions.

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Financial Planning for Private School Fees

July 25, 2010 cakpuad Health

Financial Planning to afford your child’s Private School Fees

Being a parent and affording school fees isn’t always easy. A survery conducted in Australia in 2006 found that 55% of parents heavily underestimate the costs of educating their children. Over the past decade, the number of children attending private schools in Australia has risen by more than 25% – and with this is the increased cost of education. On average, the cost to privately educate a child through primary and secondary school is around 5,000 – that’s per child! – and the cost continues to rise. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found that between 1982 and 2003, the cost of education increased on average by 7.3% per year (compared with an average increase in inflation of 4.4%). Based on the current Consumer Price Index (CPI), secondary education figures, a child born today will cost almost ,000 to send to a private school for Year 12 alone! To afford these expensive school fees you need to start thinking now about financial planning to help you.

Financial Planning for School Fees

You should think of the task of affording school fees just like any other investment. It’s a matter of balancing risk and return, and thinking about the time frame which you have to work with. When it comes to affording to educate your children you have to save for it, or make it through investing and wealth creation. The most powerful is a combination of both of these methods.

1. Saving for School Fees This strategy is all about finding the most efficient form of savings possible. This could mean a savings account, regular savings into a more aggressive investment, paying down your mortgage, or even reducing your credit card debts. It’s about financial discipline and efficiency. As an example, say you had a personal loan at 14% interest. For every dollat that you pay off this loan, not only are you 14% better off, but unlike the interest that you would be earning from a term deposit, you don’t have to pay tax on this.

Tips for saving for your child’s school tuition:

Know your financial position. Do a budget and a financial position analysis. Understanding where you’re at financially can help you take affirmative action to get your savings on track. Use our free Budget Calculator and Financial Position Calculator to see just how your finances stack up.
Effective savings strategy. Choose the right savings strategy for you and make sure that where your savings goes maximises your benefit as far as possible and within your comfort levels.
Efficient savings. When you’ve set up your savings strategy, make sure you’re efficient and save as best as you can.

2. Weath Creation to Afford School FeesMany people are tempted to jump straight into the wealth creation side before becoming experts in the savings but be warned, in the same way as a building needs strong foundations, your financial future requires you to have perfected the effective and efficient use of what you’ve got before making the transition to generating greater returns from these foundations. The options and possibilities are almost infinite when it comes to investing and generating returns for welath creation. For this reason, it’s important to understand what your capacity is both in a monetary sense as well as an emotional sense. Growth assets such as Australian and International shares and property may be the first port of call as these types of investments tend to generate the highest long-term investment returns. If you start early and have a longer time-frame to work with, you probably have the time to ride out the normal volatility waves which are common to these types of investments. If you don’t have the luxury of a lot of time to invest, you may have to be more cautious in your wealth creation strategy. One idea is to establish a savings plan through a flexible mortgage. This way parents can pay off the home loan as fast as possible and re-borrow funds at the beginning of each school year.

Tips to wealth creation for school fees

Investment time horizon or time frame. As with all investing, time is your biggest ally. Start thinking about your investment strategy as early as possible – preferably when your child is born.
Be aware of your investment risk personality. We’re all different. Some of us are comfortable taking bigger risks than others. This is also true when it comes to investing. Make sure you choose an investment strategy that you’re comfortable with. It has to pass the “sleep at night” test.

Saving and investing for your child’s education is something that needs and deserves careful thought and planning for success. A Financial Spectrum financial planner can help you identify the right strategy for your circumstances. Book now for your free first meeting with a financial planner in the Sydney CBD or give us a call on 1300 886 018.

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Financial Awareness for Women

July 25, 2010 cakpuad Health

How many times have your heard: Money is Power? Plenty, I bet.
But, Power is not always about money; bearing children is more powerful than money, more powerful than knowledge. Frankly, procreation of a species is the most powerful position in any society, any living organism.

Here’s the irony…the most powerful gender has in fact historically had the least amount of control, entitlements and freedom. Clearly women were viewed as threatening. And, the dominator rather than the partnership model for the most part has driven societies. The partnership model requires collaboration, cooperation, and is supported by inclusiveness rather than focusing on the differences between entities. The dominator model is very self focused and thrives on competition creating a singular winner verses team victory.

Is it any surprise then that some of the most famous women in history, who had power, had an untimely death.
All of our societies have been shaped by men evoking spiritual powers emanating from ritual knowledge that then crossed political means, creating and fostering male bias. That male bias has marginalized women throughout history.

So, it’s not so much that women have financial concerns as much as the root of disproportionate power that then gets displayed into the arena of money. How do women manage their shame about money when the underlying issue is about ultimate control, a lack of entitlements and the fear of loosing their current freedoms?  Reducing the financial shame is the benefit of building self-awareness. Gaining actual tools for financial concerns is a step in the right direction.

Financial workshops for women are few and far between. Having debt elimination tips only deals with the surface. To achieve true financial stress relief, one must dig under the surface.

Sometimes financial management workshops will include a section on how to pick a financial advisor for women. These suggestions often make me wary because of the inherent gain a financial planner might garnish. Whereas hiring someone who is remunerated not by commission, but by retainer I think makes better sense.

