These case studies are for illustrative purposes only.
Any information displayed or given on this website does not take into account any person’s personal objectives, financial situation or needs and so you should consider its appropriateness having regard to these factors before acting on it.
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Elizabeth is looking forward to retirement and being mortgage free at such time after almost 45 years of service in the teaching profession.
Until she sought advice, she was paying up to 60% of her fortnightly take home pay towards her mortgage so as to fulfil her key objective of being mortgage free at retirement.
In doing so, Elizabeth was paying a significant amount of PAYG income tax before making any payments towards her mortgage.
Whilst she felt she was on track in this regards, Elizabeth nonetheless sought retirement planning advice with Palladium Wealth Partners for peace of mind.
Upon meeting with Elizabeth, we understood and concurred with her objectives, yet felt that it could be done in a more tax effective manner.
We made Elizabeth aware of strategies relating to transiting to retirement coupled with salary sacrifice and how to indirectly pay her mortgage via her superannuation.
We recommended Elizabeth rollover a portion of her accumulated superannuation and draw the maximum 10% as a transition to retirement income stream.
The income stream would be tax free non assessable given her age of being over 60 years of age.
Coupled with a strategy to salary sacrifice a portion of her pre-tax income, Elizabeth was able to retain a similar amount of post-tax income yet save near on $7,200 of PAYG income tax per annum.
Given Elizabeth wanted to ensure whatever she contributed to superannuation would be there as to pay her mortgage within a couple of years, we recommended she redirect the salary sacrificed amount into a cash like investment option with minimal investment risk.
This is, we explained an indirect way to pay her mortgage with the peace of mind of knowing that she would achieve her objective more tax effectively.
By seeking advice from us at Palladium Wealth Partners, Elizabeth was better able to understand all her options and make a more informed decision as to choose the right strategy for her.
The advice helped Elizabeth maximise her cash flow today, legitimately minimise her income tax and accumulate a higher amount of retirement capital to the tune of $45,000 for her future – irrespective of investment market performance.
John was easing into retirement over the last several years by reducing his hours of work as a teacher with a view of retiring wholeheartedly within the next 12 months.
He had just become eligible for an Age Pension by way of age yet was under the impression he had to stop work to claim any Age Pension entitlement.
John was also salary sacrificing up to the concessional cap into his public sector superannuation fund.
Joan, his wife was already retired and had commenced a retirement income stream (allocated pension) with her superannuation.
John and Joan came to us at Palladium Wealth Partners seeking to determine their overall retirement options over the coming 12 months with a view to John applying for an Age Pension.
Upon meeting with them and assessing their current circumstances, we identified a number of strategies that could immediately be put into place as well as the options available to them at retirement.
We advised John that the concessional cap does not apply for his public sector superannuation fund and he could consider salary sacrificing more into his fund as to maximise his retirement capital as well as minimise his PAYG income tax until retirement.
We informed John that he could immediately apply for an Age Pension and he did not need to stop work to be entitled to claim his benefit. In addition, we highlighted that his public sector superannuation fund was unique in that given he could not access his benefit until ceasing work, the value of his superannuation would not count as an asset when determining his Age Pension entitlement under the Assets test. We suggested he obtain a letter from his fund outlining this fact as to provide to Centrelink when applying for his Age Pension benefit.
Given Joan was under Age Pension age, we suggested she rollover the majority of her retirement income stream back into accumulation such that it would not count towards the Assets test.
The immediate strategic advice enabled John to maximise his Age Pension entitlement, salary sacrifice a significantly higher amount into his public sector superannuation fund and thus maximise his retirement capital as well as reduce his PAYG income tax.
By seeking advice from us at Palladium Wealth Partners, both John and Joan were better able to understand all their options and make a more informed decision as to choose the right strategies for them.
Bill an existing client of Palladium Wealth Partners unexpectedly fell ill, and after a lengthy stay in hospital was assessed by ACAT (Aged Care Assessment Team) and deemed to be in need of permanent residential High Care.
Within a very short time we needed to liaise with Bill and Andrew to ensue Bill’s imminent move into an Aged Care residential facility was not only smooth but that his finances were structured in the best way possible to fund the Age Care costs and meet his ongoing needs and objectives.
Bill’s key financial objectives were to retain his family home if viable, have a tax effective outcome and if eligible, receive some Centrelink Age Pension.
Bill and Andrew spent some time researching and visiting various facilities and they eventually found one that ticked all the boxes – be it High Care with extra services. The accommodation bond was agreed to as a fixed amount of $450,000 and Bill and Andrew were initially advised by the facility that Bill would have to pay the accommodation bond to the residential facility in full as a lump sum amount.
Once they had chosen an appropriate facility, we were then able to help them. With our advice and guidance during the negotiations with the residential facility, we made Bill and Andrew aware that in fact they could pay the accommodation bond via periodic payments or a combination of periodic payments and a lump sum.
Our recommendation to Bill was to pay $300,000 as a lump sum, $150,000 as periodic payments, and also rent out his family home.
By advising Bill in such a manner, we achieved the following outcomes for him:
– The family home was retained and it will remain exempt indefinitely under the Income and Assets tests for Centrelink Age Pension purposes and the Income test for Aged Care purposes.
Without our advice this would not have been the case.
– Bill was eligible for a higher level of Aged Pension than he otherwise would have received without our advice – approximately $7,500 per annum better off.
– The recommendation positioned Bill in such a way that no income tested fee applied for his Aged Care costs upon entry into the residential facility and for the foreseeable future.
– Bill was able to retain a reasonable lump sum of money in the tax free allocated pension environment to generate an ongoing tax free income and retain flexibility to access capital in the future if required.
– The combination of rent from his property, the minimum required draw down from his allocated pension and Centrelink part Age Pension now provides sufficient income to cover the ongoing Aged Care costs and his spending needs.
By seeking advice from us at Palladium Wealth Partners, Bill and his son Andrew, were better able to understand all the options available to them and make a more informed decision as to choose the right strategies for peace of mind.
