Seagrims - Your Financial Planners

15/08/2026

What is Swedish Death Cleaning: -the Art of not leaving a drawer full of cables for your loved ones to sort through!

The idea is simple: gradually declutter your belongings while you're alive so your loved ones have less stress when you are gone and you feel better with less stuff.

You Might Actually Find Lost Treasure

Decluttering has a funny way of paying dividends.

People regularly discover:

Cash hidden in books.
Jewellery forgotten in drawers.
Gift vouchers that haven't expired.
Missing passports.
The TV remote that vanished during the last government.
Granted, you'll also find enough old charging cables to wire a small village.

Your House Becomes Easier to Clean

Less stuff means:

fewer surfaces to dust,
fewer shelves to organise,
fewer things to trip over,
and dramatically fewer decorative bowls that somehow collect absolutely everything except fruit.
Future you will be grateful.

It's Surprisingly Liberating

Many people expect decluttering to feel like losing things.

Instead, it often feels like gaining breathing room.

Sentimental Items

☐ Keep the treasures
☐ Let go of guilt-inducing clutter
☐ Write labels or stories for meaningful heirlooms
☐ Ask family if they'd like special items now rather than later

The Golden Rule

☐ If you haven't used it...
☐ If you don't love it...
☐ If you forgot you owned it...
☐ Ask yourself whether someone else could enjoy it more than the back of your cupboard.

Remember: Swedish Death Cleaning isn't about preparing for the end—it's about making life lighter, your home calmer, and ensuring your nearest and dearest never have to wonder why you owned fourteen identical phone chargers for phones you no longer possess.

Source: Chat GPT


Warm regards,


Anne-Marie Seagrim AFP Grad Dip. FP
Director and Senior Financial Planner
Estate Planning Specialist
Authorised Representative of AD Advisory

Australia's first transparent and independent service to help you find, compare and review qualified Australian financial advisers. All current registered financial advisers listed!

04/06/2026

10 things people over 60 no longer care about!

Simple pleasures: Many Australians discover that one of the unexpected joys of getting older is slowing down, caring less about what others think and taking time to enjoy life's quieter.

Spend five minutes online and you’ll be told it’s all wrinkles, aching joints and forgetting why you walked into the kitchen, yet ask many Australians over 60 what they’ve actually enjoyed about getting older and a different story emerges.

Not the big milestone moments, but rather the small, unexpected freedoms.

The things nobody really tells you about.

No.1 Caring less what other people think

At some point, many people simply run out of energy for worrying about everybody else’s opinions.

The neighbours might not like the colour you’ve painted the fence. Someone may disapprove of your holiday plans, your hobbies or the fact you’ve decided to buy a caravan.

You listen politely… then get on with your life.

No.2 Leaving early without a guilty conscience

There was a time when leaving a party before midnight felt almost rude. Now? Some people are saying their goodbyes before the pavlova appears.
The gathering was lovely, the company was great, but there’s no beating your own couch, favourite television show and a decent night’s sleep.

No.3 Choosing comfort every single time

Fashion magazines can argue all they like, but a comfortable pair of shoes wins.

Every time.

The same goes for soft jumpers, practical jackets and trousers that don’t require an engineering degree to put on. After 60, comfort starts looking remarkably stylish.

No.4 Spotting a sales pitch from a mile away

Experience teaches lessons that no textbook can. After decades of advertising campaigns, political promises, miracle cures and salespeople insisting today’s deal ends tonight, many older Australians develop a highly tuned radar for rubbish.

Some might even call it a superpower.

No.5 Rediscovering the joy of a slow morning

For years, mornings were often a race: getting children ready for school, rushing to work, trying to beat traffic… trying to beat the clock!

These days, there is something deeply satisfying about enjoying a cup of coffee/tea while it’s still hot and reading the paper from start to finish.
No.6 Realising your parents may have known a thing or two

Most people spend years promising they’ll never become their parents, then one day they hear themselves saying, “money doesn’t grow on trees,” or “turn the lights off when you leave the room.”

It’s usually followed by a moment of silence and a wide-eyed stare of disbelief. And perhaps a reluctant admission that Mum and Dad were onto something.

No.7 Having fewer friends but stronger friendships

The friendship circle often gets smaller with age: my father always told me, “you’ll be able to count them with one hand”.

Surprisingly, many people don’t mind. The friendships that remain tend to be the ones built on decades of trust, shared memories, a deeper understanding, and knowing exactly who to call when life throws a curveball.
Quality starts winning over quantity.

No.8 Learning that being busy isn’t always the goal

Australians are good at keeping busy.

Sometimes a little too good!

