The best way to succeed in reaching financial goals is through a plan. Having a plan - and sticking to it - can make the difference between success and failure.

Often it is about taking some simple steps, setting up good habits and seeking sound advice.

The right advice from a trusted and qualified financial planner can make a positive impact on your financial future.

Speak to Southern Advisory today to ask whatever burning finance questions you may have.

Source: www.professionalplanner.com.au

Today is Daffodil Day, a day to show you care about people living with cancer.

Daffodil Day raises essential funds for cancer research, prevention and support services.

The daffodil is a powerful symbol of hope and tells people battling this disease that we care. It also honors those who have passed and gives strength and optimism to everyone in the community. 

Find out more information at Cancer Council Australia.

‘Too expensive’, ‘too unlikely’, too many ‘what-ifs’ and ‘how will it work?’ are just some reasons small and medium business owners avoid trauma insurance. But think about this: for 4 male partners, aged 35, 45, 50 and 55, there’s only a 52.4% chance that all will remain healthy in the next 10 years. What impact will that have on their business? It’s time to rethink the need for trauma insurance.

That figure of 52.4% may seem high, so it may surprise you to know that statistically, a trauma claim is more likely across most business owners’ age groups than a death claim.

Trauma benefits can play a significant role in business-risk management outcomes, but it can also seem easy to ignore because the trauma “what-ifs” aren’t clear-cut black and white.

By comparison, it’s easy to quantify a specific result for a business if an owner dies or is disabled —because they will no longer be physically present in the business. An owner’s potential to have a presence in the business, even after a trauma, is a challenge when planning. But plan you must.

Why consider trauma insurance?

Firstly, come claim time, where other products may not pay due to their structure and breadth of benefits, trauma may well be the only product that can pay and therefore fill a gap. There are 3 main types of “living” insurance products:

·         total and permanent disablement (TPD)
·         trauma
·         income protection

If one of those can’t do the job (either fully or partially) of securing the desired level of financial security, then ideally another will fill the gap (as much as is possible).

Secondly, as mentioned in the beginning, the statistical risk is just too high to ignore.

Both these reasons mean that, as a business owner, you should have trauma insurance.

In business succession planning, if you choose to leave out trauma insurance, and review your needs later, that’s your choice. But do so understanding what it is that trauma insurance offers you and where it fits in business succession planning.

The secret to succession planning sums insured

If, as a business owner, you accept the concepts of trauma insurance, then you should be able to work out relevant sums to insure for your business’s circumstances.

Thankfully, the methodology for this in the business scenario is rather more straightforward than personally.

Contact Southern Advisory to discuss trauma insurance further - it might just plug the gap to keep your business in business.

Source: “Trauma – a business insurance necessity” by Kaplan Education Pty Limited, December 2009; Actuarial research commissioned by Aviva Australia.