Maven Quarterly Newsletter - Summer

Newsletter Summer Edition January 2016

WELCOME to a new year and new beginnings I hope you enjoyed the recent festive season and were able to spend some quality time with family and friends. It is my pleasure to provide you with our latest newsletter, which includes some articles on what economists are expecting for the next 12 months and some tips on preparing for aged care. I have also included some information about some staff changes in our office. On a personal note, I am excited at the new beginnings in store for us, with the birth of our first baby due in mid April. With regard to the current weakness in investment markets, unfortunately many of us have experienced this all too often in the past ten years or so. At this time, investors may be feeling nervous, and some may find the worry too much by selling their poor performing stocks. Remember, losses are only made when an underperforming investment is sold. Sometimes riding out the negative period and keeping a calm head is the way ahead, as this can give your investment time to recover. Please call me if you have particular concerns or would like me to answer any questions you may have. I look forward to catching up with you over the year. With kind regards, Adrian Cassidy Principal Adviser Maven Wealth Pty Ltd

MARKET INSIGHT Generally, a positive market is expected in 2016, with economic growth in a 2.50 – 3.00% range. The Australian dollar is expected to fall early, before ending at around US70cents by the end of the year. The cash rate is largely expected to remain unchanged. An extract from a Market Update prepared by GWMAS trading as ThreeSixty Research appears below Global economies The Federal Reserve (The Fed) appears intent on Global equity markets continued the October rally commencing the normalization of interest rates with Europe and Japan enjoying solid returns in with sufficient indications that the pathway for November. Global growth expectations remain in higher interest rates will be very gradual. The Fed the 3%–3.5% range for 2016 (NAB Economics). is signalling a cautious approach. Business conditions in the UK and US continue to The US 2015 corporate earnings growth remains steady improve while the Eurozone is showing steady at -0.5% (revenues to -3.3%), while the 2016 estimated improvement. earnings growth remains steady at 7.9% (revenue growth at 4.4%). Further stabilisation of China economic data and further quasi-easing policy from the People’s Bank The current 12 month forward Price Earnings (P/E) ratio of China (PBoC) indicates that the combination of is 16.1 times. various stimulus policies over the past 12 months is positively impacting the economy. Europe The US Federal Reserve is expected to commence Over to the Eurozone, the November Markit the policy of ‘interest rate normalisation’ beginning Composite PMI index came in at 54.2, up from the with an initial interest rate increase in December. 53.9 in October. The Eurozone continues to have The Eurozone economic data has continued to solid gains in output and new orders and growth improve with a broad based improvement in continues to support job creation. The pace of economic activity. expansion across output, new orders and employment is close to 4.5 year highs. US Importantly, all of the Eurozone countries included In the US, economic data continues to support a in the composite PMI data had economic expansion in November. Germany continued a solid gradual and prolonged recovery. recovery while Ireland and Spain had further solid The unemployment rate is at 5.0% although this improvements. The further recovery in the doesn’t capture those who’ve given up looking for Eurozone economy has stimulated job creation. work. Employment rose in Germany, Italy, Spain and Ireland while France had modest cuts.

