Mental Health Week - talking about the silent illness

Article courtesy of AXA insurance

Mental Illness can affect how a person feels, behaves and interacts with others.  The symptoms can be so wverwhelming that sufferers have great difficulty with daily tasks that others take for granted.  In more severe cases people with depressive disorders may not be able to get out of bed or care fro themselves properly.

During Mental Health Week, from October 9-15 2011, beyondblue will be helping to raise awareness of depression and anxiety and reduce the stigma associated with these conditions.

DID YOU KNOW.....

• Around 1 million Australian adults have depression and 2 million have anxiety disorders.
• 1 in 5 women and 1 in 8 men will experience depression in their lifetime
• Depression and anxiety are the most common mental disorders experienced by Australians, Depression alone is predicted to be one of the world's biggest health problems by 2020.
• Depression can be linked to family conflict, isolation or loneliness, unemployment, serious medical illness, and drug and alcohol abuse.

Depression is an illness, not a weakness - those struck down shouldn't be ashamed to seek help and they deserve to be free of financial worries while they are receiving treatment.

Income Insurance can help protect your lifestyle and support you through the financial stress that depression can cause.

Is your Christmas Card list growing out of control?

Do you dread spending hours organising your Christmas cards every year? Whether it is for your family and your friends or for clients and business colleagues, sending Christmas cards can be time consuming. Finding quality cards that are meet your expectations can be a  chore in itself, let alone the hours it takes to write them out, addressing envelopes and sticking on stamps.



The fact is you would love to be able to remember everyone, have the time to sit down and write your message of good tidings and well wishes to all but unless you are lucky enough to have a personal assistant with nothing else to do chances are you just won't send them.
Well there is a new way to send your cards out this year and not only is it cost effective (around $1.50 for a standard card which includes printing and postage) it is also time efficient.

In past years it has taken my office staff days to complete all our cards to our clients and business associates but last year we changed the way we do it and it took just 15 minutes. Yes that’s right we sent out over 400 cards and it only took 15 minutes to do it.

This new system for sending greeting cards is called SendOut Cards and for my business it has become and invaluable tool in our overall business procedures. Not only do I use it for our Christmas Cards we also use it for client birthdays, thank you cards even review reminders and invitations to special events. 

I still get to write my heartfelt message to each client, but without having physically do it.  You can even personalise it with your own family or staff photo.

It is so easy to use, there is an inbuilt client management system, much like and address book and you can import your contacts from Outlook or any other database system. To send a card you simply create a card, choosing a designed card or you can design one from scratch using your own photos. Write your message (you can even have your own handwriting set up as a font) and sign your card. Select your recipients and press send.

It is as convenient as email put with the personal touch of a real greeting card. This system has made a huge difference to my business. I often have several phone calls from clients every month thanking me for their beautiful cards. In fact for some clients it is the only card they get.

Never underestimate the power of a card with a special message.

Also with this system there is the opportunity to earn an extra income if you choose, otherwise you can just be a retail member and enjoy all the convenience and value of SendOut Cards.

If you are interested in finding out more about sendout Cards you can visit www.sendoutcards.com/wayne1 or call Wayne Lennan on 0412 494 243

Top 5 misconceptions about life insurance

1. It won't happen to me
It's easy to take your health for granted, particularly if your young, fit and active.  But everyone knows someone who's experienced a serious illness or injury.  You know it happens and it can happen at any age.

• 1 in 2 Australians will get cancer
• 1 in 6 men and 1 in 4 women will suffer a disability that will prevent them from working for more than 6 months
• 1.7 million Australians under the age of 65 live with a physical disability
• 2 out 5 Australians will suffer a critical illness before they reach 65

2. I've got life insurance inside my super

If you're an employee, chances are you will have some group life insurance cover inside your superannuation fund.  But do you actually know how much you have?

Group life cover is usually based on your level of salary.  But it doesn't take into account your level of debt or the number of dependents you have which are crucial factors to consider when determining your insurance needs.

