From 2 July 2018 the federal government will introduce a New Child Care Package. The new Package consists of a Child Care Subsidy, which replaces the current Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate.

Parents using the existing package must register for the new package before 2 July otherwise they will lose access to their payments.

Income brackets used to calculate subsidies have been increased to reflect CPI changes. Eligibility criteria has also been modified.

Parents are strongly encouraged to visit www.education.gov.au/childcare for more detailed information regarding the changes and to register for the new packages as soon as possible.

Please contact Integrity One if we can assist you with any of your financial needs.

Phone: (03) 9723 0522

Suite 2, 1 Railway Crescent
Croydon, Victoria 3136

Email: integrity@iplan.com.au

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This information is of a general nature and does not take into consideration anyone’s individual circumstances or objectives. Financial Planning activities only are provided by Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd as a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 315000 of Integrity Financial Planners Pty Ltd ABN 71 069 537 855 AFSL 225051. Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd and Integrity One Accounting and Business Advisory Services Pty Ltd are not liable for any financial loss resulting from decisions made based on this information. These articles are not owned by Integrity One Planning Services. Please consult your adviser before making decisions using this information.

Are you paying Interest Only?

Until only recently recommending interest only loans for investment purposes was a standard wealth creation strategy; that is no longer always the case. If you are paying Interest Only on any loans, you need to review your strategy!

What does interest only mean?

A loan with a bank has a designated period. Residential mortgages are generally contracted over a 30 year term. If the entire term is “Principal plus Interest” (P&I), then each monthly repayment will be allocated to covering accrued interest plus an incremental allocation to paying down the principal loan balance. Interest Only (IO) loans however will have an initial period (for example 5 years) where the borrower pays only interest, with the principal repayment to start after the end of the interest only period (for example this means you pay the principal down over the last 25 years of the term).

Why Do That?

The primary benefit of this strategy is increasing the cash flow of the borrower, enabling re-allocation of funds to a more beneficial cause, such as paying off more expensive loans first, or for additional investment.

What Has Changed?

Whilst the interest rates applicable to P&I and IO were the same in the past, banks are now charging a higher interest rate for interest only lending, and the compounded difference to you could be thousands of dollars!

Does This Apply To You?

The Reserve Bank of Australia last changed interest rates in August 2016, decreasing rates at that time by 0.25%. Has your bank increased your interest rate this year? Possibly it has, given the changes in investment and interest only lending market rates are more segmented than they have been in the past.

What Should You Do?

It is an ideal time to review your current investment property and gearing strategy. A loan which has been suitable in creating wealth in the past may now comparatively not be as beneficial. If you would like to review your position please contact us as we do offer a no charge and no obligation review.

Please contact Nic Berry or Tom Bailey at Integrity One if you’d like more information on this topic.

Phone: (03) 9723 0522

Suite 2, 1 Railway Crescent
Croydon, Victoria 3136

Email: integrity@iplan.com.au

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Nicholas Berry Credit Representative Number 472439 and Thomas Bailey Credit Representative Number 472440 are Credit Representatives of Integrity Finance (Aust) Pty Ltd – Australian Credit Licence 392184.

This information is of a general nature and does not take into consideration anyone’s individual circumstances or objectives. Financial Planning activities only are provided by Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd as a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 315000 of Integrity Financial Planners Pty Ltd ABN 71 069 537 855 AFSL 225051. Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd and Integrity One Accounting and Business Advisory Services Pty Ltd are not liable for any financial loss resulting from decisions made based on this information. These articles are not owned by Integrity One Planning Services. Please consult your adviser before making decisions using this information.

Most fees in residential aged care are regulated by government, but more and more care providers are charging for additional services – so check what you are paying for.

When moving into residential care three categories of fees apply:

• Accommodation costs – to pay for your room and access to the amenities where you live.
• Daily care fees (basic fee and means-tested fee) – a contribution towards your basic living expenses (eg food, electricity, care staff, cleaning services).
• Additional services – extra things that may add to your lifestyle or convenience (eg Foxtel, newspapers, meal selection, happy hours, transport services).

More and more aged care providers are offering residents additional services for an extra daily fee. The range of services and the prices charged vary widely.

These fees are not published on the MyAgedCare website, so when deciding where you want to live, ask the provider for a schedule of available services and the prices for each one.

Check your resident agreement

When you are offered a place in residential care will be asked to sign a Resident Agreement. This should detail (amongst other things) the cost you have agreed for your room, the type of room and what additional service fees you have agreed to pay.

Read the details carefully to decide:

• What services you are being provided and whether they are things you want.
• The fee you need to pay for these services.
• Whether you can opt-out and stop paying the fees if you no longer want to receive the services.

