Financial Planning: Making Your Small to Medium Business Work for You

If you own or run a small to medium business in Perth, you probably work like an ox and are good at what you do.

Are your finances working just as hard for you?

If you’re like most business owners, you may find it hard to invest what little free time you have into financial planning, or maybe you just don’t have the expertise. If this is the case, you need a financial planner.

In any business venture, failing to plan means you are planning to fail. Financial planning helps you make the right financial decisions in both your business and personal life to achieve your financial goals.

The Benefits of Financial Planning

Smart financial planning decisions can help you to:

• Invest in the right assets

It’s never too early to start financial planning to identify the right mix of assets to invest in.  A financial planner will analyse your risk profile, current circumstances and stage of life to help you develop a tailored plan to achieve your financial goals. They’ll help you create an investment portfolio that will work hard for you while you’re busy working in your small to medium business.

• Manage your wealth

Acquiring wealth is important for securing your future, but managing that wealth effectively is just as important. That’s where a financial planner can help you. The investment landscape is constantly evolving. Financial planners monitor that landscape for a living. You can take advantage of that specialist knowledge to help you make decisions to manage your wealth effectively.

A regular financial health check and review with a financial planner can be just as important as a physical health check with your doctor. It helps to ensure that your investment strategies evolve as personal and investment circumstances (and possibly your financial goals) change over time.

• Plan for your retirement

Planning for your retirement is important. A financial planner can help you to do that. Thanks to medical advances, we’re all living longer. Did you know that the average life expectancy for in Australia is now 80 for men and 84 for women (and increasing)? Living longer means we’ll also spend longer in retirement.

The earlier you start planning for your retirement, the easier it will be for you to put a financial plan in place to ensure you can retire in comfort. However, it can be easy to neglect retirement planning when you’re caught up in the day-to-day running of your business.

For example, do you currently contribute to a super fund? A financial planner can help you with superannuation advice, including putting a plan in place to ensure you can live the lifestyle that you want in retirement. Did you know that the latest estimates from the Association of Superannuation Funds (ASFA) are that a single person will need a minimum of $545,000 in retirement, assuming that you’re eligible for a partial age pension? You’ll need a lot more than that if you don’t just want a modest lifestyle. The amount needed by couples will be even greater.

Or have you ever considered setting up a self-managed super fund (SMSF)? More than one million Australians are now SMSF members. An SMSF helps you to take control of your retirement investments. A financial planner can help you to create an SMSF that is structured for your needs and goals. They can also put processes in place to help you administer and manage it, as well as advise you on investment strategies, optimal contributions and benefit payments.

• Pass a legacy to your loved ones

Effective financial planning enables you to look after yourself as well as your loved ones. For example, you might want to arrange to pass on your successful business or other personal assets to your kids one day. When you do, you’ll want to make sure this legacy is transferred to them as tax-effectively as possible. The right financial planning advice will allow you to do this.

Consider the Following When Choosing a Financial Planner

1. An Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence

Under Australia’s consumer protection laws, financial planners must have a current AFS licence.  These licences are issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which is Australia’s corporate regulator.

2. A Local Perth Financial Planner

Having a local financial planner based in Perth will allow you to have regular personal contact with them. They should take the time to understand both your business and personal situation so they can provide you with the best possible financial planning advice.

3. Experience and Qualifications

In addition to having a current AFS licence, look for a local Perth financial planner that has experience with small to medium businesses like yours.

4. Positive Reviews and Referrals

Ideally, you’ll also want a Perth financial planner with a good reputation.  Hiring someone incompetent is not only bad for your business, but also for any clients you may have.

How we can help

At Quarles, we have Perth’s best and brightest financial planners, with many years’ experience servicing small to medium businesses across a wide variety of industries. We provide everything you need to help your finances work for you.

• An AFS licence.
• Local Perth financial planners.
• Well qualified with over 40 years of experience servicing the needs of our clients.
• Positive reviews and referrals. We cater to the financial planning needs of small to medium businesses as one of our specialist areas.

Book a FREE initial consultation and get started on planning your financial future. Our Perth office is conveniently located in Inglewood.

In addition to being able to help you with your business and individual financial planning needs, we also offer a broad range of additional services.

These include:

• Tax and accounting packages to help you manage both your business and personal taxes.
• Business improvement programs to help you improve your performance and grow your business.
• Self-managed super fund advice and packages if you want to take control of your retirement investments.

We can take care of all your short, medium and long-term financial planning needs.

Contact our financial planners today to find out more about how we can help you.