PRIMOFinance
F I N A N C E
with WARREN LITTLEFAIR, GENERAL MANAGER OF PEARD FINANCE
SPRING CLEAN YOUR FINANCES
The change in season means more than just breaking out the thongs and shorts. It’s time to make sure your financial situation is in tip-top shape too. THE SOUND OF lawn mowers, the chirping of birds in your back garden. It must mean one thing. Spring is in the air. No doubt you will have a list of jobs to do around the house to get it ready for the avalanche of summer entertaining and kids playing in the pool. So since you’ve got that list out, how about adding a couple of more things to it to do? These won’t take much time but they could be the most important things you ever do for yourself and your family. Review your insurance. I’m not just talking about your house and car insurance but also insurance you have on yourself. I’m talking about income protection, death cover and trauma cover. Most people will spend a lot of time chasing car insurance to protect an asset worth $10k but they totally ignore one of the biggest assets they have; the ability to earn an income. Without this income, life becomes very
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PRIMOLIFE | october 2015
hard. Many of us would have seen the financial devastation which occurs when one of the breadwinners in the family loses their ability to earn an income. We have all seen the advertisements on TV for all sorts of personal insurances and some of them seem to be quite inexpensive to obtain. If you make the decision to look at what insurances are the best for yourself and your family, make sure you speak to an expert in the field so you get the advice that is right for yourself and your family. About this time of year, you will be getting your superannuation statements in the mail. If you are like many Australians, you’ll be getting more than one envelope. Please do a couple of things for me. The first is open the envelope and read what is inside it. Do you understand what it’s telling you? If not, don’t worry, most people don’t. Most people look at the figure and think it’s either good or bad. Now this is the most important thing.
Speak to an expert about your super. I’m not talking about your mate over at a BBQ. I mean a financial advisor. They will be able to advise you if the fund is right for you, if you are in the right risk category for your age and if you need to put in more or less to your super to fund your retirement. Make sure you make the call, and also if you have a lot of those envelopes turning up, speak to your advisor to see if you should roll them together. Now that you have added these items to your list of things to do, make sure you keep them on the list for next year and the year after as well.Your needs and your family’s needs do change every year and you need to make sure you keep pace with this. Additional kids, additional debt and commitments all make a big difference to what your insurance and super needs are, so if you are reviewing them regularly you will always be ahead of the game. PL primolife.com.au