Johan Loubser - Financial Planner

11/08/2017

INVEST IN YOUR CHILDREN

"Today I would like to share a few ideas on how you can give your children’s financial future a head start and provide them with a platform the day they step into the adult world"

Click on the website link below to read the full article:

INVEST IN YOUR CHILDREN by Daniel | Jul 27, 2017 | Uncategorized | 0 comments Every parent dreams of giving their children all they desire and providing the best possible future for them but parenting does not come with an instruction manual on the do’s and don’ts of parenting. Often it happens that...

20/04/2017

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE NEW TAX SEASON

"Evaluating you tax planning on an annual basis with your financial planner can be one of the most profitable half an hour chats you can have."

With the end of February having passed, yet another tax year is at its end. Another year that we have continued to take home less money after the tax man has done his bit. But how can we change this, what are we to do?

08/02/2017

KICK-START YOUR 2017 FINANCIAL PLANNING

"Each year I like to take one or two days before the rush starts again to review my financial planning and here are a few tips that might be able to help you plan more effectively"

Each year we all start the New Year with exciting ambitions and goals also known as New Year’s Resolutions. It may be going to the gym more or eating healthier, maybe even to stop smoking. What happens most of the time is that we are almost in February and you have been so busy getting everything re...

29/11/2016

What to do when moving from one company to another.

As the end of the year is approaching, it is often the case that allot of people have decided to move into a new career or move to a new company offering better opportunities, do so from the start of the new year. A new year, with a new start.

But how does this affect you financially? When moving from your employer, you now have to decide what happens to your pension/provident fund. There are a few options to choose from that not everyone is aware of, and making the wrong decision can have a massive negative effect on your retirement one day. These are the option that you do have:

1. Cash withdrawal

You have the option to withdraw your pension/provident fund and have it paid into your bank account. Even though this sounds great just before the holidays, when withdrawing your pension/provident fund only the first R25 000 is tax free. This means anything above R25 000 will be taxed according to the SARS withdrawal table which is from 18% up to 36% depending on the amount. This means that you will most likely be getting out allot less than what is in your fund.

The second problem with this option is that you will never catch up the amount of money you would have accumulated over the next 20 to 30 years through compound interest and will leave you with a massive gap at retirement. You would have to contribute almost double the amount of your pension fund contributions to your retirement savings just to make up for the amount that you have lost through withdrawing your pension fund.

2. Transfer to your new employer

If your new employer has a pension/provident fund, you are able to transfer it over to the new fund. This will not trigger any tax event, which means that you transfer the full amount from the old fund to the new one.

When doing this the only negative point is that you have to play by their rules. Your money will be invested in their fund, in the portfolios that they have chosen. This means you have no control over the risk you take or the portfolio choices. You are also not able to access that money until the day you retire or leave their employment. In this way you lose all control over your money and completely tie up your funds. If your new employer does not have a pension fund you will have to look at starting your own Retirement Annuity to ensure that you maintain that retirement savings.You are also able to transfer your pension/provident fund tax free to a retirement annuity, but this will again tie up your money until retirement.

3. Pension/Provident Preservation fund

The last option you have, which offers the best of both is a preservation fund. A preservation fund is seen as a parking space for your pension/provident fund. This allows you to transfer your fund without triggering any tax event, which also means the whole amount gets transferred to the preservation fund. Your money gets invested in your choice of portfolios and risk profile, to grow until the day that you retire. This will allow for the effect of compound interest and make your money work for you. You also have the chance to manage your own investment and make informed decisions with your financial advisor. You will also have a bigger variety of asset managers to choose from.

In a preservation fund, you are allowed one withdrawal before retirement (subject to the withdrawal tax tables) which offers a bit more flexibility and liquidity should emergency strike. Preservation funds does not tie up your money completely and offers you much more control over your investment which makes it one of the best choices for transferring of pension/provident funds.

