Unlocking eSignature Legality for Financial Services in Australia

How to eSign a document: e-signature legality for Financial Services in Australia

hi everyone and thank you for joining us for the next 30 minutes or so we will be discussing income and assets this webinar is brought to you by the financial information service at Services Australia my name is Janet and I will be your host today along with my colleague Laramie before we get started I want to take a moment on behalf of services Australia to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the different lands on which we all meet today and recognize the continuing connections to land water and culture I would like to pay my respects to Elders past present and emerging the traditional owners of where I sit today in Rockingham are the nunga people today's presentation is general information only the information in this webinar is current as of today being the 21st of March 24 and is subject to change please refer to our website for further information and to keep up to date with the current rates of payments and any legislation changes today laram me and I will be covering income assets deeming tools and resources available we will also give you some information on the financial information service our Digital Services and how to contact us as a financial information service officer also known as fiz we can talk to you about all things money we do not provide Financial advice recommend any products or provide financial planning advice is telling people what to do with their money and how they should do it but we don't do that we are here to provide free confidential information and education to help you understand your finan circumstances and the options available to you so you can feel confident in taking charge of your finances and be able to make your own decisions financial information service officers can help you make informed financial decisions understand the results of your decisions in the short and long term prepare for retirement even while you're still working and take control of your finances to increase life style choices the financial information service is a free and confidential service available to all Australians with this information you will be better able to increase your confidence with financial matters like investment salary sacrifice and superannuation understand your own financial affairs and options understand financial planners and how to use their advice how to use credit sensibly save and plan for the future through investing and also prepare you for receiving a lumpsum or gifting we can also help you understand what happens when you move into aged care we can explain the risks of certain Financial products the roles of financial professionals the benefit of reducing debt and tools and resources available to help you manage your lump sums so you can cover your bills and have money available for the things that are important to you you must tell us about you and your partners income and assets generally we assess gross ordinary income this helps us to work out how much we can pay you it includes things like gross earnings from employment salary sacrifice income certain income streams like Define benefit pensions or annuities rental and business income where we assess the net profit taking into consideration of any allowable deductions and of a course deemed income on your financial investments you can always refer to our website to learn more about what we consider to be income when assessing your payment if you're an eligible pensioner a work bonus may help you earn more income from working without reducing your pension if you work we'll apply your work bonus balance to offset your work bonus eligible income we'll do this before we apply the income test this helps us work out your rate of payment there is also working credits which lets you keep more of your income support payment and benefits if if you're working working credits are available if you receive payments like jobseeker payment youth allowance as a jobseeker disability support payment career payment and parenting payment the other thing we need to look at are you and your partner's assets we look at the type and value of any assets you own both in and outside of Australia and these will typically include your Motor Vehicles household contents and personal effects real estate which could be an investment rental property a holiday home or even a home you may be inheriting but will not be living in assets could also include business assets some gifts and of course your financial investments your financial investments will typically include things like bank accounts loans superan ation shares debentures and bonds okay let's talk about gifting as financial information officers we are always asked this question how much can I gift there are no restrictions on what you do with your money but gifts above our limits will be included in the assessment of your rate of pension payable sentinent gifting rules are simply a single person or a couple can have can gift up to $10,000 per Financial year this $110,000 limit applies to the combined gifted by a couple if you a partnered it's not $10,000 each it is $10,000 combined additionally there is a gifting limit of $330,000 over a 5year rolling period so you can give $10,000 this financial year $110,000 next financial year and $110,000 the following Financial year then for two Financial years if you were to give more then we will say you still have those funds I have had people ask me can I gift $30,000 at once remember you can gift what you like however in this instance 10,00 $ will be coded as gifting and $20,000 will be an excess gift and assessed as an asset and deemed for 5 years the other question I have is I have two children can I give them $10,000 each well you could give $10,000 on the 30th of June and $10,000 to the other child on the 1st of July in a new Financial year that way both children receive the money about the same time and you don't exceed the gifting limits the gifting rule applies to 5 years prior to claiming a payment there is a question in the claim in The Last 5 Years have you or your partner given away sold for less than their market value or Surrender a right to any cash property or income now I know parents want to help their children or grandparents want to help the grandchildren and give them a deposit or pay down their mortgage here's an example I've had the situation where Granddad didn't drive his car anymore and wanted to gift it to his granddaughter as she had just got her license the car was worth $30,000 therefore we coded $10,000 gifting and $20,000 as an excess gift exactly the same if you pay off