Your children’s lives are full of great experiences and big adventures.  And as a parent, you’re there to support them every step of the way.  Most importantly, you’re there if your children ever get sick – regardless of the demands that may place on your time and your finances. No one likes to think about their children getting sick or injured but it is better to have a plan in place now to ensure you have options available to you should the unfortunate event occur.

Child Insurance can help you cover the extra financial burden of a serious illness, so you can do what ever it takes to get them healthy again.

What is Child Insurance?  Child Insurance pays a lump sum if your child suffers from a serious medical condition.  The point of Child Insurance is to provide funds to help you fund any out-of-pocket medical expenses, and allow you to take time off work to care for your child.  It is designed to get you by while caring for you child. To apply for cover your child must be aged between 2 and 18 years of age.

Conditions:  The types of conditions that Child insurance will provide funds for include cancer, blindness, brain damage, cardiomyopathy, chronic kidney failure, deafness, intensive care, loss of limbs / sight / speech, major organ transplant, meningitis, stroke, severe burns and a number of other conditions. Like all insurances, they vary between insurer and policy so you’ll need to refer to the Product Disclosure Statement of the product to know what your particular policy covers.

Cost:  Premiums for Child Insurance are inexpensive and easy to apply for.  There are no medicals or tests required and the cost can be as low as $10 per month for $50,000 of cover.

Continuation of Cover:   When your child grows into a young adult, generally Child Insurance can be converted to Trauma cover without the need for any medical tests.  This allows your child to continue being comprehensively covered in their adult years.

Sadly, many children suffer from medical conditions and accidents which are serious.  Child Insurance provides financial support should the unforeseen happen to your children and most importantly reduces the financial stress to provide choices to aid in your child’s recovery.  JBS can assist in this area if you wish to discuss in more detail.

When we’re young and free with the world at our feet, we think that we’re pretty indestructible (I remember that time). Life’s all about fun! Travel, drinking, friends… who wants to think about grown up things like insurance? While we might not want to think about it, it doesn’t stop that fact that we all need it.

Let me throw some figures at you… According to the place with all the info (The Australian Bureau of Statistics), they say that:
– In 2009, 15% of people in ‘prime working age’ are disabled.
– There are 275 new cases of diabetes in Australia every day, while two million of us are at risk.
– One in five Australians will experience a mental health problem in their lives.

And the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare put out a report that said:
– Males were 2.2 times more likely than females to be seriously injured as a result of a land transport accident, while just over 50% of those seriously injured were aged less than 30 years.
– For those seriously injured due to traffic (on-road) accidents, 28.2% were judged to be suffering from injuries which were considered to be high threat to life.

Of AMP’s 2010 claim, youngest to claim on Total & Permanent Disablement was just 18 years old, Terminal Illness was 24 years old, and Income Protection was 19 years old.

But what does that mean for you as a young nipper? Well, those figures don’t discriminate against age. We like to think that these figures are for the 15% of the older population or the two million people other than me.

But the reality is that it has to happen to someone, so it might be you. While we can take measures to reduce the risk, we can’t eliminate them and so we should look at ways of ensuring that other aspects of our lives are not negatively affected by it. Personal insurance gives you that freedom to know that if something did happen, you wouldn’t have to worry about the money needed to pay for rehab or maybe the cost of the experimental treatment, renovations to your home or even just having your partner or your parents stop work to be by your side in your recovery.

If we look at the statistics, you’re more likely to have a major medical injury or illness than win tattslotto but I bet you’ve bought a ticket or two in your life. If you think you’re in with a chance to win the big bucks, then you’re in with more of a chance to have something go really wrong with your health. So, why wouldn’t you take out insurance?

Also, taking out insurance while you’re young can save you thousands in the long run. While you’re young, you’re relatively healthy and therefore taking out insurance is cheaper. You are more likely to get standard rates, which means that you are no more of a risk of claiming than anyone else your age, unlike when you’re older, rounder and doing less exercise. If you can get standard rates at a young age, you can take out level premiums. This means that you can spread the risk of claiming over the life of the policy rather than just year by year and save a heap in the long run!

So take time out from all the stuff young people do these days and do a grown up thing for just a minute or two! Once it’s in place, you don’t have to think about it again (we’ll review it for you to make sure that it stays relevant) and you can go back to your Contiki tours, absinthe and ipads. Oh and it covers for anywhere in the world.

To read more, click here.

For some, knowing that one day we get to retire and never work again keeps us going. Knowing that we’ll one day have all the time in the world to do what we want, when we want. But what will actually happen to our money in retirement? How does it all work?

What happens to your super when you retire?
A vital element of retirement involves choosing how to use your super savings. To set yourself up for retirement and providing your future income, you will need to make decisions regarding how you are going to invest your funds, when it will begin, how much you wish to receive and how often you will need to receive payments.

When can you access your super?
While Preservation rules may allow you to access a portion of funds early, to access your superannuation benefits for retirement you need to meet a condition of release which includes:

• Reach Preservation Age which is anywhere from 55 to 60 depending on your date of birth.
• If aged 60 to 65, you must have ceased employment and if you are under age 60 there is a further requirement that you never intend to be gainfully employed for 10 or more hours a week.
• If you hit age 65, there are no restriction and you have full access to your funds.

What retirement options are available to you?
Retirement shouldn’t mean – Now I can access my funds so give me my lump sum. There are many options available that need consideration to ensure that your entire retirement life is taken care of.

• An Account–based pension (previously known as an Allocated Pension) allows you to invest your funds the same as you would under a super plan, however pays a regular pension payment from your balance. Any funds remaining after your passing forms part of your estate.
• An Annuity is an investment that is commenced with a lump sum and provides the investor with a guaranteed income for specific term but you have no say in the investment of funds and you may forfeit any balance upon your death after a qualifying period.
• Lump Sum Withdrawal to live off the balance of funds.
• Leave it in Super. You can now leave your benefits in superannuation (accumulation phase) indefinitely and there is no requirement for withdrawals to be made.

What about tax?
Tax should be a big consideration in retirement. It seems to be a common belief that once you retire, you don’t pay tax but that’s not necessarily the truth.

Tax laws still apply to everyone regardless of your age. If your 100 and have taxable income, then you should be lodging a tax return. But the way you structure your funds in retirement could dramatically reduce your tax bill.

For each of your retirement options there are tax consequences which are explained in further detail in the full article.

So with all these options and considerations, what should you do with your super at retirement? You should seek the advice of a good financial planner as you could be considerably worse off by not knowing what you can do and what it will mean for you and the future generation. Retirement should be about enjoyment and family not worry about whether your funds will last and pension payments.

Let JBS do the worrying for you.
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