Smart money weekly; Construction industry turmoil, BNPL shock and market wrap

Ben Nash

Hey team,

Happy Monday.

Before we get into the content for this week I wanted to ask for your help. I’m incredibly proud to have been nominated for inclusion in Financial Standard’s list of the 50 most influential financial advisers in Australia but I NEED YOUR HELP. The list is decided by voting which is super competitive. The voting is now open for the Power50 list, and I’d love your help to make the cut by voting for me through this link.

Another construction company collapsed this week – Oracle Homes. Oracle joins a long list of failing construction companies over the past 2 years as the rising cost of materials, the pandemic and other issues threaten the stability of the industry. It is estimated that they owe approximately $ 14 million and have 300 homes unfinished.
Investors have been eagerly awaiting new details of rate hikes from the Federal Reserve with a general sentiment that they will be slow to cut the official rate to get a better grip on inflation. On Wall Street, the Dow rose 1 percent, to 33,291, the S&P 500 jumped 1.4 per cent to 4,199, and the Nasdaq Composite was the best performing US index gaining 1.6 percent to 12,639 (at time of writing).

In the news: Sneaky tax loophole to save $75,000 when selling a property: Selling a property often results in a chunky cash injection, which if managed well can be a huge accelerator of your wealth building. This perfectly legal tax trick enables an Aussie on the average salary to save $75,000 in tax when selling a property. Check out the article here.

Upcoming events:
Generally speaking, as you progress through your career you will earn a higher income. Too often we see this higher income being cancelled out with higher expenses. To kick spring off, we’re running a session on being smarter with money throughout your career.

Event schedule and links to book here:

Share market wrap
The S&P/ASX200 was stable this week, but still in the red losing 0.59% at time of writing. The Australian dollar rose 1 per cent to 69.77 US cents. On Thursday, the ASX 200 index lifted 0.7 per cent, to close at 7,048 points as some of the nation’s biggest companies reported better-than-expected profit results. Wall Street indices also rose on positive economic data as investors were awaiting guidance on interest rate hikes from the US central bank.

Key sharemarket numbers:

  • The ASX ‘All Ords’ (top 500 shares in Australia) finished the week -0.18% lower than last Friday at 7,345.80 points.
  • The US ‘S&P 500’ (Top 500 shares in America) finished the week -1.54% lower than last week at 4,199.12 points.
  • The US ‘Nasdaq’ (Top 2500+ mainly tech shares in America) finished the week -1.52% lower than last week at 12,639.27 points.
  • The Global FTSE ‘All World’ index (largest 3100 companies in the world) finished the week -0.78% lower than last week (Friday AEDT) at 7,479.74 points.
  • The S&P Cryptocurrency ‘Mega Cap’ Index (tracking market value of Bitcoin and Ethereum) is currently at 2,431.99 for the month, down -6.93% for the month to date.

Investment story of the week: ZIP Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP)
Another day, another BNPL phenomenon. ZIP Co Ltd. this week reported a loss of $1.1billion after income tax for FY22. Their market cap at the time of the report was sitting at approximately $667million. This means that ZIP’s reported loss is 165% of their total market cap. Despite this staggering loss, ZIP’s share price remained fairly stable. Opening at $0.92 on Thursday and closing at $0.95. However, it must be noted that ZIP is still down 78% year to date. Does ZIP have any more surprises in store? It looks like time will tell.

Smart Money upside #84
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; early 60’s, income ~$164k, total assets ~1.6m, savings~ $16k annually

Frustrations
Too much dead cash

What they wanted from us / the advice process
Ensure super money is working hard, have a plan and navigate the possibilities of an investment property at my age.

What success looks like for them
Money is to be dealt with in an organised, planned and efficient way. No leakage, with a clear plan around finances. Minimising the effort – being as an efficient time and money-wise. I no longer want to think too much about my finances and focus on being comfortable.

What money strategy they were following before we went through the planning process
Savings in cash, has an investment property and sporadic investments with no strategy.

What money strategy they chose to pursue from our planning work
Structured banking accounts, superannuation contributions and diversified share portfolio.

Key benefits of going through the process
Support from an adviser who can keep creating an efficient financial plan that allows me to maximise my potential and allow me to focus on my business and life enjoyment.

Value of advice after all advice fees year one: – $28k
Year 20 upside after advice fees: $5m

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
And finally as an update on our August giving challenge, we were targeting 700,000 positive impacts around the world from funds raised through our Money Breakthrough sessions. I’m stoked to report we’re up to 629,625, SO CLOSE to our target. The finish line is in sight, and we’d love your help to get there by getting involved in our Money Breakthrough sessions here.

Money hack of the week: How to ensure financial advice is worth the cost. What makes the investment in financial advice worth it? It’s the question on everyone’s mind when searching for a financial advisor. So, I asked Christine and Walter what makes it worthwhile for them. It comes down to saving Christine’s time,  having a neutral third party help them make decisions, maintaining structure and being more productive with the time they spend on their finances. Check our our full chat here

Money mistake of the week:  How your investment decisions now will affect you long term.In a world where we can order something online and have it on our doorstep within the day, we all are becoming suckers for instant gratification. So, how does this train of thought affect our financial decision-making? While we all want results right now, we need to weigh up the long-term opportunities from making investment decisions today. In this discussion, James Tayler and I talked about the need for a long-term focus when organising your super and investment strategy. Check out the chat here

Jargon Buster of the Week: PRIVATISATION (via Morgan Stanley)
The process of converting a publicly or government-owned enterprise into a privately owned and operated entity.

Podcast from last week:  #244 Cryptocurrency investing 101
This episode is a recording of a live event I did on Cryptocurrency investing 101. I talked about the basics of cryptocurrency investing, how it works, what to look out for, what smart crypto investors do, and the mistakes people make when it comes to crypto. Also, I chatted about how you can plan with cryptocurrency investing and how you can build it into your overall wealth-building plan.
This episode is perfect for those who want to understand a little bit more about crypto, learn more about the opportunity that’s out there and do it in a way that fits in with your actual wealth building.

Helping people with this stuff is our jam, so if you want to chat about how to make your money success easier, you can book an intro call with us here.

Be awesome,

Ben

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 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, regarding your 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. 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, regarding your 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.