Episode 6. Family finances

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This podcast is for education and entertainment purposes. It's not financial advice and doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the information in this podcast is appropriate for you and contact a professional financial adviser. If you are seeking financial advice. Hello and welcome to episode six of Women's Financial Empowerment, a podcast series from Health Professionals Bank, where we look at practical ways women can build their financial well-being and schools and big financial goals.

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But before we get started, we'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders, past, present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In this episode we're talking about family. Well, family finances, to be exact. Family is obviously a pretty big topic.

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It covers parents, partners, kids and everything else. And helping me to cover all of this is my guest for the podcast series Financial Wellbeing Coach Betsy Westcott. Welcome, Betsy. Hello. Betsy has qualifications in financial advice, home lending and money coaching. The biggest wish is that every Australian enjoys financial well-being and her whole career has been about helping Australians be more informed and make better decisions about money.

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Betsy, how are you? I'm good. This is a very timely topic for me. I mentioned earlier I am in my third trimester of another pregnancy, so our family finances will be changing again very soon. And so today that's what we're talking about, family finances. And I should clarify. We will be touching on couples, especially when we talk a bit later about insurance.

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But we've also done a separate episode that dives into money and relationships between life partners. Two episodes. yes. So that's right, Episode four and episode five, to be specific. So in this episode on Family finances, we'll be looking at more things along the lines of life insurance, wills and estate planning. So important stuff. The cost of childcare and the education set that's on your mind.

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Betsy. I'm sure looking after your parents as they get older and everything that comes with being part of a family unit, no matter what that shape takes. Yeah. And it's so easy to forget how expensive family can be. It's a real game changer for your finances. And often we don't even think about how much we spend on family because that's not what family's about.

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We love them, know it doesn't matter. But and I would hazard a guess that most of us can't even remember what we spent on birthday Christmas celebrations and gifts in the past year alone, for example. So Betsy will be starting our discussion on family finances. So thinking about death. well, specifically, I'm referencing insurance, wills and estate planning.

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These are the things that a lot of us don't really think about. Some of us might never have thought about them, in fact. But no matter what the make up of your family is, these are pretty important considerations. And the only things that I've started to think about as I've gotten older. Yeah. And these things, usually people put them in the too hard basket.

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I mean, look, I'll admit updating my wills that on my to do list for five years and I'm a money girl, so I understand it's not something that's urgent necessarily, but it is something that we do need to think about. And it's much easier to implement them than you might think. And I would tell you, once you've done it and I can attest to my own situation, you feel really good about it too.

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So next time your mind starts wandering and you ask yourself, what would happen to my family if something bad happened to me or to my partner? You'll actually have your answer because you've done this work and you've put these things in place and, you know, insurances, wills, estate, planning, the things that you don't want to think about using.

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But if an event happens where you need them, you are so happy that you did. So it's really important to protect your assets, not just your home, your contents and your car, which we're often very good at ensuring, but also your life and your livelihood, your ability to earn income. So the first place to start when what I like to call financially adulting kicks in is with your insurances.

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Now there's two major types of insurance to consider here. Income protection and life. So income protection protects your ability to earn income. It does what it says on the label. It covers you in case you can't work by replacing some of your income so you can pay bills and your essential living costs. Now, importantly, this doesn't cover your entire income, so you're not going to get 100% of the income that you had before the event.

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Usually it covers around 70% of your regular income based on what you went in the last 12 months. You also should be mindful that you might have to wait a period before the insurance kicks in. So typically it's something along the lines of 30, 60, 90 days between when the event happened and when you actually can start receiving that income after you've made your claim.

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And it only lasts for so long. So make sure you prepare for that. That's going to depend on your policy. But it might be you get a payout for a year or two years, although there are some policies out there that will allow you to insure your income up to retirement age. So again, read the fine print, get advice.

