Making better choices
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Personal Financial Planning

Life Insurance Cover

Life cover can be used to settle debt, outstanding bonds, estate duty and other financial costs in the event of death. It can pay out an income and provide financial security for your family. It also enables business partners to continue running your business without added capital strain.

The types of benefits you can expect to find within the Life Cover category are:

  • Death Benefit 
  • Accidental Death Benefit 
  • Final Expenses Benefits

Disability Insurance / Income Protection

Disability assurance takes over where health assurance leaves off. Health assurance covers your medical expenses when you are ill or injured. Disability assurance is designed to provide you with an income when you become too ill or are injured so badly that you cannot continue to earn a living.

Disability assurance is also known as:

  • income protection assurance, 
  • sickness assurance, 
  • impairment assurance or 
  • dread disease assurance.

Disability assurance is important because it covers you as well as your dependants. You may not need life assurance against dying until you have dependants. But any employed person needs disability assurance from the day he or she starts work. After all, you will need an income for the rest of your life if you are disabled on your first day on the job.

Many of us who are in regular employment make the fundamental mistake of believing that the disability assurance attached to our group life assurance will be sufficient to meet all our financial needs should we become disabled. The truth is that this type of assurance will do no more than meet the costs of your most basic necessities.

Medical Aid

Having health insurance is important for several reasons. Uninsured people receive less medical care and less timely care, they have worse health outcomes, and lack of insurance is a fiscal burden for them and their families.

How to choose a medical aid scheme in SA

Joining a medical scheme is an essential decision for anybody who is concerned about his or her wellbeing as well as their family.
This is, however, a highly technical purchase for which the average person will need some assistance.
A reputable healthcare consultant or broker and even one’s general practitioner (GP) may need to be solicited for their expertise.

Short term Insurance

In these uncertain times many things can happen to threaten the lifestyle you cherish, accidental injury, vehicle loss or damage – they all result in serious expenses which could affect many households financially.

Short-term insurance can become an expensive part of your monthly budget. On one hand it offers peace of mind in cases of emergency, for example: a burst geyser, the theft of a car, a break-in resulting in the loss of some or all of your valuables. On the other hand, paying for too much insurance, or for insurance you don't need, is a waste of money.

Essentially you need to combine financial peace of mind with the correct cover. The most common forms of personal insurance are protection of:

  • household goods, 
  • personal liability cover and 
  • vehicle insurance.

Retirement

Retirement is a fact of life. The question is: What can you do to ensure that you retire in security and comfort?

The answer is to start your retirement planning as soon as possible. There are two primary stages to consider when developing your plan:

  • Retirement funding: the accumulation of capital and assets to support a comfortable retirement. 
  • Retirement income: identifying the correct product and asset mix to generate a retirement income to meet your post-retirement needs.

Why plan for retirement?

ARE you saving enough for your retirement? Statistics indicate that you're probably not - only 4% of South Africans who are 45 years old today will be able to live comfortably in their golden years.

If you regard being a member of your company's pension or provident fund as sufficient retirement planning, think again. You might be making the biggest mistake of your life - one you will regret when you retire and are forced to drop your standard of living because you didn't plan ahead.

Saving your money in a bank account is not enough because inflation will erode the buying power of your cash. You need to find a way to ensure that you expose your money to the growth potential inherent in the markets in order to secure your future financial stability.

Investment / Savings

You may be asking yourself why is there so much pressure to save money and open investments. If you have enough to pay for everything you need, why should you worry about putting any aside each month? There are a variety of reasons to begin saving money. Different people save for different reasons. Here are seven reasons that you may consider saving your money.

  1. Save for Emergency Funds 
  2. Save for Retirement 
  3. Save for a Down Payment for a House 
  4. Save for Vacations and Other Luxury Items 
  5. Save for a New Car 
  6. Save for Sinking Funds 
  7. Your Education

Wills

A Will is a function of your estate. It is a record of how you want your assets and liabilities dealt with after you are dead. A Will is therefore an essential part of estate planning.

As it is a crucial area of financial planning it is worth getting advice if you are drawing up a Will. If you do not have a Will, you die intestate (without a Will) and the laws of intestate succession apply.

In other words, the law of the land designates beneficiaries according to specific kinship. The two key elements of a Will are:

  • To ensure that your estate is distributed according to your wishes 
  • To ensure that your estate is effectively administered

Executors

You can also use your Will to appoint executor/s who are responsible for ensuring that the terms of your Will are carried out. Ideally this should be someone like a trusted member of the family or your lawyer.

If you do not have a Will, or appoint an executor, an executor will be appointed by the state.

Trusts

A Trust is a legal entity that can be established in order to holds and administer assets on your behalf. Whether it makes sense to establish a Trust depends on your individual circumstances. Some common reasons for setting up a Trust include:

  • To provide for dependents 
  • To provide for management of your assets should you become unable to oversee them yourself 
  • To cut through red tape and facilitate the transfer of your assets immediately to your beneficiaries upon your death 
  • To reduce estate taxes or provide the liquid assets to help pay for them

You need to find a way to ensure that you expose your money to the growth potential inherent in the markets in order to secure your future financial stability.

Estate Planning

Having a will is vital, but it is just one part of estate planning. You should also ensure that you have enough cash in your estate to meet your liabilities and pay estate duty, without compromising your dependants.

Estate planning is an essential part of financial planning. Your "estate" means everything you own (your assets and any assets deemed to be yours) and do not own (your liabilities). Estate planning is all about how you intend to dispose of your assets (after paying off your liabilities) when you die.

The more complex your finances, the more essential it is that you get expert advice.

Personal Income Tax

At the centre of personal financial planning lies tax planning, which runs like a golden thread through every aspect of our comprehensive financial planning offering.

Without proper tax planning, a financial plan is only half complete.

Olemera - Personal Financial Planning Johannesburg

Contact our financial planners in Johannesburg for expert financial planning services that match your needs and budget.

 

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