Blog
Welcome to our Personal Finance Blog
Money bewilders most of us. How to spend it, save it, invest it, and how to best protect the person who makes it.
These questions we all face daily — a puzzle we all attempt to understand and solve just about every day. Yet despite money's centrality to our lives and businesses, it's something we all grapple with, and mostly in private.
- Money is the 'Lord Voldemort' of topics; feared by most and mentioned by a few. It's oddly uncomfortable to discuss socially and rarely even with our partners, parents, and children.
Perhaps that's because managing our money and life's risks inevitably involves the fusion of both the emotional and practical aspects of our decision-making processes. The most difficult of questions are those with both economic and emotional answers.
Our educational Personal Finance Blog is for people who want to grow and remain wealthy. And while the journey toward wealth is clearly marked, you still have to be looking in the right direction.
At Sapience, we're all about The How.
Is there a big difference between Small Business Exit plans, and Succession Planning?
Absolutely!
But first, a Personal Note from Drew Browne
When I was first starting out as a new small business owner, it seemed I was forever needing to fend off salespeople who would tell me that their latest sales product, was an essential requirement above all others, for my new small business.
When it came to Succession Planning for Business, I recall a high-pressure salesman feeling very proud of himself when he insisted, "...before you even start a business, you need to have your succession plan in place first to exit the business.
'I still cringe whenever I hear the words, 'succession planning', uttered'.
There is a cost to Staying Open For Business, and that's a core risk to manage.
The Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the more recent COVID-19 Global Pandemic, and now inflation and rates heading north of 8%, have brought many things into the front of small business minds.
In response to financial crisis events, many business owners (and their families) had to find new ways to cut costs, deliver greater value and reduce margins and overheads, in response to tightening credit, slowing business spending, the growing inconsistent cashflow and the near runaway state of inflation, of the economy.
We all had to identify and reconsider what we believed were essential and non-essential costs to our respective businesses. But how do you decide what's truly essential and what's a 'nice to have'?
When it comes to small business, there are four business pillars that provide essential life support to an ongoing and profitable business.
And the first one is surprisingly often unknown to many small business owners and their accountants — the ability to insure 100% of all your fixed overhead costs, with Fixed Business Expenses insurance.
Dementia and Head Traumas are becoming a more common part of Australian life
So what happens if you lose the mental capacity to make your own medical decisions?
Who is legally empowered to make those on your behalf, and what happens if you haven't got the required legal documents in place should that occur?
Thankfully there is a process where you can decide ahead of time who you want to make significant medical decisions for you, should that ever need to occur.
But like all important decisions, you need to make them well before you need them.
Life happens to us all, all the time - avoid the mess the unexpected death of a business partner will cause
Many people go into business with a business partner. It can be a great way to leverage your skills, increase your profitability and extend your reach into new customer markets.
The downside is, if not managed, it can also increase your risk of losing it all.
Whether you’re in business with a family member repairing cars or you’re part of a group of professional colleagues running an accountancy firm; each business has its own particular risks and rewards that need managing.
But there is one risk that is special to all partnerships.
Downsize your home & Upsize your Super
The closer you get to retirement age, the more your thoughts may be to learning about more ways to get more money into your superannuation fund. While you might consider downsizing your home, why not consider upsizing your super balance at the same time?
Getting more money into your super when you sell the family home is just one of the strategies to consider when thinking about how to increase the balance of your super fund.
The average lifetime cost of care for the top Five Major Health Conditions
As medical advances continue to make amazing advances that extend life, it's good news, — it's also expensive news.
The good news is more Australians are living longer healthier lives. Our ability to recover from major illnesses is improving and our lifespans in retirement are becoming longer - presenting a new problem — the risk of outliving our superannuation and funding the lifetime cost of care for major medical conditions we all will face.
- New National Secure Document Storage Service
- The Curse of a Post Office Will Kit
- When to arrange Intended Parent and IVF Surrogate Life Insurances chart
- Is it time to upgrade how you see Retirement?
- Federal Budget Summary 2022-23
- Do you have a Company Power of Attorney in place?
- Ever had friends or family constantly ask to borrow money?
