Altura Financial Planning

19/08/2025

Proud to be one of the sponsors for the upcoming BNI South West Gala Awards evening on the 29th August

With sincere gratitude, we thank Max Pagnin, Financial Adviser – Wealth & Superannuation at Altura Financial Planning, for his generous sponsorship of the BNI Sydney South West Awards Spectacular 2025. 👏

Max’s dedication to helping individuals and businesses build secure financial futures mirrors the spirit of growth, trust, and long-term vision we celebrate within our BNI community. 🤩

Your support not only makes this event possible — it reinforces the value of leadership and service at the heart of everything we do. Thank you, Max, for investing in our success. 🥳

31/01/2024

Every Tuesday I have breakfast with other local business people in the South West / Western Sydney area, with the view of helping each other grow our businesses and referring each other quality people to do business with. Last year we passed over $1M between us.

I have visitor places available next week for any local business who want to meet my network for breakfast at the Mercure Liverpool. The investment is only $40 and 90 minutes of your time (and includes a great breakfast and coffee), and you're guaranteed to make some great connections!

Our group will welcome any visitors, but we are urgently looking for the following (among others) in the Western Sydney area that we can refer business to:

Mechanic
Auto Electrician
Plumber
HR consultant
Conveyancer / property lawyer
Promotional products and uniforms
Air Conditioning technician
Personal trainer / gym owner
Property Maintenance/ Handyman
Website Designer / Developer
Digital marketing consultant
Recruitment consultant
Travel Agent
Photographer
Draftsperson
Commercial builder
Removalist
Landscaper

PM me if you're interested.

21/01/2022

For anyone who has gone to the effort of setting an SMSF, please be wary of scammers out there who will do their best to get their hands on your hard-earned money. As a trustee of your SMSF, you're responsible for how the funds are invested and the performance of the fund over the long-term. Whilst crypto can offer potential for large gains, it can also lead to significant losses, which many people will never recover from, especially if close to retirement. Remember, the main purpose of superannuation is to provide a nest egg for your retirement, so please be careful and don't take risks that would cause you to lose sleep at night. If you do end up putting money into crypto from your SMSF funds, only allocate a minimal amount that you'd be prepared to lose, not the whole balance. If you need any assistance with your SMSF investments, please feel free to get in touch!

With consumers and SMSFs increasingly being targeted with marketing to invest in crypto-assets, ASIC has issued a warning urging SMSFs to consider the risks of these investments. In a public stateme

24/12/2021

In what has been a most challenging of years for everyone, I'd like to wish you and your family a very happy Christmas, filled with plenty of laughter, good food, and most of all, love ♥️

08/12/2021

Please be very careful friends! Yesterday I had a phone call from a woman who found my business online and was after financial advice. She told me she was corresponding with an 'investment company' online who were discussing with her about setting up an account and wanted her to increase her transaction limit on her savings account. She asked me if I thought it might be a scam and I asked her if she knew the person or company she was dealing with, to which she replied no. I told her absolutely it was a scam and to cease all communication with the person and block them from further contact. I also asked her to lodge a complaint with Scam Watch, as this could help others to avoid being scammed in the future.

A few golden rules to live by:

- If it sounds too good to be true, then it usually isn't true.
- Never provide any personal information or access to accounts, including clicking on links from an email or a text message, unless you're 100% certain it's from a trusted source.
- Don't invest in anything speculative with more money than you're prepared to lose i.e. not your life savings or the money you've saved up for a home deposit.
- For every success story you hear of people making significant money in crypto or speculative shares, there's a lot more out there who have lost money, but you'll never hear from them. A gambler will only tell you about the wins they've had, never about the losses!
- Stick to what works and what has worked in the past. There's nothing wrong with investing in blue chip shares, or using an ETF to gain exposure to different asset classes across different markets, not to mention quality real estate in the right market at the right time.
- This one is straight from Warren Buffett: be “fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
- If you want a second opinion, reach out to a licensed and qualified financial planner, who you can use as a sounding board to make sure that you're on the right track.
- Finally, we all work hard for our money, so respect your money and make it work hard for you, so you don't have to work as hard in the future.

Cryptocurrency scams targeting Australians as scammers bank more than $100 million By consumer affairs reporter Amy Bainbridge and the Specialist Reporting Team's Lucy KentPosted 5h ago5 hours agoTue 7 Dec 2021 at 5:54pm, updated 1h ago1 hours agoTue 7 Dec 2021 at 10:06pm Three families, three separ...

14/07/2021

I've been seeing a lot of comments online about some of the life insurance companies who will not pay claims as a result of a death or disability from Covid, or from the vaccine itself. Most of the comments seem to be in relation to policies inside a super fund (industry or retail super), those offered by a health fund, or those direct policies that you can get online in less than 10 minutes!

The retail life insurance providers, such as the ones offered by reputable financial advisers, do cover such scenarios, but if you're not sure, always ask your provider to put it in writing. You don't want to be paying for something that you may not be able to claim on!

