Silke Financial Services Weekly Communiqué FINANCIAL HEALTH CHECK

Saving, investing, and managing debt are important parts of managing your personal finances, but there are other things to consider: Estate planning Make sure your estate plan (such as a will and personal trust documents) is in order for the sake of your family and dependents. Estate planning is not just for the wealthy. Planning poorly or failing to plan can cause unnecessary expenses and delays in the settlement of even modest estates. Your property may go to someone you really do not want to benefit. Worse still, your beneficiaries may suffer financial hardship as a result. Healthcare Healthcare should really be given priority. Failure to obtain cover for unforeseen medical emergencies could result in severe financial burden. Assurance You need only to assure against losses that you or your family cannot afford. For example, single people may not require life assurance, but married people – if they are breadwinners or family caretakers – almost certainly do. And do not underestimate the importance of disability assurance; you're more likely to be disabled and out of work for some period than you are to die before age 65. Everyone has their 'ideal' amount of cover, but often the expense simply makes it uneconomical to establish. Therefore you should prioritise your cover to ensure that the most important risks are covered first. Did you know that the savings portion of your life policy premium is not paid out upon a claim? The insurance company keeps this portion. What this effectively means is that you would have to surrender your policy should you need to make use of this money. Life/disability cover should therefore be separate from investments. Speak to us for a policy consolidation exercise. Silke Financial Services has the skill and knowledge to provide expert advice on how you can save considerable premium and get better benefits to best fit your needs. If you need it, plan it If you don't need it, don't keep it Visit us online at www.silke.co.za Ken Silke Shane Thom Trevor Wadeley Carole Bruyns Carolyn Thom Luvuyo Sityoshwana Quanita Kema Linda Graham Sylvia Ndlebe Ross Munro & Associates – Professional Accountants You are welcome to contact Ross Munro and Associates. We recently formed a partnership with Ross and his team to extend our service offering to you and they are specifically qualified to assist you in this regard. Office Number: 021 674-4012 Email: ross@rossmunro.co.za Fax: 086 669-1121 If you have any queries regarding the above commentary please contact us on 021 683 3380 or info@silke.co.za. Your Subscription Info: You are subscribed to this newsletter as: %PERS_EMAIL% If you're not a subscriber and someone else has sent/shown you this newsletter, you can visit the following URL to join us and get your own email copy of the next issue: Subscribe Here If you would like to unsubscribe, browse here. Copyright © 2008 by Silke Financial Services CC – All Rights Reserved. Editors: Shane Thom & Ken Silke, Silke Financial Services E-mail: shane@silke.co.za Tel: +27 21 683 3380 Fax: +27 21 683 3872 Visit us online at: http://www.silke.co.za