2Identify Client Objectives and Financial Situation
Statement of Advice Case Study
(Dennis and Donna Barker)
Case Study
You are an authorised representative of a full-service licensed dealer group, Doggie Financial Planning Pty Ltd. Dennis and Donna Barker have come in to see you to ask for your assistance to plan out their next seven years and then help them settle into retirement.
Donna (aged 53 – DOB 15/07/--) and Dennis (aged 52 – DOB 23/07/--) have been ma
ied for 29 years and live at Lot 3 Wattle Road, Hurst
idge, Victoria. Their only child, a daughter, Megan, is financially independent and has two children.
Donna works full time as a business development manager for Best Marketing and has recently been promoted. She is paid a base salary of $95,000 p.a., and her employer pays a Superannuation Guarantee contribution of 9.5% on top of that. She has heard about salary sacrifice and is interested in how this might be used to help build funds for her retirement She wants to salary sacrifice as much as she can to help build funds for her retirement in 7 years’ time.
Donna’s superannuation is cu
ently in a balanced retail superannuation fund, MM Superannuation. Her cu
ent balance is $290,000 and earns on average 7% p.a. after fees and taxes. She also has $300,000 in term life and TPD insurance cover within her superannuation fund.
Dennis works full time as a joiner making custom furniture for Newbold’s Pty Ltd. He earns a base salary of $45,000 p.a. His employer pays Superannuation Guarantee contribution of 9.5% on top of that
Dennis has $138,000 in superannuation savings, held within the PP Superannuation Fund. The funds are invested in a capital stable portfolio with a very low allocation to growth assets. Returns on this fund are around 4% p.a. after fees and taxes.
They would like you to review their insurances. Dennis has $150,000 term life and TPD with PP Super.
They are living on a semi-rural property which has a house valued at around $750,000, and they have a mortgage of $110,000 in the form of a line of credit. The interest rate on this facility is 5.5% and they are cu
ently making interest payment of $6,050 per year ($504.17 pm).
Both are non-smokers and in excellent health. They do not have a cu
ent will or any powers of attorney, and Dennis would like you to assist them with setting these up. Donna would feel more comfortable seeing a female estate planner.
Diploma Case Study, Continued
Their personal expenses are around $40,000 p.a. and they spend an additional $10,000 p.a. on holidays. (Total outgoings are therefore $56, XXXXXXXXXXThey have private health cover, car and house and contents insurance.
Donna intends to work for seven more years (until aged 60), once she retires they believe they will need $40,000 p.a (in today’s dollars) for their living expenses in retirement. However, Dennis intends to then start working part-time once Donna retires in 7 years’ time and will do this until age 65 and estimates that he will earn $25,000 p.a. and they intend to use this income to fund any holidays or other expenses as required.
They would like to find a way to reduce their mortgage repayments, and still have this paid off by the time Donna retires. They also want to increase the amount of money in both of their superannuation funds.
They have also stated that they want to ensure they have sufficient money for their grandchildren (now aged 6 and 4 years) to attend university. They estimate they will need to accumulate approximately $120,000 (in today’s dollars) over the next 12 years to pay for this.
Aside from their superannuation funds, they also have $9,000 in a bank account earning 4% p.a., $15,000 in a term deposit earning 4% p.a. and $12,000 in a cash management account earning 5% p.a.
However, they are not happy with the taxation implications of these accounts, as any interest earned seems to go in tax. Their everyday transaction account holds $3,000 but this has been set aside for emergencies and the clients do not want this changed.
After completing a comprehensive risk profile analysis, you ascertain that they both have ‘balanced’ risk profiles.
Lifestyle Assets
Assets
Owne
Value ($)
Liabilities ($)
Net Asset Value ($)
Home
Joint
750,000
110,000
640,000
Cars
Joint
40,000
Nil
40,000
Contents
Joint
50,000*
Nil
50,000*
Total
840,000
730,000
Investment Assets
Assets
Owne
Value ($)
Return (%)
Liabilities ($)
Net Asset Value ($)
Bank Account
Joint
9,000
4
Nil
9,000
Term Deposit
Joint
15,000
4
Nil
15,000
Cash Management Account
Joint
12,000
5
Nil
12,000
Total
36,000
36,000
Assessment Task 1
From the scenario in your case study, list in the table below what documents you would review to analyse the integrity of the information provided by the client.
Enter your answers in the space provided below.
Information provided by client
What documents would you review to confirm accuracy or analyse the integrity of the information provided?
