Well that's week 1 in the books. 3 runs down as follows -

- Tuesday 10km just under 5 min per km pace
- Thursday 13 km just under 5 min per km pace
- Saturday - Long run - 25.76 km in 2 hrs 41 minutes

All runs were in absolutely perfect conditions cruised through the shorter runs and the first 20 clicks of the long run. From there it all went downhill and makes me wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew... I'm a bit sore and sorry today but I'll get there.

Just so you're all aware the following is the Facebook post which got the ball rolling on this journey. Hugo is in my son Cooper's class at school.
Please feel free to donate I've see the link on the bottom of this post.

'MEET MY LITTLE MATE HUGO.... He is one of MY HEROES... on SEPTEMBER 20, I will run 42.2km for him. 🏃🏼🏃🏼🏃🏼
PLEASE support my cause (follow the link in the comments). 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Hugo has Neuroblastoma stage 4. He was 10 months old when diagnosed, and he had 5 tumours each the size of a peach in his tiny little body. 1 behind each lung, 1 in each adrenal gland and 1 around his spine. He has had 8 rounds of chemo, numerous surgeries , lost a kidney and had part of his bowel removed .
The last surgery in,July 2015, to remove part of the tumour that has invaded his spinal column compressing his spine. He still has 5 tumours - you can't remove neuroblastoma fully - it isn't a solid tumour - it's like chewing gum and sticks to everything it touches. What a brave little boy. Certainly makes the pain of training for and running a marathon worth while  http://run.gofundraise.com.au/page/FavaS…


http://bsrf2015.gofundraise.com.au/page/SeanThomas

So yesterday morning my wife Katie tells me one of the teacher's from my kids school is running a marathon on the 20th to raise money for sick kids, one of which is in my son's class at school another being their school captain. Knowing its the Sydney Running Festival I thought that's a great idea I'd be able to do the 9km run.

"I'm sure running's easier than cancer" was her response.

So I spent yesterday and then today thinking about it. I did some running from February until June this year until a slight calf tear then started again 2 weeks ago running 8km last week. 5 weeks to go until the marathon... Katie's voice in my head.... I guess the only way I can accomplish this is by making it public...

So here it is I know I'm completely off topic being my business is financial planning however I spend a lot of time helping clients reach their goals so I may as well make mine public and see how I go....

Stay tuned for training updates and also further information about why I am doing this.

Stephanie asks:

We have two adult children who have failed to launch and don't appear to be moving out anytime soon. As much we love them, if they live at home for the next five years, I feel it will be to our detriment financially. Should I be asking them to chip in when it comes to living costs? 

Olivia says:

It wasn't too long ago when children couldn't wait to leave home and find their own place to live. Instead these days adult children prefer to live with their parents well into their 20s. In fact research is forecasting an increase to nearly 1.1 million 18-29-year-olds staying at home by 2021, a staggering 36 per cent of the population in that age group. 

While the reason may be their preference to defer marriage, travel or study, more young men than women are inclined to stay at home with the most popular life stage being those young adults who have never married, have not had a de facto relationship and don't have a child or mortgage, making up 42 per cent of the demographic.

Whether you have not left home or have left and returned, living at home with parents is a common occurrence in the lives of today's young adults and while it is nice to have the kids under one roof, the real effect on parents is whether or not they will realise their retirement aspirations. In fact it is likely to be that at the very time when parents should be maximising their retirement funds, they're still supporting, or partially supporting, their children. 

If left on their own, parents may well have sold the family home and moved to a smaller property and downsized or focused on repaying more of the home loan or adding to their superannuation than supporting their kids. 

If your child has failed to launch and is still living at home, careful planning is important to ensure you still have the resources for a happy retirement.  Ask yourself:

Will you be debt free? 

Having debt in retirement drains your cash flow. Ensure you know what repayments you need to make to reduce this to nil by retirement.

What retirement income will you require to support your planned lifestyle?

Track your expenses for three months to determine what your current living costs are.

When do you plan to retire and are you on track?

Talk to one of our Financial Planners at Southern Advisory to ensure you are on track and work out how much you will need to save in the meantime if you are currently off track.

If there is a gap between where you are and where you want to be, it might be time for a little tough love with parents opting to ask for some assistance of their adult children. Where the young adults are fully employed, they may contribute to the housekeeping costs and board.  If they're at university their parents may well be supporting them or, even if employed, some parents may be reluctant to ask for money. 

Remember though that this may be to your own detriment and affect your ability to be able to help your children and grandchildren down the track. You will also be in a better position to help your children for a longer period of time if you first look after yourself financially. Careful planning and good advice will not only help ensure you are on track but might also guide you to help your own kids to be financially independent themselves or even encourage your kids to "fly the nest".

Source: Olivia Maragna for smh.com.au

First the good news. Millions of Australians gain their life and disability insurance as well as income-protection insurance through their super funds' default cover. And the level of that default cover tends to be much more adequate than a decade ago. Now the not-so-good news. It can be a costly mistake to assume that your super fund's default insurance cover is adequate for your circumstances.

Underinsurance in Australia 2014, a 94-page report published in July 2015 by Rice Warner Actuaries, estimates that the median default cover provided by super funds cover meets 60 per cent of the life insurance needs for average households. However - and this is a big however - the funds' default death cover meets a much lower proportion of needs for families with children.

Young families with children are calculated to have a "basic level" life insurance need of about $680,000 - $400,000 more than the typical default coverage. (This calculation is based on certain assumptions including that the parents in these families are aged 30.)

Interestingly, half of the $14 billion collected annually in life insurance premiums each year is through super funds for their group insurance cover.

Rice Warner has gathered its superannuation insurance data from 45 industry funds, 14 public-sector funds and six employer master trusts. These funds have a total of 16.5 million members.

The Underinsurance in Australia report makes the crucial point that members' insurance needs "vary significantly" depending upon the composition of their families.

"This could be addressed by superannuation differentiating members' default cover by marital status and the number of independent children instead of just age," the report suggests.

A reality highlighted by the researchers is that the level of default life cover held by the youngest single members of super funds is "likely to be higher than their needs".

Yet the coverage of members as they grow older and form families and accumulate debt typically falls well short of needs.

Rice Warner says the key challenges for super funds in regard to improving the adequacy of insurance cover for their members are to: 

• More closely tailor insurance cover for younger people to reduce the possibility of over-insurance given their typically more limited liabilities and responsibilities.
• Maintain insurance for older members. Many super funds' default covers "taper rapidly" as members grow older but their insurance needs may not reduce.
• Encourage members to report to their super funds "life events" such as having children, taking a home loan and older children becoming financially-independent. This would assist super funds to fine-tune insurance products to their members' circumstances.

While these particular pointers are directed at super funds, the report may prompt individuals - perhaps with the guidance of their financial planners - to take the initiative and make sure their insurance is adequate for their family's circumstances.

One tip is that if you are considering switching super funds to first check whether you will get the same level of life, total and permanent disability and income-protection cover with the new fund - at the right price. This can be particularly critical if you have an existing medical condition.

A core message is not to jump to the assumption that your super fund's default cover is sufficient for your circumstances.

Rice Warner's research confirms that the levels of underinsurance for permanent disability and income-protection cover are even greater than for life insurance.

 Source: Robin Bowerman for vanguard.com.au