Client Success Stories of 2021

As a financial planning practice in Ballarat, you may be surprised to learn that our goal for our clients goes beyond solely financial success. 

Our goal is to be a trusted partner that you can rely on to achieve not only your financial goals but your lifestyle goals as well.  

Our wonderful clients come from exciting and varied backgrounds. They lead fascinating and busy lives, ask intelligent questions and are motivated to better their financial future. They are all incredibly joyous to work with and we aspire to help them secure their dream lifestyle. 

The meaning of success is a very unique thing that looks different to everyone. This is why we wanted to share a range of client success stories, some of our most memorable of 2021 that we are particularly proud to be a part of – our good news stories.

Case Study #1: Financial Planning To Achieve Early Retirement 

Lockdown has ended and Sally* is dreading the daily 3 hour return trip commute to work. Sally wanted to know if she could retire from school teaching in 2 years time at the age of 63. 

What goals did Sally want to pursue over the next 5 years?

As a financial adviser, I find it extremely valuable to take the time to understand what my client’s financial goals are and what timeframe they are hoping to achieve them in, so I can provide the best financial solutions tailored to their needs and wants. 

Financial Strategies To Help Achieve Goals:

Cashflow Spending Analysis 

• To define how much her cost of living would be for her ideal retirement lifestyle.

Maximising Super Contributions

• To minimise tax and maximise retirement savings.

Superannuation Investment Analysis

• Finding the right balance between growth and safe assets allowing comfort and peace of mind knowing that she wouldn’t lose a heap of money in a market downturn, plus having the money last well into her 90’s. 

Age Pension Options: 

• Maximising her Centrelink Age Pension entitlements come age 67. 

Positive Results:

Overall, giving Sally enough confidence to retire when she wanted and live her ideal life. 

Going through the process Sally could now understand what her baseline living costs were, along with her discretionary living costs. 

Aligning her superannuation wealth with these numbers showed her she can retire in comfort without ever running out of money. 

Sally was able to sleep more soundly at night knowing she had only two more years of commuting to the big smoke. 

Sally was excited to renew her past life hobbies of golf and painting, knowing full well she would soon enough have much more time on her hands to do as she wanted. 

Sally also reached out to her local charity inquiring about volunteer work, given her new lease on life. 

*all client names have been altered for privacy reasons. 

Case Study #2: Early 40’s couple: Should we be doing more with our money?

I started by helping the young professionals articulate to themselves what they valued in life which were, 

• Family, 
• Security, 
• Simplicity, 
• and Adventure.

Financial Strategies To Align With Client Values

Superannuation: 

• Super contributions, 
• Tax minimisation, 
• High growth super investment strategy, 
• Splitting super.

Property: 

• Investment properties ideas, 
• Debt optimisation to lower tax

Share markets: 

• Regular investing, 
• Debt recycling for wealth acceleration.

Protection: 

• Life insurance, 
• Income protection.

These financial strategies allowed these clients to be on track for an earlier point in life where “work is optional” and be on track to achieving their goals, such as,

• Work-life balance,
• Travel adventures,
• Old hobbies that they stopped having time for, 
• Fitness,
• Family time,
• After school kids sports,
• And overall better relationships with family and friends.

Positive Results:

The couple were able to achieve a level of wealth in their late 40’s that would give them the option to significantly reduce work hours, compared to if they continued on their current path of achieving the same level of wealth in their late 50’s.

This couple was a prime example of being too time-poor to sit down and consider where they are, and where they would like to be. 

As we all experience how quickly time flies as we get older, the next 10 years will fly by for this couple, meaning now is the time to invest some time into their ideal life. 

We feel privileged to have been able to help so many of our wonderful clients create their version of success this year. 

It’s been another year of uncertainty with challenges and hurdles to jump, and it has been incredibly rewarding to be able to deliver much-needed financial security in our clients’ lives.

If you’re looking to achieve financial success in 2022, we can help you establish a financial plan which is not only simple, but can provide peace of mind for you, your family, and your financial future. 

Contact us today to book your complimentary, initial consultation.