Financial Planning Solution: Go On The DPB?

Inspired by this article (which tells us there are 5,270 people on sickness or invalids benefits that are alcohol or drug addicts) I thought I should pass on another unorthodox financial planning solution. Changing the names and some of the circumstances to protect the guilty, this is the situation:

A person has 50% custody of their school aged son. They have the lad every other week, and during term time, the lad is at school for most of the day. But you and I, dear taxpayer, pay this person the DPB, plus accomodation supplements, that equate to a before tax income of just under $60,000. I kid you not. I have seen the evidence of this with my own eyes.

Is this right?

No. Plain and simple. This is an able-bodied person whose parenting would frankly be improved by the requirement to go and work - not sitting around boosting their Playstation skills.

So, don't tell me there is no waste in government spending. Also, don't tell me unemployment is 3.6%. The person in this example doesn't even count as unemployed. But I am sure you and I would consider them as such.

But if you as a financial planner cannot stomach the idea of advising someone on benefit manipulation as a financial strategy, then try something more palatable: education.

Probably half of all the people under 45 who seek financial advice would be best advised not to invest the money in a financial product, but in improving their own earning capacity. Education is not directly correlated with wealth accumulation above graduate level, but achieving a vocationally focued degree can have a dramatic effect. Not just on the holder, but also on his or her children as well.