If your new employer does not offer any retirement benefits, there are allot of things to consider as you now have the responsibility to make provision for retirement yourself and you also lose out on risk benefits attached to a pension/provident fund. You will most likely have to start a retirement annuity to sustain the previous retirement savings. Please remember these are only the basic things to consider when moving from employer and it would be best advisable to consult with a financial advisor to look at all the options to make an informed decision.

I hope you found this helpful, and if you have any questions you can find me at www.jlfinance.co.za or email me at [email protected]

Welcome To JL Finance Welcome, my website is for clients and prospective clients to see exactly what I can offer them as a financial advisor. This website will be able to provide you with more information regarding all of our products and the benefits they can add to your financial portfolio. As an…

17/10/2016

I am very happy and excited to launch my new personal financial planning website. Here you will be able to see what I can offer you as a Liberty Life Financial Advisor and get more information on the services that I offer.

You can find me at www.jlfinance.co.za , if you have any questions or need more info feel free to contact me.

27/07/2016

“The T&C’s of long term Insurance”

As an adviser it often occurs that I speak to clients that do not really understand how the finer details of long term insurance works, and we often get asked “Do you guys pay your claims?” As soon as one understands how something works it is much easier to understand and find trust in the product.

Today’s article is about the more technical “behind the scenes” of long term insurance for you to know how it works after signing the documents and what to look out for in your Risk Cover. When speaking about Risk Cover going forward, I am referring to Life Cover, Disability Cover and Critical Illness Cover. A few things that you might help you understand how risk cover works.

1. Underwriting.
What exactly is underwriting and where do they fit in the picture? After you have spoke to your Adviser and have signed the documents, you have then applied for the benefits that you have discussed with your Adviser. That application then gets sent to underwriting. The job of the underwriting department is to assess the risk you carry for the benefits that you applied for, by looking at your medical history. They look at your medical history to be able to make a decision if they can give you the benefits at normal rates or if they have to exclude any previous medical occurrence from your policy or maybe give you the benefits at a higher rate(Loading). These exclusions and loading differ from benefit to benefit.It is like taking out car insurance, you won’t be able to claim on a dent you had in your car before it was insured.

2. Disclosure & Non-Disclosure.
Every year when looking at the claim statistics of all the major insurance companies, there is always a very small part of claims that was not paid out. People often like to use this as a benchmark to say that certain companies do not pay claims. That small part of claims not paid is usually because of previous medical history that was not disclosed when applying for the insurance. Just to give you a bit of background on claims, when a claim is made for Risk Cover there are certain things that happen. One of these are the Insurance Company asks for a Medical Report from your Doctor, they then check to see that all medical history was disclosed. Should they find medical history that was not disclosed on the policy, there is a very big chance they will adjust your pay out or not pay the claim at all as they would most likely have made a different decision at underwriting stage about the rates or exclusions. This is known as Non-Disclosure and the reason for some unhappy clients.

When going through underwriting, please be honest about your all your medical history if there is any, this will ensure that you know you will be paid the day that you claim on your policy and there is no surprises.

3. Pre Underwriting and Post Underwriting.
This part of the article for me is the most important as this makes a big difference in choosing your insurance company. You get two types of underwriting, pre underwriting which is underwriting at inception and post underwriting which is underwriting at claim stage.

Pre underwriting occurs when you apply for the Risk policy; they look at your medical history at that moment of time and underwrite you on your current health. The benefits to this is that you then know exactly what the decision is from underwriting on your policy and if there are exclusions or any loading. Once this is done you know that your claim will be paid as you then know if you can claim on all claim categories and on what you will not be able to claim and you know exactly what you are covered for.

Post underwriting occurs at claim stage, they then look at your medical history and underwrite you based on that. Should they find something in your medical history that would have affected the underwriting decision, they are likely to adjust your claim pay out to that decision or not pay out at all. These companies usually accept a declaration of good health from you or only do minimal medical questions and screening tests when applying for the policy the first time and look at your medical history when you claim.

