Personal Information Directories

Insuring your family against financial hardship in the event of your untimely death is extremely important to the financial security of your family.


However once you have your cover in place it is just as important to make sure that others know you have it, after all should you die suddenly in an accident or from a sudden illness you are no longer in a position to tell them about it.

The importance of this issue was highlighted to me at the end of last year when a client passed away. Although she had been ill for quite sometime her health deteriorated rapidly over 2 weeks resulting in her death. It was 8 weeks before we learnt of her death when her sister called my office saying she happened to come across one of our letters whilst cleaning out our client's house. Our client had not told anyone of her policy that she had taken out nearly 20 years ago and as such no one knew to contact us.

Fortunately for our client's beneficiaries her sister was paying attention when she was cleaning her house. Our office organised the paperwork for the family and they recently received their entitlements. But what if her sister had not thought to call us or she had not taken notice of what she was throwing away?

The truth is the policy may have lapsed and if the reminder letter had gone astray no one may ever have known that there was an entitlement to a benefit. It is for this reason that everyone should have a plan on what needs to happen in the event of their death. It may be an uncomfortable subject but it will save your loved ones a lot of unnecessary worry while they are still grieving for their loss.

The best idea is to keep a record of all your important information in a safe place and give a copy to your solicitor, accountant or a close trusted family member or friend.

You should include information about your doctor, Medicare number, people to contact in the event of an emergency, your next of kin details, and insurance policies including those for your home and car as well as any personal insurance.

Also include a list of your professional advisers with their contact numbers and the location of your current will and who your power of attorney is.

You may also want to include the contacts for any organisations you belong to so they can be notified and also your account administration passwords for any social networking sites you belong to so your profile can be removed.

By keeping all these details not only will you make things easier on your family, you will ensure they receive all the entitlements you planned for.

You can get a free personal information directory simply by signing up to our monthly newsletter.

Does your business engage with your customers?

As generation X and Y begin to dominate the market place it is important to understand the Social Media and Networking revolution.

The fact is that the majority of social networkers are your potential customers and by ignoring the new communication phenomenom your business could be missing out on a new generation of customers.

Wayne W Lennan Financial Services is sponsoring a social media and networking event to help introduce this new aspect of marketing to small business owners.

March 19th 2010 from 8.15am - 9.00am
Lifestyle House, 671 Hunter Street Newcastle

Numbers have been strictly limited so attendees can get the most out of the presentation. 

To register for this free event simply complete your details below and click the submit button.

THIS EVENT IS NOW BOOKED OUT BUT STAY TUNED FOR FUTURE EVENT

Protecting Your Identity Online

3 out of 4 Australians have visited a social networking site like Face Book, My Space & Twitter. In fact over 5 million people in Australia are regular Face Book users.

With all this social interaction over the internet you can quickly become easy prey for criminals.

Identity theft is a crime that involves stealing money or gaining benefit from pretending to be someone else. Only a few bits of discreet information are needed for these high tech fraudsters to build an identity and embark on a crime spree.

So how can you ensure that you protect yourself and your identity on these social networking sites?

Lindy Asimus from Design Business Engineering has a few tips to help protect your personal information in cyber space.

1. Don't include middle names in your profile page.

2. If you want to provide an address use a postal address or just enter the city you live in and leave the rest blank.

3. Only ever provide a business phone number or better still an email address.

4. Do not display your date of birth in full, just put the day and month there is absolutely no need to show the year, if the site won't allow you to delete the year just pick one like 1919 and make a note of it in your diary (you may need it to prove you are the administrator).

5. Be careful about the public access information you put on your sites. You don't want thieves knowing that you just bought some expensive home theatre system and that you are about to go away for a month.


Remember, without being paranoid your personal details are yours and being aware of security online is good practice. It is also a good idea to monitor your kids sites regularly as they often don't see the dangers of internet activity.



Click here for more information on social networking profile tips from Lindy Asimus.

Toads of Opportunity!

Cane Toads were introduced into Australia to control a beetle that was destroying Sugar Cane plantations.  The Cane Toads were a success, in fact they were so successful they are now a ferral pest that is responsible for killing a great deal of local wildlife.  Their rapid breeding makes it virtually impossible to control the population which traditionally has been in Northern parts of Australia but is spreading further and further south.

I came across this article in todays news online, it makes for some interesting reading.  Who knows maybe we will all be investing in Toad harvesting in the very near future!

China eager for our cane toads.

ARE YOU YOUR CHILDS INSURANCE POLICY

Okay, you've navigated the perils of child rearing and managed to reach the golden shores of freedom.....that is to say the kids are now adults and you can finally relax a little and enjoy your new found freedom. As your relaxing one afternoon in the new spa with a bottle of bubbly the phone rings, there has been an accident............

After an anxious discussion about who, what, when, where, you come to discover that your middle child aged 21, who twice attempted to fly from the garage roof at age 6 with only the aid of a superman outfit has just injured himself whilst trying to stage dive off a speaker at a music festival.

You then proceed to the hospital still in your cossies & towel to the emergency department.

The news is not good, there is possible spinal damage and they need to do more tests. You pace the floor at the hospital, and fuss over your 21 year old like they were that 6 year old boy again while fighting the urge to hit him gently but firmly around the ear and tell him what an idiot he is.

After many hours of waiting and testing the news is not so bad, he has a fracture in a vertebrae but no damage to the spinal cord and broken his collar bone.

Relief at the news soon turns to anxiety again when it is discovered your little cherub has no health insurance, no income protection, a mountain of debt & the prospect of a rather large medical bill and will soon be leaving the hospital to enter into your care....again!