If you have a young family, Rice Walker Actuaries recommend insurance 10 to 13 times your annual pre-tax income.  Your actual insurance needs may be higher or lower than this range, depending on your age, your debt levels and the number of dependents you have.  Based on the Australian average wage that's between $662,000 and $860,000.  Considering that the average insurance amount payable from superannuation is only about $70,000, it is clear that many Australians are dangerously under insured.

3. I'll be covered in some other way

Many people believe that if something happens that they will rely on financial assistance from Worker's Compensation, Government Assistance or Health Insurance.  While some level of assistance is often available from these sources there are some things you need to know about the level of support you will receive.

• Worker's Compensation Insurance - gives you financial protection against work related injury and provides income replacement and payment of medical costs for eligible workers.  It doesn't cover injuries that happen away from work, nor does it cover self employed, sole traders or independent contractors.  Payments are also capped so the level of protection may not meet all your needs.
• Social Security Payments - will provide some financial assistance for people with an illness, injury or disability, however you do need to meet eligibility guidelines to get this assistance.  Current cover for a couple aged of 21 years is $505.70 per fortnight each.  That's a combined income of $26,296 per year, which is less than half of the average Australian income.
• Private Health Insurance - it can help with a number of specified medical expenses but it can't help you keep up with your everyday living expenses, like your mortgage.  Benefits are often capped and may still leave you with a gap to pay out of your own pocket.

4. I'll use my savings or my Super

When you have a good level of savings or a large amount of superannuation it may seem like you've got a good safety net if you can't work for a while, but combine a lack of income with increased medical expenses and you might be surprised just how quickly your savings can evaporate particularly if you are still paying off debt.  Relying on your savings and super can also jeopardise your future financial plans and goals. 
Accessing your super isn't as easy as you might think, most super funds have pretty strict rules regarding accessing your super funds before the age of 65.

5. It's too expensive

When you have got so many things to spend your money on, insurance may seem like an unnecessary luxury, but think about some of the costs associated with injury and illness, like hospital and medical expenses, then think of the lost income that could result from months or even years out of the workforce. 

You wouldn't dream of not insuring your home or your car, so why would you value your ability to earn an income (your most important asset) at risk. 

$500,000 of life cover, $100,000 of TPD and Trauma Cover, and $3,000 per month of Income protection starts from as little as $3.00 a day for a 35 yr non smoking office worker.

Insurance doesn't have to be expensive, so contact us now to find out just how affordable your peace of mind is. 

Childhood expo highlights the need for insurance

I recently attended the Childhood Expo at Newcastle Panthers that was organised by the Child Alliance and couldn't believe how many businesses and products there are to service the needs of families with young children.  There were educational products and services, health products and services, child care services and much much more, in fact it was quite overwhelming!

All the products and services though had something in common, they all promoted family harmonisation as being the holy grail of a happy life and they're right.  Let's face it, if everything is going well at home pretty much everything else is going well too.

What did amaze me though was that people who were intelligent, caring parents that were looking for more options to improve their own lives and their children's were completely ignorant about their financial security.  Let's face it, we all want to give our kids the best start in life, with good health and educational opportunities, it's normal, in fact I tend to think it is hardwired into most of us to hope that our kids will do better than we did.

I spent most of my time at the expo talking to young parents, asking them about what they think is the most important thing they can offer their child besides love?  Nearly all of them answered "financial security and opportunities to be their best".  My next question was how do you give that to them, their answer "by working hard".  A great answer, as long as you can work hard.  Most of the people I spoke to had no personal insurance outside of their superannuation fund and even then, most didn't know how much they had or had even considered how much they need.

Seriously, I can't believe that people who obviously love their children and want the best for them can be so uneducated and ill informed about what could be the most important financial decision of their children's lives. 

Imagine just for a moment, the picture of the perfect family, happy, healthy and successful - there is a terrible car accident, the Mum is left fighting for her life and the father is killed instantly....what happen's to the kids?  Does anyone know?  Not one person I met could tell me what was going to happen to their kids, if something happened to them.  Most ummed and ahhed and then mumbled something about their retired parents taking the kids. 