Many people spend years filling every spare moment before eventually discovering that a quiet afternoon can be just as rewarding as a productive one… especially if there’s a comfortable chair involved.

No.9 Appreciating ordinary days

There was a time when falling asleep in the middle of the afternoon felt lazy.

Now it feels like common sense.

Whether it’s 20 minutes in the recliner, a snooze after lunch or drifting off while watching the cricket, many Australians over 60 have come to appreciate the restorative power of an afternoon nap.

The best part? Nobody is marking the roll, and nobody is telling you to get up.

No.10 Becoming much more protective of your time

One of the biggest changes isn’t physical, it’s deciding who and what deserves your attention.

People become less willing to waste precious hours on unnecessary drama or obligations they never wanted in the first place.

The phrase “No thanks” becomes easier to say.

And life often becomes better because of it.

Ref Scott Podmore


Cheers from us all at Seagrims

Financial Planning Services to Reach Your Goals - Port Augusta, Port Pirie, Kadina, Whyalla, Port Li

12/05/2026

01/05/2026

Happy 28 years with us Kristen! How lucky are we to have kept you for so long! (This photo was 8 years ago)

21/04/2026

Guaranteeing a child’s loan: an obligation that can outlive you. (The bank of Mum and Dad)

With property prices increasing by the minute, we are being asked more often by our retirees a very interesting question!

“Is it ok if we become the guarantors of our children’s housing loan?”

As property prices and borrowing challenges persist in Australia, more families are turning to guarantor loans (commonly referred to in the media as the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’), with brokers reporting significant growth in parents providing guarantees to help children enter the housing market. Many parents agree to guarantee a loan for a child or other family member as a practical way of helping them get ahead, often to buy a first home or support a business venture.

What is less commonly understood is that a guarantee doesn’t just affect you during your lifetime. It can also have significant consequences for your estate, and for how fairly (or unfairly) your assets are distributed after you die.

What does it mean to be a guarantor?

When you act as a guarantor, you promise the lender that if the borrower cannot repay the loan, you will.

If the guarantee is ever called upon, you may need to use your own assets to meet the debt; or if you have died, your estate may be required to pay it. From a legal perspective, that payment is treated as an estate liability, even though it effectively benefits the borrower.

Warning for executors

A further complication is that a guaranteed debt may not crystallise until years after the will-maker’s death. Even if the borrower is meeting repayments at the time of death, the guarantee remains in force, and the estate can still be called upon if the borrower later defaults. For this reason, an executor may be required to retain or set aside estate funds to meet a potential future claim under the guarantee, rather than distributing the estate immediately.

If an executor distributes the estate without making adequate provision for a contingent guarantee liability, and the guarantee is later enforced, the executor may be personally liable to the lender to the extent the estate no longer has sufficient assets to meet the debt.

Why this matters for your Will

Most Wills divide assets between beneficiaries on the assumption that:
the estate consists of assets the will-maker owned; and
liabilities are limited to ordinary debts and expenses.

A guarantee breaks that assumption.

If your estate pays out under a guarantee for one child, that child has received a real financial benefit – their debt has been reduced or eliminated. However, unless your Will deals with this specifically, the payment may simply be treated as an estate expense, that is, a cost, liability or outgoing that must be paid out of the deceased’s estate in order to properly administer the estate and discharge the deceased’s legal obligations.

A common (and unintended) outcome.

You have two children and intend to divide your estate equally. You guarantee one child’s home loan. After your death, the bank calls on the guarantee. Your estate pays $300,000. Unless your Will says otherwise, the remaining estate is divided equally – meaning both children bear the cost, even though only one benefited.

How estate planning can deal with guarantees

A well drafted Will can treat any payment made under a guarantee as a benefit to the relevant beneficiary and adjust that beneficiary’s inheritance accordingly. This allows the Executor to take the guarantee into account when dividing the estate, so that your overall intentions about fairness and balance are preserved.

When should you review your estate plan?

It is worth reviewing your Will if you:
have guaranteed a loan for a child or other family member.
are considering acting as a guarantor in the future; or
have a Will that was prepared before the guarantee was given.
Source: ADLV Law

Warm regards,


Anne-Marie

31/03/2026

Lucky us with such lovely grateful clients! Thanks Ally Patterson the girls loved them!

28/02/2026

I think one of the best investments you can make is a holiday! Memories last!

28/12/2025

Hoping you’ve all had a lovely Xmas with your loved ones. We feel very lucky to have had all our kids home! Family is everything.

22/11/2025

Feeling pretty lucky to have won two awards for “Best Financial Planners” for the Copper Coast and Port Augusta! A real pat on the back for our wonderful team. So proud of all they do!