A recent court case

If the provider wants to charge you a fee for a service that you won’t receive the benefit of, this may not be allowed.

A recent court case found that aged care providers are not allowed to charge fees for asset replacement or the capital refurbishment of your room after you leave. These fees may apply in retirement villages, but not government-subsidised aged care services.

The judge ruled that these fees are not for the benefit of the paying resident but are for the benefit of the next resident. This means they are not allowed under the Aged Care Act.

Providers who have been charging these fees have stopped and may need to refund any fees previously paid for these purposes.

Next steps

Some simple rules may help you to understand your obligations and rights:

• Always read your Resident Agreement carefully before signing.
• If you are unsure about the fees specified, ask the service provider to explain the fees and help you understand what you are being asked to pay for.
• Query fees for services you don’t think you need or want to see if they are optional and allowed under the Aged Care Act.
• If you need advice, see your lawyer or ask us for help. We may be able to refer you to a lawyer who works with aged care contracts.
• Complaints about fees can be referred to the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner.

Please contact Integrity One if we can assist you with any of your financial needs.

Phone: (03) 9723 0522

Suite 2, 1 Railway Crescent
Croydon, Victoria 3136

Email: integrity@iplan.com.au

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This information is of a general nature and does not take into consideration anyone’s individual circumstances or objectives. Financial Planning activities only are provided by Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd as a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 315000 of Integrity Financial Planners Pty Ltd ABN 71 069 537 855 AFSL 225051. Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd and Integrity One Accounting and Business Advisory Services Pty Ltd are not liable for any financial loss resulting from decisions made based on this information. These articles are not owned by Integrity One Planning Services. Please consult your adviser before making decisions using this information.

Most of us are now back to work after our summer break. But that doesn’t mean we can’t already start planning for our next holiday. Travel doesn’t have to always involve breaking the bank, but it does mean concessions will have to be made.

Avoid the busiest travel times and places

This requires you to be flexible with the dates you can travel. Everyone wants to travel to Europe in June/July so try going in the off season. This can avoid potentially expensive flights that are common during the popular travel times.

You should also look deeper into the lesser known destinations, by doing this you can experience the different culture of your destination as well as reducing travel costs and avoiding the large crowds.

Spend less on accommodation

Yes booking a 5 star hotel will be nicer. However if you don’t plan on spending much time at the hotel is it really worth the expensive cost? Keeping costs low on accommodation may not be as luxurious, but you can save that money to be able to travel for longer and see more places.

Stay in Australia

The best trips don’t always involve going overseas. There are so many amazing places to visit all over Australia such as the Great Ocean Road, the Sydney Harbour and Uluru. You can also road trip to destinations in Australia and save money on flights.

Visit family and friends

If you have family or friends who live at a place that you want to travel, including visiting them as part of your trip. This can also mean free accommodation for the duration of your stay as well as a free tour guide.

Get cheap flight notifications

Sign up to receive notifications from different airlines when they have cheap flights. That way if you have a specific destination you wish to travel to you can be the first to know when flights are cheap to go there.

Use discounts, coupons and reward points

This can be for flights, accommodation, dining or sight-seeing. Search the internet and brochures for any discount you can take advantage of.

Be wary of cheap flights to expensive destinations

Airlines may offer cheap flights to London or Tokyo and although the cost of the flight may be a bargain, the costs of staying in these places are still expensive. If you have your heart set on visiting an expensive travel destination then still take advantage of the cheap flight. However, don’t get sucked into travelling somewhere just because of cheap flights.

Hopefully these tips help you save money for your next travel adventure.

Article Source: Maya Kachroo-Levine, Forbes.com

Please contact Integrity One if we can assist you with any of your financial needs.

Phone: (03) 9723 0522

Suite 2, 1 Railway Crescent

Croydon, Victoria 3136

Email: integrityone@iplan.com.au

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This article is of a general nature and does not take into consideration anyone’s individual circumstances or objectives. Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 315000 of Integrity Financial Planners Pty Ltd ABN 71 069 537 855 (which is the holder of AFSL 225051). Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd and Integrity One Accounting and Business Advisory Services Pty Ltd are not liable for any financial loss resulting from decisions made based on this information. These articles are not owned by Integrity One Planning Services. We recommend that you seek personal advice from an advisor prior to implementing any of the information contained in this publication.

Too often we all have plans to save great amounts of money and often struggle to stick to our savings plan. However this is a very simple and easy to stick to savings plan that does not involve large deposits.  A small deposit every day can save you almost $1,500 per year.

This money can be used on an end of year holiday, expensive household furniture or even pay for your Christmas shopping.

