Smart money weekly; IFA Award win, savings 101, breathing out stress

Hey team,

Happy Monday.

On Wednesday the team had a well-deserved night out at the Independent Financial Adviser Awards, an annual event to celebrate the best and brightest in our industry. I am stoked to announce that not only were we nominated for 5 awards, but I took home the Individual Innovator of the Year award. Full credit and thanks go to the fantastic team at Pivot Wealth for pushing the boundaries of financial advice and delivering exceptional service and results for our clients.

Giving update of the week
This week we’ve had the privilege of starting work with a bunch of new clients, and we’ve celebrated by providing 100 underprivileged people in Africa with 365 days of access to clean, life-saving water. 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:
Apologies to those of you who were eagerly waiting for the ‘How to buy your dream $3m home in Bondi’ event last week. Technical issues totally let us down and I’ll be in touch with a reschedule on that session ASAP. As always, it will be recorded and for those of you that registered, a recording will be sent out. Check out the full list of events remaining below and click through to register:

In the News: Tips for Millennials and Gen Z-ers to get ahead and save
This week I got the chance to sit down with Larry and Kylie on The Morning Show and discuss how millennials can get ahead in this client. It’s all about priorities and the key building blocks to financial success is figuring out the right priorities for you. Check out my interview here.

Money Hack of the week: How to alleviate stress through breathing.
Stop scrolling. Right this moment, take 2-3 minutes out of your day to bring your awareness to your breathing. Breath through your nose and see how you feel on the other side. In this chat, I talked to Angie and Shane from Breathe Me about how we can all de-stress right now through breathing techniques. Whilst this isn’t specific to money, I know that money can be a source of stress for many. Thanks to Angie and Shane for these great insights. Check out our full chat here.

Share market wrap
US stocks edged down last Wednesday, with major indexes finishing moderately lower as investors weighed largely upbeat earnings from big retailers while continuing to evaluate inflation worries. The S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.1% higher last Thursday, ending two consecutive days of losses in a session led by a 1.2% advance for real estate shares. Bitcoin continued to track down on Friday.

Key sharemarket numbers:

• The ASX ‘All Ords’ (top 500 shares in Australia) finished the week -0.5% lower than last Friday, on 7,729.90 points.
• The US ‘S&P 500’ (Top 500 shares in America) finished the week 1.07% higher than last week, at 4,704.54 points.
• The US ‘Nasdaq’ (Top 2500+ mainly tech shares in America) finished the week 1.54% higher than last week, at 15,993.71 points.
• The Global FTSE ‘All World’ index (largest 3100 companies in the world) finished the week -1.76% lower than last week (Friday AEDT), at 7,255.96%
• The S&P Cryptocurrency ‘Mega Cap’ Index (tracking market value of Bitcoin and Ethereum) is currently at 6,280.91 for the month, down -7.45% for the month to date

Investment story of the week: Uniti Group Limited (ASX: UWL):
Uniti Group Limited (UWL) is a diversified provider of telecommunications services. The company has three separate business units, each aimed at strategic growth and operated by a different Chief Executive and leadership team. Each business unit has its own financial targets and goals, as well as its own business plan. UWL’s release last Wednesday was met with positive feedback, as the company mentioned that its indicators (group review, EBITDA, free cash flow, and earnings before interest) are ahead of internal budgets. UWL confirmed that the business is on track to exceed broker consensus forecasts for the FY22 year. The Uniti Group share price is now up 143% since the beginning of 2021, and with the recent announcement adding to UWL’s momentum, it’s something I’ll keep an eye on moving forward.

Money mistake of the week: Not saving early enough to prepare for becoming a business owner
The sooner you start saving, the sooner you’ll reap the benefits. I recently chatted with Jacqui Mooney about the biggest money lessons she’s learned during her career. We talked about how being risk-averse helped Jacqui build good foundations to take the plunge into the property market in her 20s. Check out our full chat here.

Jargon Buster of the Week: Charge card (Via Mozo)
A charge card enables you to charge purchases to your card and pay them off at the end of the month. Unlike a credit card, you have to pay the balance on your charge card in full each month. Charge cards do not levy interest on purchases that are paid off at the end of the month, but if you fail to pay your monthly balance in time you will be hit with hefty late payment charges. This is generally in the form of penalty interest. In Australia, the two main issuers of charge cards are American Express and Diners Club.

Podcast from last week:  #143 w. Jacqui Mooney – Launching your own business after a corporate career

In this episode, I talk to Jackie Mooney, she is an editorial brand and media consultant, and she’s the former editor of Women’s Health. She led that business through a couple of massive transitions and has over a couple of decades of experience in the media.
I talked to Jackie about what makes messages that engage and connect with people and talk about the fact that I think everybody is a content producer, no matter whether you work in a business or you run your own business or you just produce a bit of content for fun.
So we talk about Jackie’s journey and career and unpack some of them, how she transitioned from corporate to her own business, made the money decisions around that, as well as some of the money lessons that she learned along the way.
Jacqui is an editorial, brand and media consultant with more than 25 years of publishing experience, with the last 15 years devoted to building brands and communities in the health, fitness and female empowerment space. As the former editor and content director of Women’s Health Australia, she led the editorial direction for a brand that moves the hearts and minds of one million Aussie women every month. A keen runner and passionate advocate for women in sport, she splits her time between Sydney and the South Coast.

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Smart Money upside #44
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
Couple, mid 30’s, 2 kids, household income ~$120k, saving $0 annually, multiple investment properties ~$3.7mil with $2.9mil mortgage, $45k in shares, and $154k super combined.

Frustrations
Too much noise from multiple specific expert services, properties underperforming, large management levels for the property value, uncertainty around equity investments.

What they wanted from us / the advice process
Clear path to the family home, how to accommodate for maternity leave and family planning, how to simplify asset growth. Adequately insured.

What money strategy they were following before we went through the planning process
Rentvesting, saving in cash, continually refinancing interest-only loans.

What money strategy they chose to pursue from our planning work
Rentvest for 5 years. Realise some of the existing assets over that period to help streamline asset accumulation, taking a more hands-off approach to spend more time with family.

Key benefits of going through the process
Confidence in the pathway to the family home. Reduced complexity. Clear banking and savings structure. Effective investment strategy.

Value of advice after all advice fees year one: $73,761
Year 20 upside after advice fees: $213,094

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.