Introduced as part of the 2017-2018 Federal Budget, the First Home Super Saver (FHSS) scheme aims to make housing more affordable for first home buyers. Essentially the FHSS scheme allows you to save money in your super fund that will go towards your first home.

If you are making either concessional or non-concessional contributions into your super fund, you will be able to apply to have your voluntary contributions, as well as associated earnings, released to help you purchase your first home. Since your concessional contributions are taxed at 15% as opposed to your marginal tax rate, the FHSS scheme can be an effective tool in helping you save for your first home.

When making a withdrawal from super to help purchase a home, you are able to withdraw total voluntary contributions of up to a maximum of $30,000 across all years, with a maximum of $15,000 from any one financial year. The contributions are ordered by a first-in first-out approach. For example, Joe has made $10,000 of eligible non-concessional contributions each of the past 3 financial years. He finds a house he would like to buy. He can withdraw a total of $30,000 to purchase the house as each year he has stayed within the maximum of $15,000 per year. If Joe had made eligible non-concessional contributions of $20,000 and $10,000 in the past 2 financial years, he would be limited to only withdrawing $25,000 (maximum of $15,000 from the first year and $10,000 from the second year).

Once your first FHSS amount has been released to you, within 12 months you must do one of the following:

– Sign a contract to purchase or construct your home – you must notify the ATO within 28 days of signing the contract
– Re-contribute the assessable FHSS amount (less tax withheld) into your super fund and notify the ATO within 12 months of the first FHSS amount being released to you.

There is a strict set of criteria you must satisfy in order to be eligible for the FHSS:

– You must be at least 18 years old when you request a release from your super account
– You must never have owned property in Australia (this includes investment property, vacant land, commercial property, a lease of land in Australia or a company title interest in land in Australia).
– You must not have previously requested the Commissioner of Taxation in Australia to issue a FHSS release authority in relation to the scheme.

You may be eligible for the FHSS even if you do not satisfy the above conditions. More details of this can be found here.

There is also criteria on what you cannot purchase through the FHSS and these include:

– Any premises not capable of being occupied as a residence
– A houseboat
– A motorhome
– Vacant Land

One thing to note is that just because it can be done, doesn’t mean that every super fund offers it so if you believe you are eligible and would like to explore it further, it would be worthwhile contacting JBS.

The holidays are great time for families and friends to get together to enjoy the warmer weather and sunshine together. However, this time of year is also when spending can go a little overboard and people end up with an overwhelming credit card debt.

Below are a few ways to get yourself back on track this New Year:

Sell, Sell, Sell
Selling items you no longer use is an easy start. You can make a dent in the amount you overspent during the holidays and you can also make a jump on decluttering your house. Try to sell in local areas to reduce the cost of shipping items. By grouping items together such as 10 x books or bag of kids clothing size XX for a set price reduces the time you spend advertising items and increases the chance of a quick sale.

Eliminate non-essential items
Small inexpensive items add up over the month. If you don’t purchase that morning coffee or afternoon soft drink you could potentially save yourself between $150-200 a month. Consider cheaper alternatives like taking your coffee with you in the morning and making your lunch the night before.

Stop Shopping
This time of year can be tempting to purchase in the post-holiday sales, but if you are already in debt you cannot afford the items no matter how good the deals are. Unsubscribing from e-newsletters offering sale items is a great place to start, if you don’t see the deals you can’t buy them. Ensure you don’t do your grocery shop when you are hungry and take a shopping list so you don’t impulse buy.

Make this year’s financial hangover the last, contact JBS today and we can help you give your finances that bright New Year feeling.

Life insurers will generally offer you the choice to have either Level or Stepped premiums, or a combination on their policies. The type of insurance premium structure you choose will affect the initial cost as well as the total cover over the life of the policy. Generally speaking the duration of the cover may help to determine the appropriate premium structure you should use.

Stepped Premiums – Stepped premiums increase as you age, reflecting the higher likelihood of a potential claim. Stepped premiums have a lower upfront cost over the short-term (when compared to Level premiums), however as you age, the Stepped premiums start to increase, and the longer it is held, the more significant the increase becomes. Therefore, if you plan to hold the level of cover for a long period, generally greater than 10 years, it may be more beneficial to take-up a Level premium.

Level Premiums – Level premiums can provide you with peace of mind as they are designed to remain stable. The premiums will remain stable from the policy commencement until you reach a predetermined age (e.g. age 55 or 65), at this point the premiums will switch to a Stepped premium. Level premiums can still increase due to indexation or other increases to the sum insured. Level premiums can also change if the underlying assumptions and/or expenses of the insurer have changed since the policy started – however this will generally affect the stepped premiums as well.

