As Maria’s personal financial adviser, Kaine not only saved her family tens of thousands of dollars but he was the trusted professional that Maria could rely on when it was most important.
Whilst the typical benefits of having a relationship with a financial adviser include management of investment portfolios, annual super contributions and insurance reviews, there are intangible benefits which are formed when building a relationship with an adviser that can be the most important of all.
I previously worked with a retired widow named Maria who had engaged Diamond Partners to review her financial position following the passing of her late husband (who had been the one predominantly managing their financial affairs).
Maria was a nervous investor given her lack of experience and therefore needed to develop trust in a financial adviser, and she chose me after a recommendation from her daughter.
Maria had funds in superannuation of approximately $600,000.
Upon further investigation, it was identified that the majority of these funds held a taxable component and with Maria having no living dependants, the future beneficiary would have lost up to $85,000 in tax upon her passing.
Given Maria’s health had taken a turn for the worse and she was in her late 80s, I felt it was important we had a discussion. I detailed what the taxation outcome would look like in the event of her passing and at this point, Maria expressed her desire to identify options at reducing this tax.
After meeting with Maria and discussing her options, it was then agreed that we would look to withdraw the funds from superannuation and invest in Maria’s own name. Maria proceeded with the advice to do so and we had everything arranged for Maria.
Unfortunately, Maria passed away within the following 12 months. While this was a sad time for her family, and also for our team to lose a wonderful client, the forward planning that Maria took prevented her children in losing close to $100,000 in tax from her superannuation balance.
