Louise Coutts’ story
To understand our story, I need to take you back to where it all started.
Happily married, one child, mortgage and all absorbing careers we had all our bases covered, or so we thought. Ten years ago Gerard and I were introduced by our accountant to David Ramsay from Income Solutions. David walked us through the essentials of intelligent financial planning – superannuation, investment strategies to generate an income stream, life insurance and trauma insurance. We attended several information nights and slowly came to the realization that now, in our early thirties we needed to become more active in planning for our financial future.
Over the years we slowly put these essential plans into place. We moved to Melbourne and bought a house with a larger mortgage. Our son was now attending a private school and our professional lives were even more demanding than before. It was at this point five years ago that Gerard made the decision to start his own business whilst I continued as a salaried employee at a large health organisation. A decision like this has its many risks, but we were ready for the challenge and felt we had all the structures in place if something should happen to prevent Gerard from providing the essential income we now needed to support the family. But, like all of us think, nothing is ever really going to happen. How wrong we were.
Eighteen months ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My life and my families’ lives were hurled into a world of unknowns. I faced major surgery and possible ongoing treatment. My ability to continue working at the same capacity was now questioned. Gerard faced an uncertain future as to how he would be able to care for me, our son and manage the business. Our financial position was now potentially compromised. It is at this point I would like you to take a moment to think what such a situation would mean to you and your family. How would you manage financially whilst juggling the emotional rollercoaster of major illness? My response is simple. Don’t always think to insure one member of the family.
David Ramsay had highlighted this to us several years earlier and I am glad we saw the sense in his wise words and both took out “Trauma Illness” insurance. David contacted us after my surgery, explained I had a legitimate claim and provided support with lodging the paperwork. Within two weeks a letter with a cheque attached, arrived in the mail. A large sum payout had lifted the strain and uncertainty of my illness on our finances.
I am glad to report our story ends on a positive note. I am now cancer free, the business is growing from strength to strength, our son is completing Year 12 and we now have the benefit of a debt free and secure financial base to fully embrace the joys of life.
Peter Holliday’s story
“‘Income’ means different things to different people. ‘Income’ to me is not just about money, but about Service, Ethics, Responsibility, Education and Big Picture Thinking. As a professional integral coach and consultant I went looking for a service to support my financial future that had to embody all the qualities above. The team at Income Solutions meets every single one of this these criteria and surpasses it. From the moment you walk in the door it’s apparent that what’s important to this company is the Client, and helping them fulfil their ideal future whatever that may be. Income Solutions, in my opinion, is a perfect example of the way companies must be run to be integrally sustainable into the future. I have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone wishing to prepare themselves for a financially secure and fulfilled life.”
David Batson’s story
“In June 2002 my wife Tami and I approached Income Solutions wanting to understand how we could create wealth and plan for a lifestyle that we aspired for beyond retirement which would be 20 years away. We thought if we could plan and target what we needed to achieve we would be in better shape in the future. Markets in June 2002 were still uncertain and remember this was 6 months after 9/11, the US Enron collapse and the tech bubble burst so we were a little concerned on how we may be able to participate in the market without losing the shirt off our backs!”
“Australia was going through a resource boom, China was ramping up and I was hearing and seeing stories of wonderful things to come. Huge company profits were available for investors through dividends, but which ones should I select? We had some equity in our home and we wanted to diversify our portfolio, but where do we start?”
“We met David Ramsay and we went through an extensive education process. We met in his previous offices upstairs with a group of others and to my surprise we were the youngest in the room. I mentioned to Tami we might be onto something here. I read widely about the stock market but like most Generation X’s we were encouraged to buy land and property, which in hindsight was great advice but we were not property managers and we felt we needed to understand a bit more of the opportunities that were available in the stock market. Through 3–4 sessions we felt we could take on the strategy and plan that we worked up with David and were comfortable with the risks that were presented. One of the key benefits in this process was ensuring our insurances were in place such as life, disability and income protection as we had a 5 year old and a 1 year old that needed security in case the unmentionable occurred.”
“Here we are in 2008 in what can only be described as a once in a lifetime world financial situation. Yes the value of the stock market has plummeted but as predicted, company profits are up in fact in some cases outstanding, businesses continue to predict profits, managing costs and exploring ways to increase revenue. We seem to be relatively calm about what is being communicated to us via the media. If I was buying and selling selected stocks and trying to predict when to buy and when to sell, I don’t think I would sleep!! This is not what we planned for, we were never speculating on which companies to invest in and which not to, we took a broad long term approach and I’m comfortable with our position, in fact I’m interested in capitalising on how we may be able to get some extra assets into the portfolio so our dividends increase.”
“We are not emotional about the current situation, we have been educated, we are watchful and we are comfortable with our risk profile. We sleep well.”