At the beginning of the policy, Level premiums generally have the higher upfront costs when compared to Stepped premiums. This is due to the increased risk of claim as the insured person ages have already been factored in.

Hybrids Premiums – Some insurers may provide you with the option of a hybrid premium structure that allows you to use Stepped premiums for a portion of the cover, together with Level premiums for the remainder of the cover. This allows the premium structure to be aligned to short-term or long-term needs within a single policy.

From the beginning it’s important that you implement the correct cover and policy structure, as replacement policies can result in Level premiums being calculated based on your age at the time of amendment. If you take out new cover later on, you may also have to undergo medical tests and the like, which could result in the possibility of loadings or exclusions being applied to your policy, if you end up changing. This could result in your new cover becoming more costly or even unattainable and therefore effectively locking you into your current cover with the incorrect policy structure and/or cover.

JBS can assist you with all your personal insurance needs and can help determine the right level of cover for you and assess which premium structure is more suitable for your needs.

Employees, you can now get a tax deduction for Lump Sum Super Contributions Prior to the 30th of June.

Previously, as an employee you could only make tax deductible contributions into Super via Salary Sacrifice Contributions. The nature of Salary Sacrifice Contributions are that they must be pre-scriptive, therefore in the event that you have a windfall, sell some assets or decide late in the financial year that you have the capacity to make extra  superannuation contributions, historically it has been difficult or you haven’t been able to.

Since July 1 2017, the ten percent employment rule regarding tax-deductible super contributions has been replaced. The rule meant that a person could not claim a tax deduction on personal Super Contributions if more than ten percent of their assessable income was obtained as an employee. The new rule is now any person under age 65 now may be able to claim a tax deduction on their contributions regardless of their employment arrangement, whilst those aged between 65 and 74 need to satisfy the Work Test in order to be eligible to make a contribution, and subsequently claim a tax deduction.

The following example shows how John was able to save $3,300 in tax by taking advantage of the New Rules:

John works as an employee. He has a salary of $100,000 plus Super Guarantee Contributions of $9,500. He is focusing on reducing his mortgage and at the moment doesn’t have the cash flow to do any additional Salary Sacrifice Contributions. He has however recently decided to take a profit on some shares that he has held for a long period of time. This sale has caused a Capital Gain of $15,000 (after 50% discount).

Prior to the 1st of July 2017, as his income from employment was more than 10% of his total assessable income for the financial year, he wasn’t eligible to do anything about this gain and would simply have to add the $15,000 to his assessable income and pay approximately $5,550 in tax (plus Medicare).

Because of the changes on the 1 July 2017, he is now eligible to make a Lump Sum Tax Deductible Contribution into Super to offset the Capital Gain and reduce his taxable income by $15,000.

By contributing $15,000 into his super as a Lump Sum Tax Deductible Contribution, John is able to save $3,300 in net tax and move his wealth into the concessionally taxed super environment for future investment.

Like all strategies, your own personal circumstances need to be considered as factors such as your level of superannuation contributions (including employer contributions and the contributions caps), can trip you up and cause issues. However, when implemented correctly the new changes do open up a number of opportunities previously unavailable.

If you would like to discuss how these changes could benefit you, please contact the team at JBS.

– Warren Hanna –

Towards the end of each year we always focus a lot on celebrating Christmas and New Years, however there’s something else we could also celebrate post-Christmas. We’re talking about celebrating your family’s financial security by having personal insurance in place. Having personal insurance cover in place means you and your family won’t have to deal with financial stress in the event of you being unable to earn an income or even passing away. Ideally all your personal insurance covers should be in place prior to the “Silly Season”, however if you haven’t done so already the new year is a perfect time to review your insurance needs.

With all the festivities and celebrations over and done with, for most of us it’s now time to pick up the pieces and start the New Year a fresh, which is a perfect time to review your personal insurance needs. Research from one of Australia’s largest personal insurance companies have found that only 37% of Aussies aged between 18-69 actually have life insurance and even more disturbingly only 18% have disability cover and income protection insurance. Further findings include how Australians are grossly underinsured. It’s estimated that the underinsurance gap in Australia is approximately $1.8 Billion, meaning there are a lot of Aussies out there who believe they have sufficient insurance cover, but in fact don’t. For most of us, we don’t like to think about insurance and when asked about how much we have, the first response is usually “I don’t know”.