Weeks pass, recovery is going slow - you have had to take all your holidays just to nurse him and ferry him to and from doctors appointments. The cost of rehab is expensive and you need to borrow against the mortgage to help him out as saving has never been his strong suit (you really should have spent more time on that one).

Finally he is well again and can go back to work, but unfortunately they have had to let him go so they could employ someone to do his job.

So there is a few more weeks of convalescence for his ego while he gets over the rejection of unsuccessful job interviews. Then like a miracle he comes home one day, six months after his accident and announces he has a new job that starts Monday and will be moving out (again) in the next couple of weeks.

While you and your partner celebrate the return of your freedom (again) you begin to dwell on how this beloved son has turned your lives upside down.

Retirement was planned in 5 years, possibly an extended holiday in Europe and a year on the road seeing our great country, but after the medical bills and servicing your son's car loan & credit card debt for the last six months you now need to work at least another 3 to 5 years to service your retirement, maybe even longer.

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN.....TALK TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

It's funny, we teach our kids how to play cricket, how to drive even how to cook and use a washing machine but we somehow overlook the important stuff like how to save money, how to budget, how to protect themselves financially from accidents and illness, how to apply for health cover.

Take time when your kids are leaving home or going off to work to talk to them about their finances, health cover, personal insurance, home insurance etc it might just save your retirement fund!

RISK INSURANCE - RIGHT OR PRIVILEGE

I have been in the personal insurance industry for over 20 years now and it still amazes me the attitude of the average person towards life and disability insurance.

Most people don't see it as a neccessary insurance in fact over 70% of people I come across feel it is more important to have insurance on the family car than on themselves. It astounds me that people really believe living without a car would be more devestating on the family than living without their legs - go figure!

People never value their insurance until they need it and when they do they usually complain they should have had more (and I never say, I told you so). Young people of course believe they will live forever and most people don't start thinking of insurance until they start to feel their mortality.

In saying this I am often suprised when a 45+ customer refuses to want to give out medical information or submit to any mandatory medical tests. They can't understand why they just can't get the insurance with out all the fuss. They think that life insurers are not fair and can't understand that after being admitted to hospital with chest pains they are not a good risk. They often argue that they are the healthiest people they know and maybe they are, but if you build your house on a flood plain you will not get flood cover. If you are a young driver you pay more and so it is the same with life insurance.

The answer is simple, no insurer wants to take on a bad risk. The reality is once you are over 40 your risk for everything sky rockets, so the once 30 year old that could get insurance for less than $500 a year becomes the 45 year old who now has to pay $1,500 a year.

Life insurance and medical insurance are similar in that the earlier you opt in the cheaper it will be and the more likely you will be able to get insurance. A life insurance company doesn't have an obligation to provide you with insurance, it is a privilege not a right.

The best advice, when a young person starts their first job they should see a financial planner. Not only will they get a insurance portfolio that meets their needs they can get help with retirement and investment planning. The adviser should review their situation every year and make adjustments to cover etc as life events unfold. This is the best way to get personal insurance - so if you have a young person starting a new career in your family why not encourage them to start planning for their future now.

WL

Diabetes - Alarming Facts

There is an epidemic of diabetes sweeping our nation and if this was a flu virus people would be demanding the government take immediate action. Diabetes effects 150 million people worldwide.

What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a serious health condition that there is no cure for. If left untreated it may lead to heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputation.
There are 3 types of diabetes, Type 1, Type 2 and gestational diabetes.

Type 1
This type of diabetes occurs when the immune system damages the pancras which prevents it form producing insulin. This form of diabetes represents 10-15% of all cases and is the most chronic childhood disease. Typically the onset is abrupt and symptoms are obvious. They can include excessive thirst and urination, unexplained weight loss, weakness and fatigue, muscle cramps, blurred vision, skin infections and some tingling or numbness in feet.

Type 2
This occurs when the pancreas is not producing enough insulin and insulin is not working effectively. It represents 80 - 95% of all cases of diabetes. This type develops in adults over age 45 but is increasingly occuring at a younger age. It is also more prevalent in people with a family history of type 2 diabetes who are from particular ethnic bacckgrounds. Symptoms are very similar to type 1 but some people do not expwerience any symptoms at all and many cases are being discovered by simple screening of blood glucose. Others may suffer a complication such as heart attack. Type 2 can be managed with a healthy lifestyle and regular medical checks. Eventually, however, tablets and or insulin may be needed.

Gestational Diabetes
This type occurs in around 5% of pregnancies. In the majority of women, symptoms disappear after birth. However, this type significantly increases a woman's risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Women over 25 who are overweight with a family history of diabetes or women who have had past gestational diabetes are at an increased risk.

Recent research has revealed that one in 3 Australians living with diabetes will be dead by 2018. The number of Australians developing diabetes each year could fill the MCG. In Australia alone the annual cost of diabetes is estimated to be around 6 billion dollars and the rate of increase this means that Australia will not be able to fund the medical costs into the near future.

How can you ease the burden?

First and foremost take care of yourself. If you are overweight then do something about it now. Try starting with some moderate exercise, 30 minutes a day at a moderate pace is a great start. Then look at your diet and this means not just what you are eating but how much too. The best way is to keep a food diary for a week. Write down everything you eat, how much and at what time, sometimes people just don't realise how much they are eating until it is all laid out in front of them. Once you have your food diary completed you will be able to see where you can start to make changes. Swapping biscuits or cake at morning tea with a fruit salad or low fat/low sugar yoghurt. Replacing whitebread with wholemeal or multigrain. When you go shopping read the labels, not only do you want low fat but also low sugar (carbohydrate).

Second of all you can protect yourself and your family from the financial burden by making sure you have adequate medical and personal risk insurance. Trauma insurance covers diabetes and can be used to help offset medical expenses incurred by treatment.

WL