Hey Team,
Happy Mothers Day.
Before I get into the content for this week, I just want to give a MASSIVE shout out to all the amazing mums out there. Not only for always being amazingly beautiful 100% of the time, knowing exactly what to do when the *crumbs* hit the fan, managing to drive diplomacy in sibling rivalries, pushing dad out of the bed when he needs to go to the gym but doesn’t really want to, doing the heavy lifting at childbirth, midnight feeds, school drop offs and pick ups when dad’s busy, being amazingly beautiful 100% of the time, for your wardrobe advice, puffing up the couch cushions when dad forgets, telling dad he looks good even when he doesn’t, knowing when a caffeine injection is mission critical, insisting dad comes home when he’s at the tipping point of a potential night he’s going to regret in the morning (that just be me), being amazingly beautiful 100% of the time, keeping the kids entertained on road trips, for keeping the house looking pretty, being the best BBQ sous chef ever, giving dad the occasional sleep in, having the wisdom of the world’s best CEO when it comes to making tricky decisions, picking the most sensible father’s dad presents, being amazingly beautiful 100% of the time, topping up the cat food when dad forgets, giving the best kisses goodbye, reminding everyone to put on sunscreen, making the bed when dad rushes out of the house for an early meeting, having the foresight to see when the kids are about to stack it at the park, being amazingly beautiful 100% of the time, pushing the pram up the hill when dads tired, for having pretty feet, for investing hours on instagram finding parenting tips, for helping dad with his beauty regime, knowing when to say no to the kids and when to cave in and get a double scoop at Messina, being amazingly beautiful 100% of the time, for having great restaurant suggestions on date night, and perhaps most importantly keeping dads in line.
AND FOR BEING AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL 100% OF THE TIME.
Mums, we love you to bits.
Talking money, this week was a busy one. I was chatting with fellow money nerd David Koch on his new show on Channel Seven Your Money and Your Life around How to Supercharge your superannuation. It was on the box today, but if you missed it you can check out the on demand version on Seven Plus here.
Also, before I get into the content for next week just want to put out a *subtle* plug for an online event I’m putting on next week with General Assembly on how to plan and buy your second property. This event was driven by a lot of questions I’ve been getting lately from people that are already on the property ladder and wondering what’s next?
In the session I’m going to cover how to structure your mortgage, if/how you pay down debt, what and when you buy next. All these elements drive whether you’re heading toward money mediocrity or continuing to build your money momentum. I’m also going to chat through the key principles making a smart second step on the property ladder, how to avoid common property pitfalls, and what you can do to get to the next level in your property journey. Book your place here 
Money hack of the week: Why you should pay for financial advice
For someone that hasn’t used a good financial adviser before, it can be tricky to understand where and how you get a return on the investment in this service. Over the last few weeks I spoke to a dozen Pivot clients on the How to be Successful with Money Podcast to get it straight from the source. Check out their stories here.
Share market wrap
This week the markets were slightly up with the promise of some good news in the federal budget coming out this week. Tech copped a bit of a battering though off the back of some negative news about a potential bubble emerging.
Key sharemarket numbers:
- The ASX ‘All Ords’ (top 500 shares in Australia) finished the week 0.4% higher than last Friday, on 7,325.20 points.
- The US ‘S&P500’ (Top 500 shares in America) finished the week 0.96% higher than last Friday, on 4,232.60 points.
- The US ‘Nasdaq’ (Top 2500+ mainly tech shares in America) finished the week 2.0282% lower than last Friday, on 13,752.24 points.
- The Global ‘All World’ index (measured with the iShares MSCI world index (all share markets around the world combined) finished the week 0.7% higher than last Friday, at 125.73
Investment story of the week: Webjet (ASX: WEB): We all know Webjet, and it’s fair to say this online flight purchase aggregator copped a pounding through COVID. But this week off the back of the data coming in around the NZ travel bubble, travel companies are on a tear. Along with other travel companies Flightcentre and Corporate Travel Management, Webjet is strongly up at over 75% since April last year
Jargon Buster of the Week: Averaging Down (via Canstar): Averaging Down: Averaging down refers to the process of purchasing more stocks as the price goes down – an investor may use this strategy if they believe the company is going to rebound and stock prices will rise again in the future.
Money mistake of the week: Not being friends with the real estate agent you’re trying to buy a property through
I spoke to property expert Aaron Christie-David from Atelier Wealth on his top tip for negotiating with property agents… Make them your friend.
He said you should make sure the agent knows you’re pumped to win their auction? You need to make sure they know you’re serious as their time is valuable too. Ask what you can do to make the selling process easier for them, let them know you’ve got your mortgage ready and don’t be scared to be the first bidder. Check out the full clip here.
Book review: Rich Dad Poor Dad
When I was 16, I knew almost nothing about money. Then randomly one day, my nan gave me a copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad. My mind was immediately blown. The book sparked an interest that lead to me spending the next 20+ learning about money, investing and how to create wealth.
Feels like an inception moment writing this review of Rich Dad Poor Dad for Canstar, but I wanted to talk about why this book that’s 25 years old is still relevant today. Full piece here.
Podcast from last week: #109 Pivot client story w. Karim: H
In this episode, I talk to Karim who’s a client of Pivot that we’ve been working with for a couple of years. Karim is an IT Professional that we did strategic sort of planning work for. He talks about his journey with the advice process, some of the tangible results that he got and for him, a big part of what we did was around building his financial confidence giving him permission to spend and some clarity of where he was headed financially and the ability to tweak and refine things to find a better balance between enjoying his lifestyle now and getting to the financial results to make sure that his financial future was set up as well.
Karim talked about how we build that confidence, what actually drove that and where he sees the opportunity, I suppose, for people that are grappling with some of these decisions. And we also talk about Karim’s creative investment strategy to save himself $20,000 a year.
Giving update of the week
Given it’s mother’s day, we wanted to celebrate all the amazing mums out there, we’ve celebrated by providing a safe childbirth for 100 disadvantaged women in Kenya. This is 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).
Smart Money upside #20 – How to invest an inheritance to create financial security
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 from one of our clients to help you take your money game to the next level.
Numbers/Background
Individual mid 20’s, household income ~$100k saving $20k annually, ~$1m cash, minimal other assets.
Frustrations
Holding substantial cash from an inheritance with next to no return
What they wanted from us / the advice process
Passive income, growth from investments and capital growth for the long term.
What money strategy they were following before we went through the planning process
Saving in cash in an offset, minimal super contributions.
What money strategy they chose to pursue from our planning work
Property as an investment; large index investment (exchange-traded fund); banking structure and set up; review of superannuation etc.
Key benefits of going through the process
Wealth creation and diversification, with a view to creating a substantial asset position. Understanding, clarity, a plan they can achieve and pursue.
Value of advice after all advice fees year one: $14,454
Year 20 upside after advice fees: $1,719,433
If this story resonates and you want to chat about how to get these sorts of results, you can book an intro call here.
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.