China In China, further stabilisation of the economy was Housing credit growth was up 0.6% mom while the witnessed in November. Economic data continues annual rate was 7.6% yoy. to suggest that the combination of monetary easing, Retail sales growth in October continued to including six interest rate cuts over the past 12 improve and the outlook for retail sales is positive. months, is having a positive impact. Industrial Retailers are continuing to report improved output increased by 6.2% year-on-year (yoy) in business conditions. November, while Retail sales increased by 11.2%. Employment growth has continued to improve, Fixed asset investment increased 10.2%. while wages growth has remained subdued. Further, the PBoC’s Foreign Exchange Trade Consumer confidence has been variable but System introduced a new Yuan index based on 13 improving. currencies. This will have the effect of reducing the currency’s link to the USD and allow the Yuan to Interest rate and Australian Dollar (AUD) sensitive weaken further against the USD. industries have generally outperformed while improvements in areas such as retail in November Asia region are an encouraging sign that the recovery in the non-mining sector is becoming more entrenched. In Over to Japan, manufacturing activity in November contrast, mining continues to weaken. continued the positive data witnessed in October. Housing finance data trended lower in October, Both production and new orders increased while down 2% mom. Investor finance declined for the employment and buying activity expanded in sixth consecutive month, -6.1% mom and -9.2% November. yoy. The Manufacturing PMI at 52.6% was up from NAB updated economic forecasts continue to 52.4% in October. The index was at a 20 month indicate that global growth will remain in the 3%- high. 3.5% in 2016, while the Australian GDP forecasts The growth in new orders was supported by strong have been revised to 2.7% in 2016 and 3% in 2017. international demand from Asian customers. Australian house price growth was up 0.1% mom In India, the Manufacturing PMI came in at 50.2%, in November (period ended 6 December 2015). The down from the 52.6% in October. Growth in data continues to reflect a slowing residential manufacturing production softened to the slowest housing market. in the current 25 month sequence of expansion,     while service activity stagnated. Indian service The information contained in this Market Update is current as companies saw demand growth lose momentum at 14/12/2015 and was prepared by GWM Adviser Services through November. Limited ABN 96 002 071749 trading as ThreeSixty Research, registered office 105-153 Miller Street North Sydney NSW 2060. Australia This company is a member of the National group of companies. Any advice in this Market Update has been prepared without Back home, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) taking account of your objectives, financial situation or needs. kept the cash rate at 2.0% at its December meeting Because of this you should, before acting on any advice, and continues to retain an accommodative policy. consider whether it is appropriate to your objectives, financial Rates are expected to remain on hold for an situation and needs. extended period with no increase until mid-2017. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Before acquiring a financial product, you should Business credit growth has continued to improve. obtain a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) relating to that In October, business credit growth increased 1% product and consider the contents of the PDS before making a month-on-month (mom) and was up 6.6% yoy. decision about whether to acquire the product.

PLAN AHEAD for the aged care you want Early planning can take away a lot of the stress and uncertainty that can arise when considering aged care at home or a residential aged care facility. Know what your options are The first option that probably comes to mind is a residential aged care facility. These facilities provide accommodation and care depending on your personal needs. Care can range from personal care, such as help with showering and dressing, together with occasional nursing care to continuous nursing care for those with a greater degree of frailty. What you may not realise, however, is that there are also Home Care Packages that provide access to services that can help you to stay at home for as long as possible. Support services may include cleaning, meal preparation and transport for shopping or appointments. Start planning early There are a number of reasons why you should plan ahead and well before the need for aged care is imminent. For example: in many cases, the need to move into residential care can be sudden due to a serious illness or injury (eg a stroke, heart attack, or fall), or another unexpected event it’s not uncommon to find there are significant waitlists for residential care, particularly at the more popular facilities, and regardless of whether home or residential aged care is required, if you wait until the last minute to speak to a financial adviser, you may not be able to minimise the fees you may have to pay and/or maximise the social security benefits you may receive.

Visit local facilities Whether you currently need residential aged care or not, ideally you should plan to visit a range of facilities in your chosen area as soon as possible and, you may prefer to do this with family members. Becoming familiar with the alternatives can enable you and your family to have meaningful conversations regarding your options and make more informed lifestyle and financial decisions. Importantly, with assistance from a financial adviser, you can: determine whether care in your preferred facility is affordable, and potentially start restructuring your assets to improve your financial position. Assess affordability A range of fees may be payable when accessing care services. One of the key payments when moving into residential care is the accommodation payment. This payment: is subject to certain limits can be paid as a lump sum, in regular instalments, or a combination of a lump sum and regular instalments, and is published on the facilities website and at myagedcare.gov.au for potential residents to consider. The published amount will vary between facilities and, as a general rule, it will be higher for newer places because of the money recently outlaid on building or improving the accommodation, and for facilities in more affluent suburbs. It’s therefore important to ensure you will have sufficient assets to pay the accommodation payment required to secure yourself a spot in your facility of choice when the time comes, as well as cover the ongoing aged care fees and your living expenses. Understand the trade-off There are a range of strategies that can be used to reduce aged care fees. However, caution needs to be exercised to ensure you have enough money to afford the care you want. A financial adviser can help you to address this complex issue. They can also assist in many other ways. This includes helping to address your estate planning needs, in conjunction with your lawyer. . To find out more about the information in this article contact us. Article Source: mlc.com.au/toolkits/aged care

