Pam and I are in our 70s now and both in pretty good health – a bit of luck and a bit of good management.
I wish I could say the same about our two kids. One’s going through a nasty divorce and the other is battling heart disease.
We’ve had the grandchildren here off and on this past year and we’ve also had to dip into our retirement savings to help them both out. We don’t mind of course, but it’s just as well we had a little bit extra put aside for this sort of thing.
I’d like to take the credit but to be honest if it wasn’t for our adviser we wouldn’t have been able to help much at all. The first thing he did was to adjust our finances so we’d get more government support. In fact, he more than doubled it.
Then he had a look at our investments. We had a fair bit tied up in some debentures. When he explained that although they paid a fixed return they were actually quite high risk, we had no hesitation in taking our money out. That was a close call. Instead, we invested in a portfolio of managed funds that generate enough regular income for us to live on, without even eating into the capital.
Our adviser also pointed out that with Belinda’s divorce going through, we might want to update our Will. We were so upset about what was happening with her we hadn’t even thought about the possibility of her soon-to-be ex-husband ending up with some of our estate. We fixed that quick smart.
Like I say, if it wasn’t for our adviser we’d be in a real mess today. Instead, we’re fine and healthy and happy. That’s a good result in my book and well worth the money.