So we come to a point where you should ask yourself, do you need personal insurance? The main reason you would put in place insurance cover, is to secure your family’s financial wellbeing. So if you have a mortgage, loans, kids etc… chances are you will need personal insurance. The question you have to ask yourself is, “if I’m unable to earn an income tomorrow, what would happen”? Then for those of you that already have some form of insurance cover in place, the question you should ask is “how do I know the level of insurance I already have in place now is adequate?” The short answer is to seek professional advice.

Whether you don’t have any insurance at all or looking to review your insurance needs, the best thing to do is see someone who is a professional in the area. Financial Planning firms such as JBS Financial Strategists will be able to determine what your insurance needs are and then formulate a strategy to ensure you have the correct and adequate cover in place. So as a new year’s resolution, do yourself a favour by ensuring you have adequate cover in place so you’ve got something else to celebrate about (your family’s financial security).

– Andy Lay –

With the holidays fast approaching, it’s time to start to consider how you will fund your holidays / shopping / all-round fun. After all, the summer months are a great time and you definitely want to show your loved ones how much you care, but breaking the bank isn’t an option.

Saving on a tight budget can be quite difficult. To ensure you reach your holiday saving goals it is important to start saving early on. Another key to success is to set a concrete and achievable goal for yourself, and decide how exactly you will achieve that goal.

Perhaps your goal is to purchase gifts for all of your children, or fund a nice holiday away. Whatever it is, firstly determine the total cost. Break the total down by how many weeks you have left to save, and figure out where you can trim your budget to set that amount aside each week.

Some of the best areas to cut your budget include:

No more buying coffee or eating out — You’ll be surprised how much you can save by doing this.

Foxtel – Replace TV-watching with reading, cooking, games with your family, or other fun-yet-free activities. Take advantage of the warmer weather outside (when it decides to arrive).

High Interest Bank Account – Put any savings / loose change etc into a high interest bank account and save regularly. Having a separate bank account makes it more difficult to touch until you really need it (like for holidays).

And just as important, find ways to motivate yourself to keep saving.

It’s easy to become discouraged when your savings aren’t growing as fast as you would like, so it’s important to find ways to motivate yourself to keep saving.

I personally like to think about what it is exactly I am saving for and what I am achieving every time I deposit some money into the savings account. For example, if we are saving for a trip to Thailand and our travel budget is $100 a day, then every time I save $100 I know that’s one day of our holiday I have just paid for. Simple, but very effective.

Saving money and being thrifty isn’t fun but remember the end product will be! When you are lazing on the beach at your desired location, visiting Disneyland, or camping at your favourite spot, there is no doubt that you will be glad you saved every cent!

Make a commitment now to plan ahead, and it is very likely those savings will lead to a fun-filled time over summer.

There’s something about starting a new year that brings with it a tonne of motivation. That fresh start where you can re-set, clean-up, and where energy levels are high and excitement at its peak. Where our passion for giving those dreams of ours a really good shot is reignited and our visions of living bigger and better are at the forefront of our thinking.

However, we get to March and the motivation starts to taper off and by April most goals have been abandoned or forgotten about. Research shows, in the end only about 8% of people stick with their good intentions.

So what do this 8% do differently? Are they just more willing to invest wholeheartedly to work towards their goals? Maybe, but experts say it has more to do with how they set themselves up for success. Specifically, they use January to re-set themselves and clean up any messes from the previous year, then invest the time and effort into effective goal planning.

So with the new year having now kicked off, here’s a list of the best results-driven tactics to ensure you are part of that 8% and make 2017 your best year yet:
Get Super Clear

Vague or generalised goals such as ‘save more’ won’t serve you. They need to be specific and well defined so that they can be measured.

–  What?

–  When?

–  And How?

Specific goals such as ‘pay off credit cards by March’ are easier to measure. By then mapping out the action steps required it is then easier to achieve the goal than not.

But there’s also the why? Connecting emotion with your goals will help you remember why they were important in the first place and will reignite your passion for reaching them when things get difficult.

Write it Down

Study after study has shown that those who write down their goals accomplish significantly more than those who don’t. Why? Putting pen to paper forces you to clarify what you want, it motivates you to take action and it makes it easier for you to see your progress and celebrate your successes.

Get Support & Accountability

We’ve all heard the importance of being around the right people, especially when chasing our goals.  When you’re in pursuit of a dream, there are many elements that can resist your path and block your forward motion.  Surrounding yourself with people that are genuinely cheering for you will help you disengage from this resistance and keep you moving forward.