• On Sunday you put aside $1
• On Monday you put aside $2
• On Tuesday you put aside $3
• On Wednesday you put aside $4
• On Thursday you put aside $5
• On Friday you put aside $6
• On Saturday you put aside $7

If you stick to this savings method you can save $28 a week and you end up saving $1,456 at the end of the year.

Another way to complete the challenge and save $28 a week is too simply to put aside $4 every day, the cost of a cup of coffee.

To save a little extra you can round up the savings from $28 to $30 a week. This can save you $1,560 in a year. Another option is to put aside $5 a day instead of $4 and you can save $1825 a year.

These are all easy saving strategies that only require a small amount to be put aside every day and don’t involve any large transactions. You can transfer these amounts into a savings account or put money in a jar, it’s completely up to you. Good luck!

Article Source: Becky Pemberton, news.com.au

Please contact Integrity One if we can assist you with any of your financial needs.

Phone: (03) 9723 0522

Suite 2, 1 Railway Crescent

Croydon, Victoria 3136

Email: integrityone@iplan.com.au

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This article is of a general nature and does not take into consideration anyone’s individual circumstances or objectives. Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 315000 of Integrity Financial Planners Pty Ltd ABN 71 069 537 855 (which is the holder of AFSL 225051). Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd and Integrity One Accounting and Business Advisory Services Pty Ltd are not liable for any financial loss resulting from decisions made based on this information. These articles are not owned by Integrity One Planning Services. We recommend that you seek personal advice from an advisor prior to implementing any of the information contained in this publication.

Many Australians have ditched taxis for Uber for a number of reasons. These include the convenience of being able to request a ride with the tap of a button, the convenient payment method, being able to follow how far away your driver is and also the high quality service because the driver must maintain a high rating.

Another big reason is the assumption that it is cheaper. However this is not always the case, especially during the busy holiday season.

During peak times when Ubers are in high demand Uber will apply surcharge pricing, which is a multiplier applied to the cost of the fare. As a result there becomes a point where Uber is no longer the cheaper option compared to taxis. Research by Finder.com.au has identified the price point that taxis become cheaper than Uber in Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane.

Melbourne

• Taxis become cheaper in weekday daytime hours when the surcharge is 1.4 times the normal price
• Weekend evenings taxis become cheaper when the surcharge is 1.8 times the normal price

Sydney

• Taxis become cheaper in weekday daytime hours when the surcharge is 1.4 times the normal price
• Weekend evenings taxis become cheaper when the surcharge is 1.7 times the normal price

Hobart

• Taxis become cheaper in weekday daytime hours when the surcharge is 1.4 times the normal price
• Weekend evenings taxis become cheaper when the surcharge is 1.6 times the normal price

Adelaide

• Taxis become cheaper in weekday daytime hours when the surcharge is 1.5 times the normal price
• Weekend evenings taxis become cheaper when the surcharge is 1.8 times the normal price

Perth

• Taxis become cheaper in weekday daytime hours when the surcharge is 1.6 times the normal price
• Weekend evenings taxis become cheaper when the surcharge is 1.6 times the normal price

Brisbane

• Taxis become cheaper in weekday daytime hours when the surcharge is 1.8 times the normal price
• Weekend evenings taxis become cheaper when the surcharge is 1.9 times the normal price

Surge prices for taxis and Uber are tough to understand “with Uber fares changing based on how busy the streets are, taxi fares changing based on time of day and with different fares for both of these in every city, it can be confusing to know which is cheaper.” He also said “generally, it is cheaper to get a taxi in Australia, after the surge ratio hits 1.6.”

Mr Cooke recommends The GoCatch app because it allows consumers to book an economy rideshare car as well as a traditional taxi. “If economy cars are not available when you book, the app will often upgrade you for free to a taxi.”

Article sources:

Tim McIntyre, news.com.au
Finder.com.au
Jason He, Quora

Please contact Integrity One if we can assist you with any of your financial needs.

Phone: (03) 9723 0522

Suite 2, 1 Railway Crescent

Croydon, Victoria 3136

Email: integrityone@iplan.com.au

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This article is of a general nature and does not take into consideration anyone’s individual circumstances or objectives. Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative No. 315000 of Integrity Financial Planners Pty Ltd ABN 71 069 537 855 (which is the holder of AFSL 225051). Integrity One Planning Services Pty Ltd and Integrity One Accounting and Business Advisory Services Pty Ltd are not liable for any financial loss resulting from decisions made based on this information. These articles are not owned by Integrity One Planning Services. We recommend that you seek personal advice from an advisor prior to implementing any of the information contained in this publication.