Case Study: Preparing for Life Events – Tim & Sally Starting Out
By Kris Meuwissen
Planning for your future – it is important to seek the help of a professional
Tim and Sally, both in their late 20s from Melbourne, sought out the assistance of the team at Wealtheon – not really knowing what a financial planner did let alone understanding why they may need one, one of their friends referred them to Wealtheon and they thought ‘why not’…
Tim and Sally were both very ambitious and worked hard in their careers so they thought that it is the right time to get professional advice on what they should be doing to set themselves up for their future. Between them they earned more than $270, 000 a year however at the end of each month there never seemed to be any funds left over and they had no real understanding of where their money was going.
When I met with Tim and Sally, their biggest objective was to buy their first home. They were currently renting a two-bedroom unit, didn’t have a lot of nice possessions and shared the one car, which was already 10 years old. At the time of meeting with Tim and Sally, they had no savings between them so they knew that buying a house would be next to impossible without some savings behind them. This is what motivated them to seek out my assistance – they needed a professional to help them with their budget and to plan out the steps they need to take to achieve their financial goals.
Firstly, I worked with them to build their budget and to ‘own’ their current financial situation. Despite not having much savings behind them, we discovered that they are not actually living an expensive lifestyle. They had worked hard to pay off their HECS debts and to go away on some wonderful holidays. Seeing as though their day-to-day expenses were quite minimal, I immediately advised them to start living off one income. After only two months they had already saved over $30,000.
The next step was to use this $30,000 as a healthy deposit for a property. I stepped them through exactly what they may need and who they should be talking to regarding finding their first home. I referred them onto one our Strategic Alliance Partners in the mortgage broking industry so that we could get the ball rolling on arranging pre-approval so that we knew exactly how much they could borrow. This also provided them with an opportunity to demonstrate their strong savings record and their strong credit history as they had always paid off all of their credit cards and their HECS debt.
The next step was to work out a financial plan that would enable Tim and Sally to fast track paying off their mortgage so that they can have the bulk of the home loan repaid before they thought about starting a family. We worked out a budget for them to follow once they are living in the home so that they were encouraged to stay on the right track.
Tim and Sally also expressed their desire to simplify their current superannuation set up. It turned out that they has at least three funds each, that they knew of, and this lead to a significant amount of paperwork as well as uncertainty that they were effectively planning for the future with a strong superannuation fund. I immediately recommended that they consolidate their super into one fund and I also recommended that we assess whether they have enough life insurance within their superannuation to cover the debt that they were taking on by buying their first home.
I walked them through their additional life insurance needs and determined that it would be very beneficial for them to commence income protection insurance to further cement their monetary security. It is important to ensure that all of the correct insurances are in place when you are entering into this stage on your life.
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Disclaimer
Kristopher Meuwissen is an Authorised Representative No: 466483 of Lifespan Financial Planning Pty Ltd AFSL: 229892. The purpose of this document is to provide general information only and the contents of this document do not purport to provide personal financial advice. Wealtheon strongly recommends that investors consult a financial adviser prior to making any investment decision. The contents of this document does not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any person and should not be used as the basis for making any financial or other decisions. The information is selective and may not be complete or accurate for your particular purposes and should not be construed as a recommendation to invest in any particular product, investment or security. Lifespan and its Authorised Representatives do not accept any liability for any errors or omissions of information. The information provided on this document is given in good faith and is believed to be accurate at the time of compilation.