Marc Bineham - The Money Sandwich: A Complete Guide to Money, Family and Financial Freedom

MARC BINEHAM

This edition first published in 2022 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064
Office also in Melbourne

The Money Sandwich 2022

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

ISBN: 978-1-119-91062-6

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

Cover design by Alex Ross Creative

Cover image VITTO-STUDIO/Shutterstock.com

Disclaimer
The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

To Anne-Maree, Katherine and Jacqui.

I begin this book by acknowledging the Cammeraygal people, Traditional Custodians of the land on which I have lived and raised my family, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present.

I grew up in Australia in the 1960s and '70s, among children representing a diverse range of cultures. There were those from Italian, Greek and other European migrant families and others of my own proud Chinese heritage. I would like to acknowledge the sacrifices and courage of these families who have helped make Australia the welcoming and diverse country it is today.

Templates, calculators and other resource material referred to in this book are available to download from The Money Sandwich website:

Just a few people to thank as a book is never a one-person effort.

Thank you to Maree, Julie, Victoria and John for all their input and advice as we are all living in the sandwich generation. My appreciation to Heather Kelly for her incredible editing skills and helpful hints. Thank you to Jaqui Lane and Debbie McInnes for their marketing skills in what's next for this book now published.

Thank you to my daughter Katherine for all the work she has done on the book; it was a massive effort and is very much appreciated.

I would like to make special mention of David Brewster, who helped me with this book. I wanted to avoid the number-one mistake of burying the reader in too much financial jargon. Fortuitously, David has had only a small amount of experience with financial advice himself and so was able to question me on assumptions I had made, which helped me change the language to what I believe is far more readable and user-friendly.

Finally, I would like to thank Lucy Raymond and the Wiley team for all their wonderful help and guidance. I look forward to a great partnership going forward.

Marc Bineham joined the finance profession just over 30 years agomemorably coinciding with the 1987 crash of the sharemarket. Despite the timing, he directed his knowledge and energy towards helping his very busy clients to have the best possible chance of reaching their financial and lifestyle goals.

Marc's light-bulb moment came early in his career when he was working with a couple in their early 60s and not far off retiring. He started the meeting explaining superannuation and its tax benefits, as well as discussing retirement projections. Their response was a simple but poignant comment: Marc, we don't get a second chance to retire. You need to get this right. He was immediately reminded that this conversation was about more than just the numbers. It was about people.

From that point on, he has never forgotten that financial advice is a people and relationships business. They're still in contact with Marc today, even though he has now retired from financial advising to spend more time helping people as a money and retirement coach, speaker and author.

Marc is now part of the sandwich generation himself, and he believes people in this age group, along with their young adult children and elderly parents, all deserve a money and finance solution that is easy, affordable and provides continuing coaching for each step of the life journey.

Marc is a past national president of the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and has won numerous awards and recognition for his work. He enjoys speaking both in Australia and overseas on the topic of managing money better, and he sees an ongoing need for this in the community. His simple philosophy boils down to What's money for if not to provide a better life?

After a career working for over 33 years in the financial advice industry, I can say with some confidence that Australians in general don't know enough about money. Some learn the basics of financial management at school, but after that it's pretty much a case of learn as you go. This is not a good recipe for avoiding those keep-you-up-at-night moments that so many people experience at various points in their lives due to stress about money, and especially debt. Unfortunately, disagreements about money are also a significant factor in too many divorces.

Widespread lack of financial preparedness was demonstrated all too clearly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Australians were caught unawares, with many living pay-packet to pay-packet, while others experienced constant debt. Few had enough savings to cover two to three months of expenses. As a result, over 2.6 million Australians made withdrawals from their superannuation savings in order to make ends meet.

Effective management of money becomes both increasingly important and increasingly complex as you approach retirement age. This only increases stress levels more if you don't feel in control of the situation.

This book is my attempt to rectify this shortfall in knowledge and to guide members of the sandwich generationthose predominantly in their 40s, 50s and 60sthrough the financial matters that will affect them most in the years leading up to, and then after, their working life winding down. In writing it, I've drawn on the many real-life experiences I've had with my clients over three decades.