Marks
Cashflow Management
1. Income
$ K
$ K
i) Wife’s income:
/ 1
ii) Husband’s income:
/ 1
2. Tax
i) Wife’s annual tax:
/ 1
ii) Husband’s tax:
/ 1
3. Expenses
$ K
$ K
i) Living expenses/mortgage:
/ 1
ii) Discretionary expenses (holidays etc):
/ 1
Assessment Task 1, continued
Information
What documents would you review to analyse
the integrity of the information provided?
Marks
Wealth Creation
4. Super
$ K
$ K
i) Wife’s superannuation:
/ 1
ii) Husband’s superannuation:
/ 1
5. Investments
($ K)
i) Cash Investments Held:
/ 1
6. Debt Reduction
($ K)
($ K)
i) Mortgage:
/ 1
ii) Credit Cards:
/ 1
Wealth Protection
7. Personal Insurance
$ K
$ K
i) Wife’s cu
ent Life/TPD insurance:
/ 1
ii) Husband’s cu
ent Life/TPD insurance:
/ 1
8. Estate Planning
yes / no
yes / no
i) Wife’s estate planning:
/ 1
ii) Husband’s estate planning:
/ 1
Assessment Task 1
Use the http:
www.taxcalc.com.au/[footnoteRef:1] and a cu
ent tax rate to calculate Dennis and Donna’s: [1: ]
· Investment income
· Superannuation contributions, and
· Surplus income after tax.
Use the Financial Planning Research spreadsheet provided to assist you in your calculations and then enter your results in the table below. You should use the copy and paste function to copy the calculations from the spreadsheet in to the tables below.
As your clients have private health insurance, the Medicare Levy surcharge does not apply. Also, assume that investments are jointly held so that 50% of the income is earned by each.
Investment Income
Investment
Amount
Rate
Income
Bank Account
Term deposit
Cash Management Account
Total
/ 2
Superannuation Contributions (cu
ent situation)
Base Salary
SG Rate
Amount
Donna
Dennis
Total
/ 2
Surplus Income (cu
ent situation)
Base Salary
Investment Income
Taxable Income
Tax on Income
Medicare levy
Tax Payable
(incl LITO)
Expenses
(incl mortgage payment)
Surplus income
Donna
Dennis
Total
/ 6
Assessment Task 1
From the scenario in your case study,
a) write down one or more specific financial objectives and expectations for the generic needs provided,
) quantify the objective by expressing the amount in today’s dollars (PV- Present Value), and
c) Describe how you would verify each objective.
Generic Needs
(a) Specific client objectives and time frames (if applicable)
(b) Amount
(PV)
(c) How would you verify the amounts in (b) or test for viability? (No calculations are required)
Marks
Cashflow Management
1. Income
/3
2. Tax minimisation
/ 3
3. Expenses
/3
Wealth Creation
4. Superannuation
/ 3
5. Investment Planning
/ 3
6. Debt reduction
/ 3
Wealth Protection
7. Personal Insurance
/ 3
8. Estate Planning
/ 3
Assessment Task 1, continued
From the scenario in your case study, establish the basis for strategy development by identifying the strategic options for each generic need.
You should develop a minimum of three options for each generic need which would act as a hypothesis for you to investigate further.
Generic Needs
Possible Options
Marks
Cashflow Management
i) Income
/ 3
ii) Tax minimisation
/ 3
iii) Expenses
/ 3
Wealth Creation
iv) Superann-uation
/ 3
v) Investment Planning
/ 3
vi) Debt Reduction
/ 3
Wealth Protection
vii) Personal Insurance
/ 3
viii) Estate Planning
/ 3
Assessment Task 1, continued
From the various options that you have given in 1.3 (a), please list four (4) options / alternatives that you would want to present to the clients to get their approval before conducting detailed research.
For example, you might start this discussion to confirm objectives with “I understand that you have a preference to do X, but if I could show you a significant advantage in doing Y, would you consider it?”
Would you consider:
Marks
1
/1
2
/1
3
/1
4
/1
Assessment Task 2
The next step in the Financial Service Advice Process includes the identification of research requirements and parameters.
This requires that:
· Aims and objectives of research including strategy, product and performance parameters are established against client requirements and expectations with all issues identified,
· Intended use of the research information is clearly established
· A wide range of relevant internal and external information resources required for the research are identified and accessed,
· Information requirements not met by regular sources are identified and strategies developed to access them legitimately, and
· Timeframes are established and requests for information prioritised to ensure milestones are met.
Complete your answers to this assessment task in the space in the table provided:
The first column you are required to fill in is (b) - What are some research questions that you could ask to determine the clients’ aims and objectives?
You are required to provide