04/07/2021

Watching 60 Minutes about people getting scammed through a Ponzi scheme by a guy called Chris Marco in WA, some promised a 100% return on their money. One guy lost $700,000 of his and his wife's life savings!

Lessons learned: when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is; always deal with someone who is licensed; if investing in anything with a higher risk, including crypto, don't risk any money you can't afford to lose.

Be careful with outlandish promises and always do your own research!

12/04/2021

Proud to sponsor my soccer team this season the mighty Holroyd Rangers Blacks Over 45s. A great bunch of lads who make it enjoyable to play with and strap on the boots each Saturday afternoon. I look forward to a great season ahead: win, lose or draw ⚽👍

07/04/2021

I'll say this from previous personal experience and from clients who have been taken advantage of in the past, if anyone online or on social media that you don't have a relationship with is offering something that seems to good to be true, in most cases it is indeed too good to be true and they are simply trying to scam you of your hard earned money! As the Latin saying goes, 'caveat emptor' (let the buyer beware)!

The brother of a man scammed out of more than $400,000 has issued a warning to people to be more aware of bogus bitcoin traders.

23/02/2021

Recently I met an older client in his 60's, a divorcee, who came to see me about some substantial money he was anticipating from his 'wife' overseas. I use the term wife loosely, as apparently they got married via a US lawyer and he's never physically met the lady, as he was meant to go over to the US last year and then Covid shut everything down.

Without going into details, I listed for over an hour as the gentleman divulged the most elaborate and incredulous story I had ever heard. He had helped his 'wife' over a number of months in various predicaments (stranded in India after flying there to help her grandmother for a life-saving operation; helping with rent to find new accommodation as once she got back from India she'd been kicked out of her apartment and all her belongings were strewn across the front lawn; assisting with medical bills as the stress of being temporary homeless required that she seek medical attention; and the list goes on).

The gentleman had 'helped' out his 'wife' to the tune of $60k in cash over the past 12 months and was being asked to pay another $40k to get his wife over the final legal hurdle to unlock a $500 million claim to her late father's estate! I told him to save his $40k and spend it on himself, as he'd never see that money again and the lady he was married to was part of an elaborate scam to trick vulnerable men into emotional and financial entrapment. Whilst he was hesitant to believe that he'd been taken for a ride, I think he came to his senses in the end as I was once in his shoes and had someone also attempt a similar scam after I was newly divorced a few years ago.

Whilst it was clear as daylight that this person had been scammed, and I knew straight away that he was being fleeced, it was sad to see this pensioner gentleman so emotionally caught up in the web of lies and deceit, so much so that he genuinely had feelings for the lady and felt sorry for her.

My advice to anyone that you know that's in a lonely and vulnerable situation, please check in on them to see how they're going. Ask them if they've met anyone recently, especially online, and see if they start to share any of the tell-tale signs that a scammer may be after their money. Hopefully you may be able to prevent them from losing thousands of their life savings and save their hearts from being broken in the process. And scammers are not just out there targeting lonely old men, there are many women also being scammed by cunning men tugging at their heartstrings and longing for affection and attention. Please be aware people and God bless!

10/07/2020

If you rely on your super fund for life insurance, buyer beware! Some of these super life insurance policies have sub-standard definitions and clauses that make it difficult for the average person to make a claim. Don't take the risk - seek the professional services of an experienced financial adviser and make sure you have the right cover for you and your family, based on your individual personal circumstances. Please don't leave it to chance!

Life insurance is supposed to provide financial peace of mind if you get injured, seriously ill or die. While most Australians get life insurance through their superannuation fund, many are discovering that their insurance policy is worthless.

22/04/2020

Great catch up with Colin this morning from The Local Business Network - Macarthur. Thankfully technology makes it easy to keep connected in the current environment. Thanks Colin Potts!

🤝Max and Altura Financial Planning are definitely......🥁

💪💪 !Still Open for Business! 💪💪

🎯 Max and the team "Help provide the right money, to the right people, at the right time, whether they are in their 30's, 40's, 50's or 60's!!"
☝️ They are best known for the great results they achieve for their personal and life insurance clients.
❗️ Respect and honesty are a top priority and because they aren't tied to one product or provider they can always strive for the best client result every time!

☝️ They are still maintaining the exact same operating hours and have easily transitioned to working remotely using VOIP and video conferencing.
👌 All documentation and paperwork can also all be handled electronically and that was how they already serviced their remote and interstate clients anyway!

I also got two great insights:
🤫 Altura means altitude and is a great combination of Max's love for outdoor adventure and the results they get clients.
🤫 The 3 Mountain Peaks in their logo represent Health, Relationships and Finances which are the 3 areas of life they believe matter most.

📲💻You can get in touch with the team through Facebook, LinkedIn, Website or good old fashioned phone.

👍 If you think Max and the team are awesome too, then show your support by leaving them a positive comment below, liking and sharing this post 👍

🤔So....Who else is 💪💪Still Open for Business!💪💪...?
Let us know so we can help them get the word out! 👇
https://m.me/themacarthurbusinessnetwork

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