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Now you might have your income protection through your super, so make sure you know what you're covered for and under what circumstances it pays out. You might also have it in your personal name, which may make you eligible for a tax deduction. that's good to know. Now, does it matter how much I earn? Because I think most people think of income protection is protecting big, large incomes.

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Yeah, I know. Often we think our income like, I in 60,000 or 80,000 and that's not worth much. But if you add up your annual income over the course of a 30 or 40 year career, I will bet you it's worth many multi-millions of dollars. And it's weird to me because it's a round 30% of Australians ensure their income versus our cars, which is about 83% of Australians and it's without income is worth so much more over the course of your career than a car is.

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Yet we don't think to insure it, even though it's a big asset. So for me it's a no brainer. I mean, obviously everyone's situation is different, but no matter how much you're earning, that ability to earn income really influences the trajectory of your life and your financial security. So ensuring it is often quite absolutely. So let's talk about life.

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Yes, life insurance should also be called death insurance because it kicks in when you die. But having life insurance makes your families live for the people that you leave behind so much easier, particularly if you pass away unexpectedly. Now, many people's superannuation account is going to include an insurance policy. So, you know, that's a good place to start.

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Do I have one in my super? Of course. It's important to make sure you're covered to the appropriate level. You know, like what's the right level of cover for you? And things that you want to think about is like, what levels of debt do I have? How much money would my family need to continue their education or to continue their lifestyle if something were to happen to me now, it's important that not only you have that, but that your partner has it.

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And don't think just because your partner isn't working or is only working part time that you don't need insurance for them, because I would guess that they're probably doing other things and they're not being paid for like caring for the family, and that's worthwhile too. So both of you need it now. Think about again, like I said, how is your family going to cope if something happened?

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And think of your insurance policy as an act of empathy, a gift to help them out when they're already reeling from the significant loss? I think that yeah, like that. So then let maybe talk about the next step. Will in estate planning. Yeah. So this goes kind of hand in hand with your life insurance policy and importantly, these two words, a will and estate planning, they're not the same thing.

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So your will is a legal document that outlines your wishes for your wealth should you pass away now to write a will, you can get a DIY will kit from a post office. And there's also online services that do wills. But you might want to use the solicitor, particularly if you've got any kind of asset. If you've got a family, particularly you've got a blended family, you're going to need some good quality advice now.

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Choice Tor.com Do they have an article that really examines Will kids and gives you a bit of advice around like what might be appropriate depending on your situation, to kind of help you make that decision? Now that's your will of state planning. However, this is like a more comprehensive task and this includes the instructions for your health care.

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So like a power of attorney or an enduring power of attorney, and your finances is very holistic. Well, and most of us don't think about estate planning when we're thinking about death. So this seems pretty important, particularly as the elements of your estate planning can apply before you've actually died. So thinking about something like enduring power of attorney or powers of guardianship or an enduring medical power of attorney, those ones can apply to who looks after you.

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If you lose your capacity to do that, who gets to make decisions, and you can really provide guidance on what kind of decisions that you want to make. Now it's more it's a more involved process doing the estate planning, and it often includes multiple legal documents that you need to write out beyond your will. You can also include things like letters of wishes around what kind of funeral you might like to have and which music you want playing to.

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You know things around what you want to happen with your your digital footprint and your your social media. wow. That's a new one to add to the list. Yeah, I know. It's a it's a modern world. It's also really good to consider estate planning if you've got a complex family arrangements, if you've got a blended family or past marriages, if you've got significant wealth and you're looking to donate a significant amount of money to a charity, also what can go in this is directives around guardianship.

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If you were to pass away along with your partner whilst your children are young, you can put your wishes around who would raise them and how they are to be raised in there as well. So for some people a will is just going to be all that you need. That's, that's enough. But for many of us we need a much more comprehensive plan.

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Now, these processes will help ensure your assets like your family, home, your car, your book collection. Maybe it's your stamp book, it make sure it goes to the right person. It's another way to make sure that your family is cared for after you move on, which I think is important to a lot of our listeners. And I should mention here, you also need to look at your super and your beneficiaries because superannuation sits outside of your will.

