There are many lifestyle and financial changes that occur at retirement. Whilst you will have increased leisure time, you will no longer be earning an income from work activities.

Check out this video where Steve Harvey explains how he is not going to leave everything to his kids when he passes away but, rather, consume much of the assets that he and his wife have built.

This is a great ad from Tourism Australia created to entice the Poms back to the country they sent their convicts to.

Many financial planning firms today are focussed on asset gathering their clients funds. Business models that mean the more money you bring in then you can slap a % based fee against these and in turn, bring in greater revenue. In our view, this is a lazy approach to providing comprehensive financial planning advice.

An analogy that I use with many clients when discussing retirement income strategies is around wanting to be able to eat the eggs ( yield ) or income) and to leave the Chook (capital) intact.

An important component of a great wealth management plan especially for young business owners and professionals is to ensure that they have suitable personal protection plans in place.

I am seeing many posts and articles where “ financial experts” explain how they can protect your retirement capital when the inevitable downturn in asset prices happens. ( We don't call it a crash.)

The start of June brings cooler temps and the smell of backyard fires and an extra 2 minutes under the Doona as you psyche up to face the day. June 30 is an important date in the financial year as it is the last day in which to complete your tax planning tasks.

So aside that the Jack Bogle (Vanguard Founder) book that I am currently reading is titled “Stay the Course,” I thought it would be a good time to share the Vanguard Index Chart.

Like every year, everybody starts off with the best intentions of seizing the morning and getting their lives sorted. New Year's resolutions are the eternal enigma that we use to change our lives overnight.

Check out this video from the founder of Vanguard, where he simplifies the process of investing and provides a clear path to a comfortable retirement by investing small and often.

When I discuss regular investing with clients who are accumulating assets for their retirement, I spend a fair amount of time explaining the benefits of (DCA) dollar cost-averaging. I relate this strategy to looking after your garden.

So like many others who have been locked down due to isolation and Covid restrictions, I have taken up the 30 day trial with Stan as I have pretty well exhausted Netflix, Foxtel and Google movies.

The end of the financial year is a good time to think about how you could grow your super and get started with saving for retirement. Here are some options you could consider to help your super work harder for you.

So this week, I got a sense that many clients were dealing with our new normal that has been thrust upon us.

The speed at which change is occurring is like a runaway freight train. An event unseen in our generations, this Covid - 19 virus will affect us all globally.

Just a brief introduction. Click through and listen to James explain some of the stimulus items that you may want to access if you are feeling the pinch financially.

It has been amazing how much has changed in such a short period. A health crisis that seems to provide uncertainty. Global equity markets reacting with a 20 - 30% fall in prices giving an indication that we maybe in a recession. Who knows?

It has been a rough couple of weeks for investment markets, but as I have discussed with clients one - on one, this is a temporary decline in a permanent uptrend. For those who have been clients for longer than a few years will attest to, we have a consistent message when asset prices take a fall like theses have done.

I get that most people think that getting wills witnessed and power of attorneys signed off by a prescribed person can be frustrating and confronting but as an integral component of a well structured wealth management plan, we should all plan with the end in mind.