But, a financial advisor for women really needs to understand what is going on under the surface. Long term financial management women will very often understand the issues faster than their male counterparts….but, as I call it: “Bankspeak”, is not a relegated to men only.

Understanding the premise that one’s self-esteem can be directly connected to one’s handling of money, the only way to gain financial stress relief is to heal the underlying damage. That takes courage, honesty and accountability. This is the best financial problem solution for women.

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The 6 Steps to Achieving Your Financial New Years Resolutions

June 27, 2010 cakpuad Health

Many people make a serious new years resolution to get their money and finances organised.  This new year, our financial planners we show you the steps to take to make this an actual action, instead of yet another new years resolution to break.  These 6 Steps to Achieving your Financial New Years Resolutions can help to ensure you’ll stay focused and have a much greater chance of achieving the financial goals you want to achieve in 2011.

 

The 6 Steps to Achieving Your Financial New Years Resolutions:

1. Be Specific In Your Financial Goals
As financial planners, we often hear our clients say: “we want to be better off” without specifying what “better off” means to them.  Setting a goal to be merely “better off” is not really that specific, and you’ll find that if you’re not more specific with what you actually want to achieve, you’ve got less chance of actually achieving it.  A good example is a dart board – you know exactly what you’re aiming at when you throw the dart – if the target was some abstract idea somewhere on the wall, your chances of hitting it are slim.  What if you’re not sure about what you should be aiming at?  Start with that abstract idea, and work on it from there.  Examples of goals may be “I want to buy and investment property this year” or “I want to halve the amount of tax I pay” or “I want to lose 5kg over the next 4 months”.  Seeing an independent financial planner is a great way of getting objective help to start identifying your financial goals. 

2. Measure it
If you can measure it, you can be accountable for it.  Simply wanting to lose weight could be weiging 75kg at the start of the year and weighing 74kg by the end of the year.  Is that what you really wanted to do?  Somethings are black and white such as quitting smoking – you either do, or you don’t, but areas such as money, health and much more are measureable things.  Wanting to buy a house or pay half the amount of tax are things you can measure, so you will know how far you have to go to achieve your goal.  If you’ve only saved half the deposit, you now you’re half way there.  If you’ve lost 3kg of your 5kg goal, you know you’re over the half way point.  When you’re coming up with a plan for action, you should set a measurable financial goal that is realistic and achievable.  A good example of this might be, “I want to save $ XXX per week”. By setting a concrete number you’ll know how successful you’ve been and are better able to measure your success at reaching your goals.

3. Keeping it real
“I want to make 100 billion dollars!” – I’m sorry, it’s unlikely that we (or any financial planner) can help you with that one.  While we’re big fans of thinking and aiming big, you have to pick a financial goal that is actually possible for you to achieve.  One thing to keep in mind, however – about 50% of people that we meet for a goal setting session pick goals that are actually BELOW what they can achieve.  So if you’re unsure about your options, opportunities and true potential, get some professional financial advice to help you work it out.  There is no point in saying “I want to lose 100g this year” when you know that you can do better.  

4. What on earth are you thinking?
Some things that we truly want may be a little bit left of centre – a little bit quirky.  There is nothing wrong with that.  However, keep in mind that some of the bigger things that you may want to acheive may fit into a bigger picture.  Make sure you have the best knowledge of what that picture is going to look like.  Does your new years resolution fit into that big picture?  If you’re big picture is living along healthy life and seeing great grand children being born, then giving up smoking or losing weight may fit into that very well.  For your financial future, things like investing, saving and paying less tax can also fit into that big picture.  You don’t have to keep things relevant, you just have to be AWARE if your resolution is adding to the big picture or not.  By having a concise idea of what you’re aiming for in achieving your goals, you’re more likely to stay on track throughout the year.

5. Tick Tock – watch the clock
“I want to make a million dollars” – quite easy really, just working for long enough and in time, you would have been paid a million dollars.  “I want to make a million dollars in the next 2 years” – all of a sudden, we have a goal that is measureable in both quantum and time.  Setting time limits is just another method of measuring your achievements.  It’s a vital part of got setting and achievement and can not be skipped if you’re serious about success.

6. Get help
So many people try and do it all themselves.  There is nothing wrong with getting a little bit of help along the way.  Not sure what to eat?  See someone that understands nutrition.  Want to give up smoking and find it a struggle, see your doctor.  Need to work out how to make more money? See an independent financial planner.  We are professionals and might just show you a new way to do something, or a potential to make or save money that you might not know about.

Not sure who to see?  Just make sure that who you’re seeing has your best interests at heart.  Make sure if someone is talking food, they don’t have a hidden agenda (such as trying to convert you to their way of thinking rather than giving you the facts).  Make sure your doctor sees the world the way you do, and for money, make sure how you’re seeing has the least amount of conflicts of interest (ie, no commission, not working for a bank or product provider etc).  If you’re going to get some help on any topic, just make sure you’re seeing the right people.

So, there you have it – a few simple steps to get you that little bit closer to making 2011 the one that you want it to be. Happy New Year from all the team at Financial Spectrum.

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