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When you pass away, that money doesn't automatically become a part of your estate. It's actually handled by the superannuation trustees. So who your super passes to is guided by who you've listed as a nominated beneficiary. Now that can lapse if you don't keep it up to date. So you need to be renewing that. We don't often think about renewing that on super and you shouldn't.

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So that's a good tip. Yeah, because if you don't have a nomination there, then the super fund trustee kind of has a set of rules they follow to figure out where it probably should go to, which might not be where you want it to go. Right. So it's your money. You should be directing where it goes, and that's why it all comes back to super, doesn't it?

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Yeah, exactly. Now, it's really important to consider this for couples who might be living together or aren't married, to have those nominations in place. Because like I said, it's at the discretion of your superannuation trustee. And so contact your super fund to check who you've got listed and if you need to update it, I guess that's just it.

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Most of managing family finance is really about care and maybe that's what we can look at next. So what happens when we're caring for other family members? How does that affect women financially? We'll talk more about that after the break. So, Betsy, it's changing, but in Australia, it's women that are still typically ending up doing most of that unpaid caring work within a family unit.

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So that could be raising children. It could be looking after a sick relative or it could be supporting elderly parents. We've talked about the sandwich or sandwich generation, so I'm not going to touch on why women end up doing more of this work. There's a load of complicated sociological and psychological things at play there, but tell us a little bit about the phenomenon.

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Yes, the causes of that phenomenon, a little bit outside of the wheelhouse of this this humble podcast. But it's something that happens and it really does have a huge impact on women's finances. So taking time out of the workforce to look after children or other relatives basically means you're you're not working for a period, so you're losing income.

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And research by the Grattan Institute calculated that an average 25 year old woman with children will earn around $2 million less over her lifetime than an average 25 year old man with children and nearly 1 million less than the average woman without children. So it's we pay a price for love. What is a now and this is because women are more likely to take those career breaks to work part time than men.

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And that extended time out of the workforce can also eat into our savings, as well as carve a big chunk out of our super. Because you're missing out not only on the contributions but the interest and the returns on those contributions. And it can sometimes make reentering the workforce a little bit harder because you've had time out, you've lost out on that experience, maybe you've lost out on career development, promotions, pay rises, and all of this compounds into less money for women over the course of their life.

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Wow. So what can we do? Well, it always comes back to that B-word that I just so if you're taking time out of the workforce to care for someone, make sure you can actually afford to do it and still cover all of your necessities as the first point. But I would say cover your necessities and still contribute to your emergency savings and some of those long term goals.

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Now, depending on your circumstances, you might be eligible for support from the government with a either a parenting payment or a carer's allowance. And it's really worth looking into that. So find out what you're eligible for and see if that fits with your budget as well. Now, it might help to actually have a financial plan here, or at least get an idea of what your long term career and financial goals are and what needs to happen to achieve them, and how having a family and caring for a family fits in with it.

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So I know for a lot of my peers who, you know, at that age of getting married and starting families, a lot of them are getting advice around, you know, how do I afford childcare long term in education, long term, what's the impact going to be on how quickly I pay off my mortgage? The career stuff's a little bit harder for the financial planner to give advice on.

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It's outside their wheelhouse, but having those insights is really powerful in helping you make informed decisions. When you're navigating these last stages, it's also important to talk to your your employer as well and see what they have in place to support their staff. So, for example, with children, your employer might have a parental leave payment which supports you whilst you're taking time out of the workforce.

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I mean, the government certainly has a parental leave payment of 20 weeks if you give birth or adopt a baby and the carer can use it as long as you meet the that's good to know criteria. Yeah. And then one thing I want to point out to people is find out if your superannuation is paid on that parental leave payment.