someone else's loan or for give a loan the way we assess an asset depends on what sort of asset it is for financial investments we'll use the current value or account balance and for the other assets such as Motor Vehicles or boats will generally accept your estimate for household contents we will take a reasonable estimate based on what you believe you would get if you were to sell the contents at a garage sale not the insured value real estate can go one of several ways depending on your circumstances we may accept your estimated value conduct further checks of your estimate to determine its reasonableness or obtain a formal valuation of the property to keep your record up to date we may also apply an annual indexation to value your real estate properties if you have a mortgage on the property we use the net value for example if the property is worth $300,000 with a mortgage of $200,000 the value will be assessed as $100,000 there are more complex rules for calculating a net value if you have your principal place of residence as security for the investment property there are some exceptions to the asset test and the big one is the principal home your principal home can be a granny flat over 50s Village a retirement village a caravan or even a boat moing it doesn't have to be bricks and morar where your home and surrounding land is less than 2 hectares or 5 Acres it is exempt from asset testing but if you're living on an acreage at say a farm or rural property any land in excess of these two hectares may be included in your accessible assets there are some exemp exceptions to this rule under the extended land use test depending on how long you've lived in your home and what you're doing with the land but it's best to have a chat with us directly about your individual circumstances don't just assume you're not eligible for a payment without checking in there may also be times your family home continues to be exempt from the assets test even though you're not living in it usually this is where you're temporarily away from your home for less than a year perhaps traveling or holidaying or where you have to leave your home to enter into a care situation there are limits on how long certain exemptions can apply and they aren't all the same so again have a chat with us about your specific situation there are also rules where if you would sell your principal home and intend on using the funds to purchase a new property the funds can be exempt from the assets test but will be included in the income test under a low deeming rate you can learn more with our webinar accommodation options in retirement other exempt assets include lumpsum accommodation payments for residential Age Care Facilities referred to as a refundable accommodation deposit or rad funeral bonds up to $155,000 prepaid funerals or money placed in a special disability trust though this is subjected to a reviewed capped amount superation superannuation when you are underage pension age and the funds are kept in the accumulation phase is also an exempt asset however if if you turn this into an income strain known as the pension phase then it is not exempt Once you turn age pension age funds in superannuation in either accumulation or an income stream are accessible annuities are Income streams purchased from Life companies you can buy them with super annuation money or savings we treat different types of annuities in different ways you can refer to our webinar transition to retirement or our website for more information on the assessment of these the value of financial assets counts towards the incoming assets test and may affect the payment you get from us when calculating the income from your financial assets we apply the deeming rules the deeming rules use the gross value of your asset to calculate the amount of De income will include in the income test the gross value is the market value of the asset not counting the value of any loan secured against it so what are Financial assets bank accounts and term deposits managed Investments shares and securities money you may be owed after making a loan superannuation Investments where your overage pension age and some income stream products there are some cases where your income stream product may be assessed under old rules we look at these by a caseby case basis remember we are here to help if you would like to chat with someone about your finances deeming is aent link specific term it allows people to generate more income where possible without affecting any payment from us by treating all Financial assets in the same way people can choose an investment that suits them without worrying about the effect we calculate your deemed income by taking the total of all your financial assets and applying the rates you can see on the screen now once we've worked out the amount of deemed income we add that to any other income and apply the income test the simple way to find out what help is available and how much payment you can receive from us is the payment and service finder on our website a link is in the text below this video on YouTube let's take a look at an example of how this works ran here is single and has his money spread across multiple Investments as you can see Ryan has different assets and each of them provides him with different income or returns we can see here that he earns a small amount of interest on his cash Investments receives some dividends from shares and is drawing $10,000 from his superannuation per year making his annual income $11,800 Brian's deemed income is lower than his actual income that's great news for Brian it's irrespective of his actual returns or the amount he withdraws from his super pension cental link will use the deeming rules when calculating his payment from us if you have paid a payment or allowance Services Australia uses both the income and assets test when working out how much should be paid it is important it is important to keep us updated with your income and assets laramy will tell you shortly the easiest way to do this if your assets or income go up you might receive less payment or no payments at all and if there is a decrease you might be able to claim a payment or allowance or receive slightly more from us again if you're unsure or you need more information there are some great information on our website or you can call us so which test applies to you well for a pension like age or disability support pension we use both the income and assets test to work out the rate of payment We compare the results after applying the two tests and apply whichever test pays you the lower rate of pension this comparison happens every time you update your circumstance so the test we apply can swap