Technical Basis – Nov 2008

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 Financial Planning Association 2008 National Conference was held on the Gold Coast last week, with Midwinter once again throwing its support behind the FPA. Midwinter sponsored a Trade Expo Stand, as well as Thursday’s Morning Tea – where Peter Burns, Midwinter’s Head of Distribution, passionately demonstrated “How advisers can generate bull market revenue in a bear market using Midwinter’s Reasonable Basis”.

All FPA 2008 National Conference delegates (and friends) are eligible for trial access to Midwinter’s Reasonable Basis software to 31 January 2009. To download Reasonable Basis immediately: Click this link – Reasonable Basis – Free Trial Access and call 1300 883 938 for your access code.

There has been some very important technical developments during November. The most important of these being Treasury’s release of the Reforms to Income Tests 2008/09.

This month’s Tech Q&A – Using retirement income GAP Analysis to enhance contributions during the accumulation phase highlights the effective point-of-sale analysis that can be undertaken by financial advisers for clients using the Twilight module of Reasonable Basis.

This month’s Technical Article – The effect of product in effectively implementing a TTR strategy focuses on the effect that product recommendations have on effective implementation of Midwinter’s Transition to Retirement strategy. It looks at the importance of discussing the underlying pension and superannuation product being used from both a compliance and benefit perspective, and coincides with the recent changes to Midwinter’s TTR Optimiser which have enabled it to become product-specific strategy advice.

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 .