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It's not available everywhere. It blows my mind. I don't get why we don't have paid super on parental leave, but we have it on sick leave. Makes no sense to me. But anyway, check and then check the arrangement for carer's leave. So carers leaves a little bit different to parental leave. It's like you're caring for someone in your family and if you're considering taking unpaid leave, discuss arrangements around, you know, can I still keep my job despite taking leave for this set period and see what's available Now this is a good time to revisit your budget and if you're considering reducing your hours or sharing your job, that might be a way where you can

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have more time for caring but also reduce your hours at work. So with a job share arrangement and again, depends on your employer, so have a chat to them, be really upfront and go to them with some ideas and solutions around how to navigate this period and that'll give you a better chance of getting the outcomes that you want.

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Now of course, if you have a partner, you speak to them. we talked about that in the past episodes. So yes, communication is key. Yeah. And it's so important I think, for couples to have upfront open conversations about this. I see this in my work so much. Often we get married and we start families and we haven't openly discussed it.

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There's a lot of assumptions and maybe we have different ideas around whose responsibility is what, how much work we will do when we go back to work. So it's really important to include them in taking on some of the responsibilities for caring so that you can keep working, even if that's just part time or casual, you know, discuss.

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Can they make contributions to your super while your work, while you're taking time out to care so that your retirement savings keep going? And then, of course, if you have the benefit of having other family members around, maybe some of them can help with the caring work. I know there's a lot of a lot of grandmas in my staff that are doing a day or two a week, which is of huge benefit.

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And as I say, it does take a village to raise a child. So and that's not just for kids. I'm sorry. You know, sometimes that's care for elderly and sick relatives, too. Absolutely. Now, I know that you've mentioned several times that you're growing your family and there's a lot of people starting their families. So I'd like to hone in on the finances around raising children.

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I'm sure there's going to be a lot to discuss. So I think we all know whether we've had children or not, that starting a family can be expensive. Giving birth can cost from a couple of thousand dollars at a public hospital. If you want your own obstetrician and up to $20,000 if you go private. Wow. Yeah. And that's just the birth.

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I mean, there's potentially additional costs that you might be hit with. So if you have any fertility challenges and you want to use a fertility clinic or you want to pursue IVF or even adoption, that costs more money. You know, there's services like IOI, intrauterine insemination, and that can cost anywhere from $1,000 to a few thousand dollars for every cycle.

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Then there's the next level up of IVF, and those cycles cost about $10,000. Eight. Wow. Of which you might have to pay the full 10,000 or even just up to 5500 of out of pocket expenses. And again, those can add up really quickly. I know a few friends that have spent north of 50 grand on IVF and then there's adoption costs, depending if that's something you're pursuing.

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And they tend to vary from state to state, depending which state you're in. But that can be a couple of thousands of dollars. And I know for some same sex couples getting legal advice around egg and sperm donation surrogacy, there are different costs again altogether. So it can cost a lot of cash. There's little people into the. Well, it certainly does.

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And this we know there are other costs as well. So there are education costs to consider whether you go public or private. There's still books, clothing, stationery, even devices now that take up a lot of time and a lot of your wallet. So you'll need to find money for all of those things as well. And Betsy, once they're old enough, you've got education costs.

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So think about even if you're going to go through a public school, the public school sector, you're looking at between 75,000 and $90,000 over the length of your child's entire education to cover books, devices, clothes, school trips and the rest of it. So basically, any tips for managing all of these? Because it doesn't sound like it starts now.

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Yes, I have to. It's no, it doesn't seem to stop. So as with everything, you know, having a good plan, saving early, you know, the sooner you start saving, the better off you're going to be when you start your family. So, you know, sitting down and mapping out, okay, what are the common expenses that I need to plan for Now, if you're pregnant, that's going to be your doctor and hospital bills, those ultrasounds and other medical tests and then maternity clothes because they don't fit like they used to.