That’s where JBS fits in. We believe (and know!) that the biggest influence of you achieving your financial and lifestyle goals is firstly to have clarity on what your goals are, then aligning your cash flow to help you achieve those goals. Fortunately for you we have a program designed to help you achieve this.

The JBS Cash Coach program is tailored to you, your needs, your goals, and the actions you need to take to achieve those goals.  We take the time to understand you, then design solutions to help you achieve your goals. We help you create a spending and savings plan that is aligned to your goals, and keep you accountable and motivated on a monthly basis to maximise the probability of achieving your goals so you can have the lifestyle you are entitled too in 2017 and into the future.

The early part of 2017 is the perfect time de-clutter your life of the excess build up from last year, clean up, clear your head, set motivating goals, and get moving towards those goals.

The JBS Cash Coach program will help you get the most out of 2017 but only if you take action. Make time and join the best support network around (aka JBS Cash Coach).

Rule changes occur regularly with the Government in power tweaking legislation to make it fairer for all and ensure that the Government isn’t relied upon to fund everyone’s retirement through the Age Pension. This balancing act means that the strategy you implemented last year may no longer be beneficial for you or worse, not allowed. One change that is due to take effect from 1 July 2017 is the change of the tax treatment for Transition to Retirement pensions.

Transition to Retirement (TTR) pensions were introduced back in 2005 to allow those people that were easing into retirement by dropping their working hours to supplement their wages with an income from their super balance. However, while this was very useful for those in retirement transition, it also proved to be a powerful financial planning strategy, recycling funds through the super system to achieve the same take home pay however a reduced tax liability, meaning more funds are held in your superannuation account building for your eventual retirement. The Government and ATO knew of this strategy however as it was within the bounds of the laws in place, it has been accepted for use.

It does seem, however, that the Government now understands the additional tax that could be found and has implemented changes to take effect 1 July 2017 to make a TTR pension lose its tax-free status. This means that a TTR pension will have the same tax treatment as if it was in a superannuation account (15% tax rate). For those in the retirement transition space, it probably won’t change much as they need to subsidise their income and if the money wasn’t held in pension, it would be subject to the 15% super tax rate anyway. For those who have employed a TTR strategy to reduce tax, the tax savings will be reduced.

The strategy may still be beneficial, especially if you are able to achieve a significant salary sacrifice contribution from a higher income, however the tax savings will drop as the pension fund will now be subject to the 15% tax rate also.

Example:

* For the purposes of this simplistic calculation, ‘Tax on Pension Investment’ is the 15% tax on investment income earned (4%) while money is held in a TTR pension. If assets were sold during the year, CGT would also be payable, making it again less tax effective. As this individual is under age 60, pension income is taxable.

Some clients situations allow them to maintain a tax-free pension or become eligible to establish one in the future. For this reason it is critical that all TTR strategies are reviewed prior to 30th of June 2017 as the new rules may not be applicable to you.

While you need to be making an appointment with your Financial Adviser to discuss the changes and determine if there’s still a benefit for you to continue with your TTR, more than anything this should highlight the need to have an ongoing relationship with a financial planner. Make sure you take up every opportunity to have a regular review of your financial plan, your objectives, determine if you are on track to reaching your goals and determine if the strategies in place are still appropriate. Your situation may not have changed but legislation may have.

Purchasing insurance is the most effective method to protect our families and ourselves, financially against unforeseen circumstances.  Often however, people make simple mistakes whilst purchasing personal insurance cover.  Here are some of the mistakes we find people make.

Purchasing insurance online or over the phone without professional advice

This point refers to all those commercials you see on TV about how you can buy insurance cover over the phone in 5 minutes without any medical and lifestyle questionnaires. When you buy insurance over the phone or online, the assessment process will seem to be very simple and fast.  This type of insurance is what we refer to as direct insurance.  Although simple to implement, direct insurance comes with more risks as direct insurance cover can mean assessment is carried out at the time of claim.

For example you might call up an insurer that you’ve seen on TV and get your insurance cover in place. 3 years later you suffer from a medical condition and need to claim. As the assessment wasn’t carried out during the application stage, it’ll be carried out during the claim stage. During assessment process, the insurer will assess you medically and financially for both the claim and from when you started the policy.  If the insurer discovers that you’ve had medical conditions prior to taking out the insurance policy, they could potentially void your claim altogether, meaning they cancel the policy as if you never held it.  This ultimately means you have been paying 3 years’ worth of premiums for an insurance policy which provided you with no cover at all.

