14th March 2022

Smart money weekly; Aus floods, Russia driving petrol prices, new money education event series, & $1.7mil advice upside

Ben Nash

Hey team,

Happy Monday.

It has truly been a remarkable and shocking week seeing the floods unfold across the east coast. Our thoughts are with the families that are recovering from the devastation. I sat down this week with the team at The Today Show to discuss what this means for insurance premiums so you can understand how this might impact you in the future. Catch the full story here.

We also chatted about fuel prices and you have probably all noticed that the price at the bowser is pretty outrageous this week. This is simply an effect of the ongoing Russia v. Ukraine crisis after the US banned Russian oil imports this week. Ultimately this is going to push the cost of living up, particularly for those of you in regional Australia. I’ll keep you updated on this will be set to unfold across the next few months.

Smart Money upside #59
Because people don’t often talk about the full ins and outs of their money, it’s hard to learn lessons from hearing what good and bad choices other people make. This story is from one of our clients to help you take your money game to the next level.

Numbers/Background
Individual; late 30’s, income ~$250k, total assets ~$300k, savings~ $10k annually

Frustrations
Not knowing what to do with savings & having a plan or goal in mind. Paying too much tax and fees that could be avoided.

What they wanted from us / the advice process
Have a plan – something clear and easy to follow, a clear tax minimisation strategy, confidence that super is invested effectively, a clear savings plan that maintains my lifestyle.

What success looks like for them
Purchasing a property, having a better understanding of investments and tax strategies, and getting a clear plan to achieve their goals

What money strategy they were following before we went through the planning process
None

What money strategy do they choose to pursue from our planning work
Reinvest with shares and property, readjust my superannuation and get a solid banking structure in place which will help me achieve my goals

Key benefits of going through the process
Education, understanding of a banking structure, and seeing that there are ethical investment options out there that may be more beneficial for me than what I currently have

Value of advice after all advice fees year one: $21,483
Year 20 upside after advice fees: $1,689,631

If this story resonates and you want to chat about how to get these sorts of results, you can book an intro call here.

Giving update of the week
At Pivot we’re passionate about the benefits of having a solid education in all important areas of life (money included), so we’ve celebrated by providing 100 children with access to life-changing e-learning education and training. This is all part of our ongoing commitment to make a difference in the lives of our clients and simultaneously make an impact on our world through our partnership with B1G1 (Buy 1 Give 1). You can check out more information about our giving here.

Upcoming events:
We have a huge new series of events coming up over the next few months. From saving to building a second income, it’s all here for you. Even if you can’t make the times, click through to register and we’ll send over a recording:

Event schedule and links to book here:

Money Hack of the week: How to classify different types of cryptocurrencies.
How many classifications of cryptocurrencies do you think there are? If you thought of just coins and NFTs, you’d be wrong. Cryptocurrency whiz, Joni Pirovich, took me through EIGHT types of crypto classifications and what they all mean. Check out our full chat here.

Share market wrap
Australian shares were trading flat on Friday with falls in the technology and energy sectors offsetting gains in materials and financial stocks. Over in the US equities found some life on Thursday as oil and other commodities saw a pullback. At the time of writing this, crypto is likely up thanks to Biden’s executive order solidifying the stance that the asset class is the real deal.

Key sharemarket numbers:

  • The ASX ‘All Ords’ (top 500 shares in Australia) finished the week -0.8% lower than last Friday, on 7,338.10 points.
  • The US ‘S&P 500’ (Top 500 shares in America) finished the week -1.91% lower than last week, at 4,259.52 points.
  • The US ‘Nasdaq’ (Top 2500+ mainly tech shares in America) finished the week -2.43 % lower than last week, at 13,129.96 points.
  • The Global FTSE ‘All World’ index (largest 3100 companies in the world) finished the week -2.19% lower than last week (Friday AEDT), at 7,099.09
  • The S&P Cryptocurrency ‘Mega Cap’ Index (tracking market value of Bitcoin and Ethereum) is currently at 4,217.07 for the month, down -6.12% for the month to date

Investment story of the week: Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR)
The Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR) share price was on fire on Thursday morning. The department store operator’s shares are up 21% to 49.5 cents after investors responded positively to its half-year results release. Myer delivered solid sales and profit growth during the half. This allowed the Myer Board to declare its first dividend since FY 2017. With Myer up 75% over the last year, the trajectory is trending in the right direction.

Money mistake of the week: The biggest mistake investors are making.
What’s the BIGGEST mistake you can make when it comes to investing? I wanted to hear Alex Barrat’s take on the worse mistakes made while investing. At the top of the list was thinking too short-term, and Alex has first-hand experience that all investors need to hear. Check out our full chat here.

Jargon Buster of the Week: Managed Accounts (Morgan Canstar)
An account owned by a single investor, managed by a professional Money Manager. Typically, these required larger investments but more recently, new technologies have allowed fewer high-net-worth investors to access Managed Accounts.

In the news: How to use your current property equity to buy another house
Millions of Aussies are sitting on a “gold mine” without realising it – and by accessing it they can make themselves even richer. To find out how click through to read my take on this in news.com.au.

Podcast from last week: #159 How to be smarter with money
This episode is a live recording session on ideas on how to get smarter with your money. It’s all about the key frameworks that you need to understand in setting your financial foundations, how to understand investing and a sort of broad brushstroke of what drives money success. As well as key questions that will help you to get the results that you want with your money.
Also jumped into a bunch of Q & A about a whole heap of random things like financial investment decisions.

Apple
Spotify
Stitcher
Podbean

Be awesome,

Ben

PS: If you want a hand to get on the front foot with your money in 2021, check out our 45-minute one-on-one sessions here. We’re donating 100% of the money raised to charity, so you can up your money game and do something good on the planet at the same time.

Disclaimer:
I know you’re smarter than someone that would need me to write the words that come next, but our compliance peeps are real hard-asses so here we go… This information is not personal advice, poetry, or a map to where Jimmy Hoffa is buried. It may only be regarded as general advice, and definitely shouldn’t be considered something worthy of inclusion for Donna Hay’s next cookbook or the Archibald prize. This is actually just an email communication that has been sent to a bunch of people and doesn’t even have your name on it. Your personal objectives, needs or financial situation have not been considered when preparing this email, but I want you to know that I have spent a lot of time thinking about the Venn diagram intersection of poetry, landscaping, and essential oils – if you’re fascinated by this same phenomenon please reply so we can compare notes. You should consider the appropriateness of any general advice we have given you, having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs, and if necessary, seek advice before acting on it. You should also consider other people when getting on and off public transport, smiling more, eating healthy, and listening to your mum when she tells you that you’ve been working too hard. Where the information relates to a financial product, you should obtain and consider the relevant product disclosure statement before making any decision to purchase that financial product. Where the information relates to a hilarious joke I’ve made, you should consider belly laughing deeply. Worth noting also that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance when it comes to investments, and definitely not when it comes to the Wallabies. Financial services guide. All jokes aside and just to be clear, this information may only be regarded as general advice. That is, your personal objectives, needs or financial situations were not considered when preparing it.  You should consider the appropriateness of any general advice we have given you, having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs, and if necessary, seek advice before acting on it. Where the information relates to a financial product, you should obtain and consider the relevant product disclosure statement before making any decision to purchase that financial product. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.