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So Medicare can help with a lot of these things. So like routine ultrasounds, blood tests, care from midwives and obstetricians check from bulk billing doctors can all be supplemented with Medicare. If you do, however, decide that you're going to go through the private health care system, then you may be able to recover some of those costs through your private health insurance.

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Now, keep in mind that the private health insurance will want you to wait a particular period before you're eligible to claim on these. So make sure you know what you're covered for and how long you need to wait. You'll also be told you need to buy a lot of things for your baby. I know with my first child we thought we needed all the things and there is a lot.

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There's definitely a lot. You need to buy a nappies, car seats and everything in between, but it can really help to one speak to friends who already have children. My my two sisters in law are having babies. I've sent them a list of what I think they might need. Let's see, a little co op trading amongst friends and family.

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Absolutely. And a lot of things you don't need to buy new. There's so much available on places like Marketplace, Gumtree or through family and friends with the whole hand-me-down system of buying secondhand that can really reduce the cost because yeah you know there's so much that you don't need brand new now investigate also we've talked about buying secondhand but also there's like a rental market so these babies clever yeah they grow out of things so quickly.

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I personally used a toy library for my my eldest one because you know he was growing and developing and the toys he was playing with it three months old were very different to 12 months old. So, you know, a toy library can be a great way to manage those costs as well. The big thing that you need to consider is childcare.

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Now, childcare, particularly in the capital cities, actually, I think just anywhere in Australia can feel like an episode of The Hunger Games because it's limited. So you really need to be on the front foot when looking for a place and securing a place for childcare, especially if you've got a little infant. So again, planning ahead around what childcare do I want, When do I think I want to go back to work or study and making sure you're getting your name down early and doing the tours and all of that.

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Again, seeing your family and friends might be able to help with this. Childcare can save a lot of money and of course there is sometimes government assistance available, namely the childcare subsidy which is paid directly to your child care provider to reduce your fees. There is an eligibility criteria. You do need to register with Services Australia to be to apply for this.

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So again, get organised early and then they go to school. Don't they say, okay, like this isn't stopping very busy, it's not stopping. I know it keeps going. So okay, so you've got children that are almost school age or going to school. Then you need to start thinking about what are they going to need as uniforms, books. I've probably forgotten some things, so make that list.

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It's very prudent to kind of do a little bit of research, compare prices and source things that are the best value. So if you can rent devices that can be more cost effective and plan ahead and try buying clothes, especially the shoes when they're on sale, and of course, things like packing lunches and snacks at home, Best is buying it at the tuck shop will definitely save you a lot of money.

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And if you're struggling to make ends meet, do contact the school. There might be things that they can do to reduce fees. I know when we were going through school, we got like a multi child discount as a Catholic school. They love it when you've got multiple children, so something like that might be available to you as well.

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They're really, really good tips. Not having children myself, I think I had no idea how much this was going to cost. Maybe I dodged a bullet. But for all of those in it, I know we've covered a lot there to consider. But there's one last thing I really want to talk about, Betsy, with regard to family finances, and we'll just do it quickly.

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But some of the things that we need to consider with aging relatives. So Betty, we've just talked about the crazy list of expense is to do with raising and schooling our children. But now I want to shift to the other end of the family spectrum, and that is the reality for people like me. So what do we do with our aging parents and other loved ones?

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Well, the good thing to know is there's actually a lot of advice and support you can draw on. And so you don't have to do everything else and you're not the only one navigating it. So make the most of those resources out there. Sometimes it's a bit weird talking about money with your parents to run into the relationship is has always been about them teaching you.

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But if you go to money smart dot gov dot EU website, there's really practical advice for older Australians and they've also got a list of support services in each state and territory. So what are some of the things our listeners should consider? What should I consider as my mum gets a little bit older? Yeah, it can be such an uncomfortable conversation because don't want to sound like a gold digger to your parents.

