Financial Autonomy

The desire for passive income frequently comes up as a goal when I speak with new clients. The idea of earning money before we even get out of bed holds obvious appeal. So this week in the podcast, I thought I'd cover all there is to know about passive income. Where it can be sourced, how you can create it, some of the challenges and misconceptions, tax considerations, and some tips for success.   Subscribe to our weekly GainingCHOICE email General Advice Disclaimer  

In this episode we take a look at the most important concept in finance to understand - compounding.   Subscribe to our weekly GainingCHOICE email General Advice Disclaimer

Consistent with most developed nations, Australia provides incentives for people to save for their retirement. Being self-sufficient in retirement reduces the need for Age pensions and other forms of Social Security.  But saving for your retirement means sacrificing the here and now. Money socked away for your 70s and 80s, is money that you can't enjoy in your 20s and 30s. The opportunity cost is real, so the incentives need to be meaningful.  Fortunately our superannuation system does indeed provide meaningful incentives in the form of tax concessions. There are tax concessions throughout the entire life of your superannuation journey. But I find that sometimes the biggest tax concession of all is overlooked or underappreciated. This week I want to ensure that you understand exactly where the greatest opportunity exists so that you are making the most of the superannuation tax concessions.    Subscribe to our weekly GainingCHOICE email General Advice Disclaimer

It's been a wonderful time to be an investor recently. As regular readers of our GainingCHOICE e-mail will know, the current one year numbers for the trio markets we track are all in double digits, with the US index over 30% up on the year, and the Australian and Emerging markets both up around 20%.  So where to from here? Do such large gains over the past year mean we're destined for a fall? Or is this the early days of a new boom?   General Advice Disclaimer

There’s lots of risk when it comes to investing and building wealth. Inflation risk, market risk, timing risk, concentration risk, liquidity risk, credit risk, legislative risk, reinvestment risk, currency risk, leverage risk, and plenty more.  Some risk we want to take – the ones that we can handle and will reward us with extra returns. Other risks provide no benefit to us and so should be avoided at all costs.   Longevity risk, the topic of this week’s episode, falls into this second bucket, though it’s solution involves the deliberate undertaking of other risk. It’s an interesting one for sure, so let’s dive in.   General Advice Disclaimer

We all want to build wealth and have financial security, have choices in life. This week I wanted to explore the basic framework for how you can make that happen. Your home, your super, your investments, and the financial decisions that sit around those all play their part. General Advice warning Add yourself to the GainingCHOICE weekly email list

Looking for a new What's Possible episode? What's Possible has now moved to its own channel. Links are below for the most common players, or just search What's Possible in your podcast app. Find What's Possible on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/7beUaLlKeg7zlq6RlIObTp Find What's Possible on Apple here:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-possible/id1766412250   We're having a lot of fun with the What's Possible project. Be sure to follow or subscribe to the What's Possible channel so you never miss a new episode.

This week's episode is inspired by the number one question we get asked by new clients - am i on track to retire? This week I take you through how we go about answering this question. What are the inputs required, and the key things for you to consider? For help, visit our website: www.guidancefs.com.au Disclaimer

Could you spend 9 months through winter down in Antarctica? This week I chatted with Matt Roberts who did exactly that with the Australian Antarctic division. He shares how he got this opportunity, the training required, and what life's like at the bottom of the world.   What's Possible is moving to its own channel. Be sure to add it to your Follows/Subcriptions: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7beUaLlKeg7zlq6RlIObTp Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-possible/id1766412250    

Borrowing to invest he is unquestionably a frequent contributor to wealth accumulation. Few of us would buy a home without using a mortgage, and it is a rare business that is able to grow without some form of debt. Borrowing to invest in the stock market has many positive attributes. Shares can be sold quickly, enabling you to reduce or clear your debt at short notice were your circumstances to change. Transaction costs are low. And diversification is easily obtained. There are several ways in which you can borrow to invest in the stock market. Under a debt recycling approach, it is assumed you are using equity in your home. Borrowing to invest magnifies an the outcome. If you invest $1000 and it increases in value by 10%, you have gained $100 in wealth. If instead you matched that $1000 with an equal amount of debt, and your now $2000 investment grew by the same10%, your wealth has increased by $200, double that of the original example. Now of course you need to back out the cost of the debt, but this simple example illustrates the impact. Investments don't always go up however, so the magnification brought about through gearing works in both directions. If the value of your investment rises, gearing enhances your outcome. But if the value of your investment falls, gearing makes the situation worse. For this reason, there's a few key criteria that you should tick-off before embarking on this strategy.   Disclaimer Get GainingCHOICE