The fact is most people don't have a plan, they usually don't even know they need one because we all walk around thinking we are going to live forever and for those of us that have come to terms with the fact we are going to die we like to picture it happening very peacefully at the ripe old age of 90 or more, after fulfilling all our ambitions and dreams.  Unfortunately for most people, that is not how it will happen - somewhere along the line there will be accidents, illnesses and maybe even premature death at a fairly young age.  While we can't always control what happens in our lives we can have a plan to deal with it.  Just like you teach your kids the family emergency plan in case of fire or flood etc, you need an emergency financial plan to help you to deal with life's unexpected turns.

Do you know what will happen to your kids if something happens to you?

If your not sure, I would urge you to sit down and talk about it with your partner, your parents and especially your insurance adviser and your solicitor.  Every parent needs a plan to make sure their children are protected even if they can't be around.

 Call us now on

02 4925 6125

we can help you with your own personal emergency plan.

Are low fat foods better for you?

In today's world, low fat labels on food products has become a powerful marketing tool. The promise of a slimmer waistline these labels are aimed at making consumers feel better about making a healthy choice, but is low fat better and healthier for you?

For many products “low fat” often equates to “high sugar” and in this case it is doing zero for your health. In many cases the high sugar content actually outweighs the low fat benefit and this is the real consumer trap. The fact is that sugar will convert to body fat faster than fat does, so eating a low fat yoghurt that has more sugar than the regular could actually be worse for you.

High sugar intake is associated with Type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance. Diabetes is considered the fastest growing disease in Australia with experts estimating that more than 4 million Australians will be living with the disease by 2015. Diabetes is associated with increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, blindness and vascular problems that can result in amputation of limbs.

SO HOW DO YOU AVOID THIS TRAP??

Reading the nutritional information panel is still the best way to judge a food. Consumers need to look past the marketing labels and go straight to the nutritional information. 



Here you will find the fat content, sugar and carbohydrate level and most importantly the kilo joule value for the product. Don't be fooled by marketing labels, just because something is fat free does not mean it is necessarily better for you.

Further information
Australian Diabetes Council
Health Insite
Australian Diabetes Society (ADS)

Pet ownership - good for your health!



Science is proving that a furry friend is good for you


While 12 million Australian pet owners will agree that their furry friend is an important part of their life, science is proving that is also good for your health.



According to latest research pet owners have lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure and lower stress levels than those who don't have pets.  One famous study in the U.S. by the State University of New York, conducted an experiment on stressed out stock brokers all suffering from hypertension. One group was given dogs and a second group was treated with medication. The results revealed that after 6 months the group that was given the pooches were doing significantly better than those on medication who were still suffering with high blood pressure.

Scientists are still trying to discover the exact reason for the associated health benefits but latest studies indicate that when people are in the company of those they love either human or non human the brain releases oxytocin which suppresses the production of stress hormones. Pet ownership also encouraged increased physical activity and appears to have a psychological benefit also.

Quick Facts:

• Just 15 to 30 minutes with a pet can lower cortisol and increase serotonin levels.


• In a study of 240 couples, pet owners had lower blood pressure and heart rates.


• A US study found that non cat owners were 40% more likely to die of a heart attack


• Pets provide a multitude of benefits in rehabilitation programs including less need for pain medication, improved immune systems, lower blood pressure and better respiratory patterns



Thinking about a new pet, why not consider adopting a pet through the RSPCA or Pet Rescue.



The True Value of Life Insurance & Income Protection

A moving testamonial from a client who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer.  He loves his family and made sure that he had appropriate insurance in place.  Mike didn't suffer from "it can't happen to me" syndrome, he wanted to make sure that no matter what happened in life to him, that he could take comfort that his family would be provided for.  Mike's decision to ensure his family would be taken care of is an act of love that will continue for years to come.