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Like, Hey, what have you got? What do I need to know about exactly? So really setting the scene and framing the why behind that conversation is a really useful way to make sure it's a successful conversation. So, you know, be open about like, why do you want to have that that conversation? You know, I use the term like it's really important to me to understand what you want so I can best support you to get the care and to do what you want to do with your money's.

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That kind of framing really sets it up for a positive outcome. So, you know, if you've got areas of concern, share what those concerns are and that you know, you just want to check in and make sure that they're okay and they've got the right ways and funds available to pay their bills or fix their car. And so, you know, make a little list of those concerns or things that you want to discuss with them, give them a heads up that you want to have this conversation, really focus on the why and then, you know, open that conversation.

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Of course, you know, you want to cover off some key items like do they have a will again, be diplomatic about this? It's not like where's the money going? But more like have you got a will in place? Do you have a plan for how you want to distribute your wealth? Ask if they have thought about giving someone an enduring power of attorney and again, don't pressure them around making that nomination, but you do want them to have it in the event that they lose capacity to make decisions, that there's something in place that enables someone who cares about them to support them during that time.

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And then, of course, it could be really helpful for them to write out a list of what important documents they have and where they are. So hopefully somewhere secure, like a cabinet or a file and how you know, how you can access that in the event that you need to or whomever they want to manage that for them needs to access it.

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Well, they're really good tips. I think it's such a difficult conversation with someone senior because we're talking about the end of their life. So it can be a real challenge to begin the conversation. But we we really want to make sure that senior people understand that they can get financial help and financial information to support them, too. During the these difficult times when we're trying to work out what we want to do with with with our assets and everything.

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Absolutely. It's all about aging. Well, and I was actually just on the Services Australia website just the other day, and they have a lot of financial information and actual financial information offices who you can speak to, and they will provide you with free information on topics for seniors such as understanding the different retirement income streams. So whether that's from super or from a pension, for example, they can help you navigate the whole planning around residential care.

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They will provide some guidance on what you need to include in your will an estate plan, which is really helpful as well because it's a lot of jargon and that can be tricky to navigate. And then they can also help you understand the aged pension and if you're eligible for that and how to apply for that. So you can contact the Financial Information Office through services Australia.

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As I mentioned, you can do it through the website Services Australia dot gov dot com or just call the Centrelink number and say Financial Information Service. You've always got to say it slowly. And then when they ask you why you're calling, you just give that their. They also have, like I said, specialist offices, specialist guides and something to remember is that the financial information officers can talk through financial issues generally.

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So it's not just around like, what should I know? But it can also be how do I navigate this? Or can you explain these different terms for me? Or if I do these, how will my pension be affected? So it's really a great support that can offer some really personalised financial advice, which is and it is just soluble.

00:31:14:01 - 00:31:37:19

Yeah. And then for that, your relative may need advice from a qualified financial planner. So this will be someone who can look at their particular circumstances and put a plan in place to manage their money. Now, hopefully they're in a state where they can elect to make that decision themselves, but you can also download a guide to help them select an appropriate financial planner for them, and that's available in the money.

00:31:37:19 - 00:32:10:26

Smart gov website as well. That money smart dot gov to other you. It's got a lot of really great tools. Doesn't look so good. Well I've got I've got a to put a plan in place now and have and have some challenging conversations so thanks Fitzy I appreciate the tips we've certainly covered a lot today whether you're starting a family or whether you're supporting your elderly relatives at a different stage of their lives, I think it's been a really interesting and important conversation, and I think that's it for family finances.

00:32:10:28 - 00:32:35:07

So a quick farewell. I want to say thank you, Betsy, again for your wonderful advice. And thank you to everyone again for listening. Today. In our next episode, we'll be talking about women and superannuation. We can't get away from superannuation. It's a very important topic. So as we said in earlier episodes, we're going to deep dive a little further, so tune in to that one.

00:32:35:10 - 00:32:49:20

So thank you so much to Betsy. Thank you so much to everyone for listening and we'll catch you next time.

END OF EPISODE