Services

Client Advocacy and Claims
Personal and Business Protection
Retirement Planning
Wealth Accumulation

The real value of having an adviser, why we do what we do

Can’t get what you want? Don’t know where to start?

You want the insurance but you might have some underwriting hurdles. At Halstead Financial Services, we have been successful at obtaining insurance for clients where other advisers were not. We have a proven track record of improving substandard terms due to our deep experience and extensive relationships.

Or perhaps you have the insurance but for some reason your claim is unclear or disputed by the insurer. There are plenty of examples of where we have intervened in such a situation - with great results for our clients. The team at Halstead Financial Services specialises in claims payments and have spoken at Industry Forums on this and other topics.

How do you manage your everyday household (or business) expenses when your regular income has stopped coming in?

You can’t always protect yourself and your loved from life’s uncertainties. Although we don’t like to think about it, we know that traumatic and tragic events do happen.

It is important to protect your home and car. And most people do. But it is more important to protect your life, your ability to earn an income, your health and your business interests. Protecting loved ones from financial hardship should be an integral part of any financial plan. We are here to help you build a risk mitigation strategy that gives you comfort that in the event of the unthinkable, you will be covered.

For those with businesses, we will also review your business insurance needs – key person insurance and assistance with Buy-Sell Agreements.

We specialise in helping people address the risks life throws at them, by designing you a package that protects against the loss of income as a result of serious illness or injury, disablement and even death.

Compared with past generations, we are now spending longer in retirement – for many people, well over 20 years.

That’s good news of course. The challenge, though, is to ensure that the money we’ve worked so hard for provides us with the lifestyle we desire. Retirement is not simply about making ends meet. We want to travel, pursue hobbies and interests, eat well and generally enjoy life. Planning is the key to ensuring we make the most of our retirement savings. Knowing what your options are and how to manage taxation and social security issues, is vital to achieving the lifestyle you want.

Whether you are about to retire, or have already done so, or it’s a long way off, your Halstead Financial Services adviser can help you understand some of the key issues, including:

what to consider when planning your retirement
where you can invest your money
your retirement income options
superannuation

If one of your financial goals is to fund a comfortable retirement, then you may decide to invest additional money in superannuation. Superannuation is considered one of the most tax-effective ways to save for retirement.

Superannuation allows you to invest your money across a wide range of asset classes. You can usually choose a mix of these investments, in line with your feelings about risk and return. Likewise, you can generally choose which professional investment managers will look after your money in the fund.

To encourage all of us to provide for our own retirement, the Government offers various benefits and concessions within superannuation. These include the Government co-contribution, salary sacrifice and other incentives that may make superannuation an attractive investment option whether you are an employee or self-employed.

Once you’ve made a start, you’ll find that a range of investment and superannuation opportunities exists to help you build wealth.

For long-term capital growth, depending on your situation, it might make sense to invest in a spread of growth-oriented investments, such as Australian shares, property and international shares. That way, you are not exclusively reliant upon the fortunes of any one market to provide returns over the longer term. Sometimes it can take a long time to save up a meaningful amount of money to invest. That can be frustrating, especially if there are good opportunities you’d like to take advantage of. If you’d like to achieve your financial goals sooner, have more money to invest and spread your investments more widely, one of the opportunities might involve borrowing to invest (or gearing). A gearing strategy involves making use of existing assets to place investments that would otherwise be beyond your reach. But it’s not without risks, and we can help you understand whether this and other investment strategies are right for your personal situation.

Successful investing gives us the freedom to make lifestyle choices later on – and that is a good position to be in. For those with little or no experience, the world of investing can be a daunting place. The huge range of investment products and services, combined with an endless supply of information, can make it seem impossible for anyone but seasoned professionals to succeed. Yet, armed with a little knowledge, discipline and smart financial advice, you can take advantage of the available investment opportunities to build wealth and achieve your financial and lifestyle goals.

Investing differs from saving because it is money you want to work harder over a longer period of time, which you don’t need access to at short notice. The right type of investment for you depends very much on your personal circumstances. Essentially, the decision you make should be based on your reasons for investing, your tolerance of risk and your investment timeframe.

At Halstead Financial Services we can help you better understand investing and how you can realise your goals by implementing some of the proven concepts for successful investing.