around depending on your situation this is often the case for retirees with varying income this process does have its own benefits let's say your asset tested as your assets are higher than your income you could consider part-time work or increasing your income stream without it affecting your pension calculating an allowance payment is a little different to that of a pension for example jobseeker payment once you go over the asset threshold you will not be able to receive a payment there is an income test which applies to your payments and we will provide you with links to the income and assets information for both payments and allowances in the notes below the video in YouTube well that's it from me I will have you over to laramy who will take you through the remaining information thanks Janet have you heard about money smart it's an easy website to navigate with simple terms that you can understand this website is published by Asik the Australian security and investment commission did you know if you're having money worries you can find your nearest financial counselor on the moneymart website financial counselors are a free and confidential service and can help you to sort out your money remember it's better to get help early are you concerned about scams money smart have information such as how to protect yourself from scams and how to spot scams by looking for signs if you are like me and love using calculators there is so many to choose from such as Mor mortgage calculators on repaying your home loan sooner and even switching your mortgage there are also calculators for credit card and Loans super annuation and income tax why not get your children or grandchildren involved show them the savings goal and compounding interest calculators to show them that the earlier they start saving the more money they will have in the future and finally if you are interested in a financial advisor moneymart also has information on how to choose a financial advisor what to expect when you get advice and even where to find one Services Australia has a range of online tools and self-service options to assist you including our apps and online accounts we have our phone self-service which you can use 24 hours a day 7 days a week simply call 13624 you can check information such as your payments hear your working credit or income bank balance ask us to mail you a replacement concession card or even an income statement but before you phone make sure that you have your customer reference reference number handy if you haven't created created a voice print you can find more information on our services Australia website if you have our Express plus Med Medicare app you can use the app to make a claim view your proof of vaccination update your bank or contact details or manage your Medicare card and the people on it on the Medicare app you can also view statements such as Australian immunization register history for you or your children under 14 listed on your Medicare card we have designed our mgv app to be as accessible for as many people as possible you can download the myg app from the app or Play Store this app allows you to access your government services in one place some of these Services include Services Australia which delivers center link payments Medicare Australian taxation office child support and ndis just to name a few the mov app is convenient for those on the go another thing you can do through your MV um uh MV account is find your lost super So currently in Australia there is $16 billion doar of lost super some of this could be yours especially if you've changed jobs moved a dress lived over seas or changed your name you may have unintentionally lost some of your super to find your lost super jump online using your mov link to the atto and click on manage my super and see what's there in addition to the myav app you can also access individual apps for center link Medicare and child support through our Express plus apps remember to log into your myv or Express plus apps to check out what's new as we are often updating these Services I find that the longer I go without using something I have forgotten how to use it the next time regular use will keep your skills fresh and if you're not feeling confident using apps or online services you are more than welcome to make an appointment for digital coaching in one of our service centers you can bring along your device such as a smartphone iPad or tablet and we can work with you oneon-one we can show you how to do updates and claim payments our YouTube channel featuring our financial information offices has Snippets of information on a range of topics such as gifting inheritance the family home compensation and returning to work any of our Live Events or webinars can be available for viewing on YouTube to find us on YouTube you simply type Services Australia in the search box and then click on the playlist Tab and select fiz or FIS webinars to view our full playlist you can talk to a financial information officer by calling 132 300 or any of our main business lines and say financial information service when asked why you're calling our aim is to answer your inquiry over the phone at your first point of contact if we are unable to answer your inquiry or you would like someone else with you or your inquiry is more complex we can usually arrange a video chat appointment within a week to arrange a video chat appointment you will simply need a myov account we send a link linked and make sure you're registered to receive online letters as that's where we'll send the link to join the video chat you may also see us out community in fact I'm a remote Outreach officer I visit remote and Rural communities in the North Queensland region promoting our financial information service I also hold information sessions with Community groups around financial literacy including budgeting credit and loans savings superannuation and many other topics our webinars cover a broad range of topics and we adding to each and every um each adding to these each and every month did you know you can book a live webinar on the services Australia website by typing webinars in the search box some of the specialized ways that we can support you include the multilingual phone service for those who like to access access our services in their preferred language the indigenous call center social workers and grandparent Foster and kinship care advisors finally thank you for taking the time to watch this incom and asset session hopefully we've been able to assist you in learning more about income and assets if you found today today's session valuable please spread the word to your family and friends once again thank you for joining us