Your Living Estate

Our primary goal is to deliver “peace of mind” to clients whenever we can. Whether it’s planning for a more comfortable future, or planning for unforeseen misfortune, or planning for the unavoidable, we have the experience, knowledge and tools to deliver “peace of mind”.

We can take away the fear of not knowing what you need to know or should know so that you can deal with your “living estate” with confidence.

We can help you gather your “living estate” information saving you time and dollars in search fees. Think title documents, tax records, Wills, Powers of Attorney etc.

Any document, any time on any device.

Often, without warning family members need to know where documents are and how they all tie together. The monetary and emotional toll of “not knowing” can be huge.

We are first and foremost “Estate Taskers”.

The Updated Investor is about people, not financial products!

It’s about what you want more of.

It’s about what you want to protect, and

It’s about what you want to pass on at the end of the day.

To facilitate this philosophy we tend to think of clients in terms of Living Estates which we define far more broadly than what most people have come to think of “Estate” as meaning.

It goes so far as to include everything you want to keep track of;

important documents
personal items
photos and other memorabilia
title deeds
contracts
insurance policies
passports etc

In short, everything you have spent a lifetime gathering.

Whilst we will never turn anyone away who is serious about looking after their Living Estate, in reality we can be of huge value to some and not so much to others. The amount of value we can be to clients is largely dependent on their “life stage”.

Life stages:- A light hearted look at how we define them and how we can help each using broad generalisations.

People in their 20’s

Are probably still living at home.
Are going to live forever.
Are flat out spending everything they earn and as much of mum and dad’s money as they can get their hands on.

The concept of a family estate really hasn’t dawned on young adults so apart from general banking and budgetary education, there is not that much we can do for this age group.

People in their 30’s

Working hard getting their career/business on track.
Are at least thinking about starting to settle down.
Might be thinking about getting a home.
Getting married
Starting a family

The concept of a Living Estate might have appeared on the horizon but most people in their 30’s still think they are going to live forever and are so flat out living in the present; there is very little time to plan too far into the future. As financial planners we can again provide excellent information on banking, budgetary and mortgage considerations whilst encouraging this age group to take an interest in what their superannuation is up to. But apart from that, there is not much else this age group needs from us.

People in their 40’s

Kids are growing up.
Income increasing.
Mortgage getting more under control (hopefully).
Level of assets and net worth is increasing.
Might have had or knows someone who has had a health scare.
Lifestyle tends to increase in importance again, work/life balance.

Their personal estate is gaining focus. 40 something’s are starting to realise they need to protect what they have for the future, they are starting to look for ways of accelerating the accumulation process set against a background of increasing expenses as their children reach the most expensive years.

It’s not hard to see how this type of person might start looking for guidance from us. There is a balance to be struck between living in the moment whilst the kids still want you around and laying the ground work for a comfortable future.

People in their 50’s

The kids are starting to leave home (assuming you have stopped feeding them and doing their washing), expenses might even be reducing.
Superannuation balances getting bigger, how do you make them even bigger?
Mortgage is looking under control (hopefully). Is there more that can be done?
Great income producing years.
Minimising tax is always a good idea.
Probably have parents (and parents in law) getting older requiring more thought.
Retirement starting to loom on the horizon.
What to do with any inheritances?

So now the concept of the Living Estate is right there in front of this age group. It’s now impossible to pretend you are going to live forever. Thoughts tend to start focusing in on upcoming retirement and all that it means. What legacy is going to be left behind at the end of the day?

And at some point in time “the elephant in the room” will need to be addressed. That is, how are you going to ensure mum and dad are looked after in their old age?

Do you know where all their stuff/documents are.......if something happens?

It may not be applicable to you but it’s an area we are getting asked to assist with more often.

People in their 60’s

Retirement looming large. Either voluntary or forced. Business owners starting to think about how they are going to realise the value from a lifetime of work.
Health issues might be creeping in.
How are you going to pay off the remaining mortgage?
How are you going to support yourselves in retirement?
What legacy(s) do you want to leave?
Are mum and dad going to be all right? What level of care do they need or are likely to need in the future?
Maximising potential social security benefits.

The concept of a Living Estate is now fully developed for most people in this age group. It’s now time to get all “your ducks in a row”. People in their 60’s are quite young by today’s standards. With the advances in medicine and with improved health generally, someone age 60 could reasonably expect to live on average for another 25 years.

People in their 70’s and beyond.

Health issues are taking more of a toll.
Will your money last?
Can you afford to do more for your children and grandchildren?
Should you be downsizing?
What options do you have?
What will happen if one of you departs this world before the other?
What do you want to have happen to your Estate at the end of the day?

If the concept of your Estate wasn’t firmly in your mind before, it certainly is by now.

Our Promise to You

Regardless of what stage of life you’re in, The Updated Investor;

Will provide you with Your Essential Facts Package report tailored to your specific circumstances.
We will update this at regular intervals with you.
You and your loved ones will know precisely “where everything is”, and how it all fits together....nobody will be “left wondering”.
You will have information on all the important numbers and all the important people in your life.
For sheer convenience you will be able to store all your important documents and information on many modern devices using high level password encryption so that you will be able to securely access information anytime, anywhere in the world.

This is a cost effective solution to getting your family’s “Living Estate” organised. We’ll do it for you at a reasonable fee or we can provide you the "Now Sorted TM" tools to do it for yourself. In fact we provide this service at no additional cost to our fee paying financial planning clients, we think this is simply just that important for all of our clients.

Call us today to get started. You will be surprised how easy it is.