What if you opted to give a present that could help shape the financial future for yourself or your loved ones? Before you make that transfer or sign over an asset, it’s important to consider the opportunities, risks and rules that come with financial gifts to ensure you avoid any unexpected surprises along the way. 1. Investing for family Imagine you make an initial investment of $1,000 in a long term, high return investment. Each year you add an additional $1,000. After 10

Estate planning is one of those tasks almost everyone means to get to, yet many only face it during a crisis. Families often describe the same moment. A parent dies, the surviving spouse and children open a cupboard or a laptop, and suddenly they are trying to reconstruct a life from scattered paperwork, half remembered details and password guesses. Grieving and guessing at the same time. We all want to protect the people we love, yet estate planning rarely feels urgent. Beha

You've spent your entire adult life working and now it’s time to kick back and do more of the things that interest you – whether perfecting your golf handicap, travelling the world or spending time with the grandkids, retirement is a time for an entirely new lifestyle. 1. Set up a spending plan It takes 12 to 18 months for new spending patterns to become established, so take the time to consider how your expenses are likely to change in retirement. Some things such as electri

Getting on top of your finances is one of the most common new year's resolutions Australians make. But only 12% of us achieve our goal. Here's how to be one of them. More than one in two Australians (52%) plan to get on top of their finances each year, according to research from the Federal government's Moneysmart website # . Popular goals include creating or updating a budget (43%), investing more (37%) and paying off debt (33%). But only about one in eight (12%) stick to th