CHANGES to postal charges NEW Financial Services Guide Our Australian Financial Services Licensee, The way Australians communicate is changing. Godfrey Pembroke Ltd recently made some With the shift to digital communications, changes to the Financial Services Guide. Australians are not sending as many letters as they used to. As a result, Australia Post has made The changes include changes to their postal services. clarity on the purpose of the FSG Australia Post have introduced three postal enhanced disclosure regarding related services: Regular, Priority and Express Post. parties third party insurance disclosures; and The Regular service will deliver mail within 1 to 6 a clearer description of the complaints business days, and the cost of postal for this service handling process has increased to $1 (up from $0.70). We are required to provide our clients with the The Priority service will deliver mail within 1 to 4 latest Financial Services Guide prior to issuing business days and will cost a further $0.50 (ie further advice. $1.50). Therefore, attached with this newsletter is a copy of Express Post will deliver the next business day, and the latest FSG (Part 1 and Part 2). costs start from $5.75. Your file will be updated to indicate that Version 9 As a result of these significant increases, Maven of the FSG has been issued to you and at your next Wealth Advisors are no longer in a position to review, we will ask you to acknowledge that you provide Reply Paid envelopes to our clients for received this document return mail requirements. We are fortunate that we are able to communicate with many of our clients electronically (via email). If you currently receive postal mail from us, but have the ability to have your communications sent electronically, we would encourage you to let us know, so that we can change the way in which we communicate with you.

EXCITING NEWS at Maven Wealth Advisors Important information and disclaimer Information contained within this publication has From the 4 of March, we will been prepared by GWM Adviser Services Limited th be two staff members down, ABN 96 002 071749 trading as ThreeSixty Research, and will have two new faces to registered office 105-153 Miller Street North Sydney fill the spaces. NSW 2060. This company is a member of the National group of companies. Any advice in this publication is In just a few short weeks, our of a general nature only and has not been tailored to Administration Assistant, your personal circumstances. Accordingly, reliance Francesca, will be heading off should not be placed on the information contained in on maternity leave, with the this document as the basis for making any financial birth of her baby due on 20 March. investment, insurance or other decision. Please seek personal advice prior to acting on this information. Just days after that, our Practice Manager (and my Information in the Aged Care article herein is beautiful wife) will also be taking maternity leave, accurate as at May 2015. In some cases the with our baby due on 12 April. information has been provided to us by third parties. While it is believed the information is accurate and Whilst they are on leave, we will employ the reliable, the accuracy of that information is not services of a Receptionist to provide you with guaranteed in any way. Opinions constitute our ongoing reception and customer service. We have judgement at the time of issue and are subject to recently engaged Helen Wall to provide ongoing change. Neither the Licensee nor any member of the support to the business by way of paraplanning NAB Group, nor their employees or directors give and practice management during Stav’s leave. any warranty of accuracy, nor accept any responsibility for errors or omissions in this I hope you meet our new staff members soon and document. Any general tax information provided in we will endeavour to let you know when Francesca this publication is intended as a guide only and is and Stav each welcome their new babies into the based on our general understanding of taxation laws. world. It is not intended to be a substitute for specialised taxation advice or an assessment of your liabilities, Please feel very welcome to contact me or any of obligations or claim entitlements that arise, or could our friendly staff if you have any queries or arise, under taxation law, and we recommend you concerns. consult with a registered tax agent. Adrian Adrian Cassidy and Maven Wealth Advisors ABN 14008081187 are Authorised Representatives of Godfrey Pembroke Limited ABN 23 002 336 254 - Australian Financial Services Licensee., Registered office at 105-153 Miller Street, North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia. A member of the National group of companies. Maven Wealth Pty Ltd If you wish to unsubscribe from our client newsletters, 209 Melbourne Street please send an email to [email protected] or North Adelaide SA 5006 contact us on 08 8410 0151. P ⁞: +61 8 8410 0151 F: ⁞+61 8 8231 1420 E ⁞ [email protected]