Welcome back to the What's Possible podcast where we explore people who've lived interesting lives and consider what lessons we can draw to have the fullest, most fun life possible. In this episode, we dive into Hillary Clinton's journey and what she's achieved alongside that.   What's Possible has now moved to its own channel. Links are below for the most common players, or just search What's Possible in your podcast app. Find What's Possible on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/7beUaLlKeg7zlq6RlIObTp Find What's Possible on Apple here:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-possible/id1766412250   Subscribe to GainingCHOICE Disclaimer

Having now rolled into a new financial year, you might have seen league tables floating around showing the best and worst super fund performers for the 2023/24 financial year. This year the large industry funds tended to lag their retail funds cousins. In this week's episode I wanted to explore why that had occurred, so you can determine whether you need to be taking any action.   Subscribe to GainingCHOICE Disclaimer  

Welcome back to another episode of the What's Possible podcast where we examine the life of someone interesting and then discuss what we can learn from their story to help us live full and interesting lives. Subscribe to Crawford's new weekly email The Dash. Disclaimer   What's Possible has now moved to its own channel. Links are below for the most common players, or just search What's Possible in your podcast app. Find What's Possible on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/7beUaLlKeg7zlq6RlIObTp Find What's Possible on Apple here:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-possible/id1766412250  

What's going on with interest rates? At the beginning of the year there was near unanimous agreement that interest rates would fall at some point in 2024, probably in the back half of the year. Yet here in Australia at least, talk is of the potential need to lift interest rates. As it stands, interest rates are already at their highest level in over a decade, and we need to go back to 2008 to see a time where they were at these levels for a sustained period. This week I wanted to take a look at the change in thinking that is underway globally with respect to interest rate policy, and what that means for those of us with mortgages, and also those with investments. Disclaimer Subscribe to our weekly email update.

Welcome to the What's Possible podcast, our dive into the people who inspire us, how they achieved what they did, and what lessons we can all draw so that we can live the most interesting and full lives possible. Let us know what you think by hitting "reply" to a GainingCHOICE email. Not receiving GainingCHOICE? Fix that here.   What's Possible has now moved to its own channel. Links are below for the most common players, or just search What's Possible in your podcast app. Find What's Possible on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/7beUaLlKeg7zlq6RlIObTp Find What's Possible on Apple here:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-possible/id1766412250

A huge welcome back to the Financial Autonomy podcast, our first episode in about 5 months. The briefest glance at the market section in the GainingChoice e-mail will make it clear that investing in U.S. stocks has been by far the best strategy of the past several years. The five and 10 year average returns on Australian shares, inclusive of dividends, has been about 8%. In comparison The US S&P 500 index has delivered a 10 year average return of about 13% including dividends. The return is even higher when measured over five years. Emerging markets, the other market sector that we follow in GainingChoice, has generated an average return of about 5% per year over both measurement periods. So 13% versus either 8% or 5%. It's not hard to choose which one you’d prefer, if only we had the benefit of hindsight. But what do these percentage return differences mean in dollar terms? $100,000 invested in the U.S. S&P500 index 10 years ago would be worth about $340,000 today, assuming all dividends were reinvested. The same $100,000 invested in the Australian ASX 200 index would be worth about $216,000, again with all dividends reinvested. So whereas investing on the Australian Stock Exchange you did a little better than doubling your money, in comparison investing in U.S. stocks you more than tripled your money over the same time period. Emerging markets fared even worse, with your $100,000 having grown to approximately $163,000. The point here is that the differential is not small. It is meaningful, and it is impactful. But that's backward looking. We can't jump in a DeLorean and travel back in time unfortunately. The question then for us investors is how should we play things from here? Disclaimer Brought to you by Guidance Financial Services GainingChoice

Welcome to the What's Possible podcast our dive into the people who inspire us, how they achieved what they did, and what lessons we can all draw so that we can live the most interesting and full lives possible. Let us know what you think by hitting "reply" to a GainingCHOICE email. Not receiving GainingCHOICE? Fix that here.

I started this podcast in 2017 with the desire to put myself out there on what I felt was important in money management and wealth creation, gaining choice. My hope was that in putting that message out into the world, in time I'd attract people to our Financial Planning practice who shared this worldview. It took a while but I'm very pleased that this did indeed work. Why am I taking a break now? There's a few factors. [Website] [Disclaimer]

It's not uncommon I find, for people to arrive at the desire to achieve Financial Autonomy in their 40s or 50s. Particularly for those with kids, until this point in life it's largely just been survival mode. Money in equals money out. First it's saving a deposit for a home, then it's getting the mortgage under control. Usually either the first home isn't the forever home, or else renovations and improvements are required. Then you've got the costs of raising children. Layer on top this is the potential for divorce, and it's not uncommon for me to have people reach out wanting to achieve financial security but worried that it's too late for them. If you’re worried that it might be too late for you build wealth and achieve financial security, this episode is for you. [Website] [Disclaimer]

In this episode, we talk with David Tuckwell of Global X about a few interesting potential satellite ETFs. [Website] [Disclaimer]