Technical Basis – Feb 2009

Matthew Esler, General Manager of Strategy & Technical Services
Bill Faraj, Technical Services Manager
Reda Daher, Technical Analyst
Justin Labruna, Technical Analyst

Welcome to Technical Basis, Midwinter’s financial planning strategy and technical newsletter provided to subscribers of Midwinter’s Reasonable Basis, back2basis & Transition Manager financial advice systems.

The global financial crisis has affected everyone, but arguably none more so than your retiree clients. With both assets and income taking a dive, and recouping those losses made harder where no longer contributing, maximising tax and social security opportunities from available resources has never been so important.

We have just launched a new Centrelink Pension Calculator within the Toolkit section of Midwinter’s Reasonable Basis software. The Centrelink Pension Calculator allows you to reassess your pension client’s benefit eligibility, taking into account the latest deeming and threshold changes.

This Edition’s “Tech Article – The need to reassess Centrelink entitlements in wake of the global financial crisis” which discusses the impact of the Government’s reduction in deeming rates in November 2008 and then in January 2009.

The month’s Tech Q&A – Determining Insurance Needs demonstrates how advisers can quickly assess the insurance needs of their clients utilising the new Insurance Needs Analysis module available on Midwinter’s Reasonable Basis from this week.

The Status of Law reform section includes What’s Law & What’s Pending – two very handy summary documents keeping you abreast of the latest legislation and regulatory developments affecting all forms of financial planning and advice.

This month’s Tax News contains important information relating to general ATO information, tax determinations and rulings that are of relevance to financial advisers.
If you would like Midwinter’s Technical team to provide clarity on a particular subject please email your requests directly to myself at mesler@midwinter.com.au .

Midwinter has partnered with Cleardocs to provide access to high quality legal documents necessary where providing SMSF advice and other financial advice relating to the establishment of companies and trusts. All the master documents are signed-off by the top-20 national law-firm Maddocks – which provides a free legal support line in relation to the documents. Even if you do not require the use of Cleardocs now, you can register (at no cost) to be eligible for this service. To be in the running for a free 1 year subscription to Reasonable Basis, please register through this link.