When looking at different Insurance companies for your risk cover, ensure you go with the companies that do pre underwriting, and that you are honest regarding your medical history. This will help to avoid any surprises at claim stage. I hope you found this article helpful, if you did please share with your friends and family.

08/06/2016

Why should I meet with a Financial Advisor?

Most of the time as an financial advisor phoning prospective clients we regularly get the answer, "I am not interested". Most people think of advisors as salespeople, which is the wrong way to look at it. There are allot of ways that you as client can benefit from the service we can offer you, which I will discuss with you in this article.

1.) Preparing for the worst
The first part of financial planning should always be to prepare for the risks of life; death, loss of income and dread disease. An financial advisor will be able to show you exactly how much cover you would need to replace your income should you not be able to work due to disabilty or critical illness, or to provide for your family even when you are not here anymore.

By discussing these concerns, you will be able to see the shortfall you would have in the case of any of these events happening and what the impact will be on you and your family financially. This will provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision about planning for these realities of life.

2.) Building Wealth and reaching your goals
After planning for the risks of life, you can start building wealth. In this part of your financial planning you will be discussing your future goals with your financial advisor. Whether your goal is buying a house in the near future, saving for your kids education in 5 years or making sure you can retire in your house next to the beach in 25 years.

Your financial advisor will be able to show you exactly how much you would need to start investing to reach your goal. He will also guide you towards the correct investment vehicle to suit your needs.

The most important aspect of meeting with an advisor is that he will be able to educate you, by having a chat with a financial advisor you would be able to make an informed decision together with your advisor to implement the best tailor made financial plan for your situation.

I hope you found this article helpful, comment or share if you feel your friends and family can benefit from reading this. If you would like to have a chat regarding your financial planning feel free to contact me.
[email protected]

14/05/2016

Financial planning for young achievers

Starting off in the working industry is the perfect time to start planning. You might not be earning the big pay checks yet but you have the big advantage of time, time to build your wealth and become a man or woman who will be able to provide a brilliant future for their family. Isn't that what we all what? Here is a few tips on how to start your financial planning.

1. Draw a budget

Drawing up a budget will help you see what your priorities are, and how much you are able to spend each month on those priorities. It is very important that your budget is realistic and that you compare what you actualy spend to your budget and adjusting the budget so it is realistic. This will help you manage your money better and help you make informed decisions.

2. Start saving

Sitting down with a financial planner and having a look at your financial goals, whether it be buying your fist home or saving to go on a overseas holiday, he will be able to show you how you can reach those goals as quick as possible and what investment vehicles will be best suited for you to reach your goals.

3. Build an emergency fund

Build up a fund for those rainy days when emergency strikes and you need that extra money. This will help not to have that big an impact on your monthly budget. Unit trust investments are perfect to start off with as you have immediate access to your money while still obtaining market related returns.

4. Insure yourself

Start of by getting yourself life cover, disability cover and trauma cover. Insurance is another expense that just has to be on your budget. After educating yourself for 20 years, you now start to reap the rewards by earning a income for the next 40 plus years.

Should something happen and you are not able to earn an income, the consequences are massive. Having to replace 40 years of income is a big expense, which will probable become someone elses liability if you are not insured. While being younger it is fairly cheaper to insure yourself, so do not wait.

5. Contribute towards a retirement annuity (RA)

Starting to save for retirement is a big commitment, and lot of young people hesitate, but dont!

Budget for it and just start. With the cost of living increasing each year you will have to save enough to ensure you will have sufficient funds to retire financially independent. The tax advantages of a RA makes it one of the best vehicles to invest in and with the effect of compound interest the sooner you start the better!

This is just a short summary of things you need to look at and plan for, sitting down with a financial planner you can adress all your financial concerns and goals and put a financial plan in place tailored for your needs. I hope you find this article helpful, if you did please share to help your friends.

Feel free to contact me for any questions or to have a chat over a cup of coffee :)
[email protected]

19/04/2016

Great to work for a company that makes such a big difference in people's life!