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January 30, 2022
30/01/2022

New business startup what to do!

Starting out in a new business and being your small business startup journey

I remember many years ago how exciting it was to begin the small business journey.

It has been a journey twenty years later that’s is full of ups and downs, fun and pain and plenty of laughs.

Twenty years in and I have no regrets. In fact, anyone that can do it, should. Yes like all of us I have made some dumb decisions but I don’t have any regrets? No way, in fact, I have also made some good decisions too.

There have been a lot of characters I have met in my business career over the last twenty year’s. Some shady ones, some terrific ones and some that have become lifelong friends. Yes, I have been used, abused and ripped off but I have also been supported, encouraged and led to opportunities.

Starting out needs support


Your business startup relies on lots of support from friends family and associates. You really know who are your friends and where your support comes from. For me, it was my wife and kids who have driven me to success. There have also been many friend’s who have looked out for me along the way.

You see as an accountant many don’t see you as a small business person but there to help others. It took me a long while to accept that I too am a small business owner with the same pain, enjoyment and problems that you too have in small business.

Tips for business startups

So what advice can I give you as a new budding small business owner :

1. Just go for it! Have no regrets and enjoy the ride. Believe in yourself! Destroy the non-believers and the dream stealers. If you make strategic decisions based on evaluation then your business will grow.

2. Set goals. Set a road map don’t amble along in business with no direction. A person who knows his direction might get lost along the way but will always find the way to their final goal or destination.

3. Celebrate success, acknowledge others and enjoy the ride. Failure will happen but pick yourself up learn to understand what went wrong. Remember the sun shines tomorrow and you can do it all again. Don’t give up and follow the plan.

No matter at what stage you are in business a big congratulations It’s not easy to run a small business and the statistics say many don’t succeed in the first three years.

Live life to the fullest and grab every opportunity with no regrets. All the best.

Many of us launch a new business based on an idea or a need to sell our professional or trade expertise.

Business startups offer challenges

Starting a new business will provide you with new challenges and opportunities! It’s fun, it’s exciting and it will be rewarding.

Whatever your reason for starting your new business, your future will be an exciting time. However, it requires careful planning, lots of energy and the ability to follow through with the journey during times of toughness.

Geoff and his experienced team of professionals can guide and advise you on launching your new business and making it successful from day one!

Whether you are yet to start or are in the early stages of launching your new business, we can help you to work through the logistics and questions that everyone has.

Practical startup tips

Here are some practical tips that can help you start your new business:

  • Talk with us so we can gain an understanding of what you are trying to achieve, your dreams and business aspirations.
  • If you are buying an existing business, we can help make sure it’s the right one for
  • We will discuss and explain the different structures available (sole trader, partnership or company).
  • We can set up your company or family trust if that is the right structure for you.
  • We can clarify what you need to do to meet ATO regulations when getting started and applying for an ABN.
  • We will help you establish a practical business plan, cash flow projections, budgets and trading forecasts. We will help you set a 90-day action plan.
  • We can help you present your program to your Bank manager if you’re looking for finance.
  • We can also advise on the best sources of finance.
  • We can work with you to ensure that you set up the right accounting systems in place to manage the financial paperwork.

We have helped lots of small businesses start out. We know you will have lots of questions such as dealing with government red tape and other businesses as this may be something you haven’t done before. We can help you determine what are the essential tasks in the first few months to get your business off to a flying start.

We welcome you to contact us for a FREE initial consultation. Please call us on 03) 9597 9966.

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Family Trust
30/01/2022

Gifting assets to a family trust

Gifting Assets to your Family Trust or transferring property to a trust protects your investments and assets by placing them in a Trust Environment!

Let’s explore why you would transfer a property into a Trust or just give money to your Trust!

There are many opportunities for this. For a start a Family Trust is great for tax planning. Many of us establish a Family Trust for asset protection and to ensure our assets are correctly passed on to the next generation.

Your Family Trust should be the hub of your investments allowing for flexibility and control of your family assets!

Having now established your Trust, you may now ask how do I get money into the Trust and what can i use it for?

Fundamentals of a family trust

Let’s explore the basics of a family trust first. The Trust has a couple of fundamental elements that you should be aware of, but in simple terms these are:

  • Trust Deed – the rule book of how you run your Trust
  • Settlor – establishes the family’s trust.
  • Trustee – runs the Trust on behalf of the beneficiaries
  • Appointor – appoints the Trustee.
  • Beneficiary – family who benefits from the Trust.

How do I get money into my family trust?

There are two main ways to add money into your trust :

  1. Gifting assets from your funds to the trust.

2. A Loan from you to trust – repayable defined or non-defined

Either method works but gifting assets to your Trust is better for estate planning.

In transferring your Asset to the Trust make sure you have ticked all the legal boxes. This will mean that the Trust Assets are secure and recognised as owned by the family trust. The Trustee should for all property and loan transfers document the transfer. Minutes should explain why and how the it is a gift to teh Trust. Assets that are transferred to your Trust these will then be allocated to the Corpus of the Trust

A Trust is a legal entity. However, some registries won’t recognise the Trust but require the Trustee to be the registered owner on behalf of the Trust.

Beware Gifting means not easy to get it back

There are 2 points here you should consider

Transferring the Asset or loan to the Trust as a gift achieves your estate planning needs . The asset or money is gifted it forms part of the capital or corpus of the Trust. In simple terms your Trust now owns it and the only way to get it back is to either make a specific distribution as capital or vest (ie windup) the Trust. In most cases, upon vesting of the Trust the capital would be distributable to the default beneficiaries. To understand how it would work for your circumstances you should consult you’re Trust Deed

Point 2 – is the ability of the Trust to enter into a Gift and loan back arrangement. Be careful if you are considering this as again it needs a well-documented agreement and actual $$$ changing hands.

Loaning money to your Trust!

Loaning money to your Trust will allow you to request that you can recall the monies you have lent to the Trust . Repayments will depend upon the Trust the ability to pay and several other factors. Even though a loan agreement is not necessary, many people still decide to draw up an agreement for certainty and estate planning.

The Trustee has an obligation to repay the loan if requested. When there is no loan agreement is in place , then the loan should be recorded by the Trustee by a minute to ensue there is some documentation. The accountant should record it on the Trusts balance sheet. As Trustee or the lender you can request interest can be charged but that again depends upon what you have agreed to with the Trust and you as the lender.

Gifting assets to the Trust

There will be Capital Gains implications and we can assist you here . Tread carefully and allow us to help you work through the implications of the potential transfer..

A Trust can help protect you and your family’s assets. Many families gift assets to the Trust. This means that you forego ownership and the asset forms part of the Trust’s capital or corpus. A Trust can offer protection over time. Your Trust protects your assets when things go wrong. These include Creditors, angry family members and newly wedded children. The Trust protects your Assets as these people are now not able to make a claim on these assets as they are now owned by the Trust.

A Family Trust, mechanism allows the control to be established by yourself as the Appointor. The appointor has the ability to fire and hire the Trustee. This means that you effectively control the Trust.

Upon your death, your executor acts on your behalf. The great thing is that the Trust continues to the next generation detailed in the Trust Deed. This will continue until the trust vesting day normally 80 years after establishment.

There are Social Security opportunities . Gifting can in some circumstances for social security planning but seek advice!

Every person’s circumstances are different. Therefore what we have outlined above is a very simplified summary of the operation of the trust and your money. We suggest that you seek professional advice. We are happy to assist you if you need help in this area.

Reach out to Geoff if you wish to talk about your circumstances. Phone 95979966

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