Going through professionals such as a financial adviser, should mean you’re assessed at the time of application.  Although the process may take a little longer, it means you and your family have some certainty when you are accepted at application time, rather than be declined payment because of something you didn’t disclose during application stage.

Only considering price rather than value of the product(s) purchased

Price can often play an important part in your decision to buy personal insurance, but it should not be the only factor to consider. Find out about things like:

–  Additional benefits and definitions of the policy
–  What types of benefits are included and excluded
–  Claims payment procedures
–  What exclusions or limits exist on the cover
–  Ownership options

Price should not be the only consideration when purchasing insurance. That good old saying of ‘You get what you pay for’ applies here. Cheap generally means a lesser policy.

Implementing the wrong levels of cover required

We often find many people implement insufficient insurance covers in order to save money on premiums or they simply don’t know what to include when assessing their need for cover.  Whatever the case underinsurance could leave you and your family in financial strife.

These are just some of the questions you need ask yourself whilst implementing death cover.

If you were to die prematurely which option would you prefer for your partner?

–  Repay the home loan and never have to work again
–  Repay the home loan and not have to work for 5 years
–  They lose the house and have to return to work immediately
–  They can fend for themselves

Additionally would you also want the following expenses covered?

–  Funds for funeral expenses, medical expenses and legal expenses
–  Funds for the children’s education
–  Funds as an inheritance for kids and your partner
–  Purchasing insurance with premiums that increase as you get older

As you get older the chances of you suffering from a medical condition increases, therefore insurers tend to charge higher premiums for older Australians. This causes many people to cancel their cover simply because the premiums (costs) keep getting higher each year with their age.

You also have the option of purchasing your insurance with level premiums. This means the premium can be averaged over the lifetime of the policy and will not increase each year with your age (Cover and premiums can increase by CPI).

Another option is to reduce your sum insured which will reduce your premiums.  As you get older, your expenses and debts such as the mortgage tend to reduce.  Therefore you can reduce your level of insurance cover depending on your situation, which in turn will reduce the premiums payable.

Not reviewing your situation and your cover as life events take place

Certain events that occur in our lives can make a massive impact on our financial needs. Events can range from the birth of a baby to repaying the mortgage, receiving a promotion or re-entering the work force.

Every time there are certain changes to your life, you need to review your insurance cover. Picking up that phone and having a chat to your adviser, could mean you and your family receive the much needed additional cover. Or it could even mean savings in premiums as the existing cover you have may be too high and needs to be reduced.  Whatever the case it’s important to review your insurance needs every time a certain life event occurs.

If you want to know more or thinking about putting in place personal insurance cover, please contact JBS Financial Strategists.

In our last CPE article we talked about the recent changes the government has made to the previously proposed non-concessional contribution life-time cap of $500,000.  To re-cap, the Government has back tracked on this proposal and has instead changed it to an annual cap of $100,000, with the ability to bring-forward 3 years’ worth of contributions from 1 July 2017. Your super balance must also be below $1.6 million to be able to make the contributions.

Since then the government has provided further direction on how the proposed bring forward rule and the $1.6 million cap will work.

Under current rules you can make a total of $180,000 in one year or $540,000 if you bring-forward 3 years’ worth of contributions. If you as an individual have triggered the bring-forward rule in FY16 and FY17, but you have not used it fully by 30 June 2017, transitional rules will apply.

If you trigger the bring-forward provisions in FY17, the transitional cap will be $380,000 (which is the current $180,000 cap plus the new $100,000 annual cap for FY18 and FY19). If you triggered the bring-forward rule in FY16, the transitional cap is $460,000 (current annual cap of $180,000 for FY16 and FY17, plus the $100,000 for FY18).

The below table provides an example of how this may work in specific situations, with example one and two outlining how the $380,000 bring-forward cap may work, and example three highlighting how the $460,000 cap works with the example contributions:

In relation to the $1.6 million eligibility threshold, you are unable to make further non-concessional contributions if your super account is above $1.6 million.  Your balance will be determined as at the 30th of June in the previous financial year.  If your balance is close to $1.6 million, you can only make a contribution or use the bring-forward rule to bring your balance up to $1.6 million without going over, this is summarised below.

As always these measures are not yet legislated and therefore could change yet again.  The draft legislation is expected in the next few weeks.

If you have made any non-concessional contributions in the previous three financial years and are concerned how this may affect you and your future contributions, feel free to contact any of the team here at JBS.