9th May 2022

Smart money weekly; Mortgages on the rise, tax planning in time for EOFY, and how to stop cash savings going backwards

Ben Nash

Hey team,

Happy Monday.

Firstly, I wanted to say a huge HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all the amazing mums out there. We hope you’ve all been spoilt even more than you deserve (which is sh!tloads).

In money news this week it was pretty hard to miss the fact that the RBA have finally and after much speculation increased interest rates. Was it a surprise? No. Is it earlier than expected or advised by the RBA? Yes. And how are we feeling about it all? Well, it’s not ideal. (Unless the strategy right now is to hold in cash, which is the case for some). Seeing as it’s the first rate rise since 2010, it’s probably a big surprise to most readers who have never experienced this in their ‘wealth creation’ journey to date.

We saw most banks pass this on across the week with CBA the first cab off the rank. What does this mean to the average homeowner; the rate rise will add $65 a month to repayments on a $500,000 mortgage, and double that on a million-dollar loan. My key takeaway here is to prepare for more rate rises, they’re coming and if you’ve got a plan in place, then there’s no need to worry. If you’re still on the hunt for a house, there’s also good news with this softening prices in some markets. Where there’s disruption, there’s always opportunity.

In the news: ‘Very effective’ way for Aussies to invest $260 billion in savings
Aussies have a whopping $260 billion in savings and I share how there’s a “very effective” way to invest it. There’s just one big obstacle. Click here to find out more.

Upcoming events:
We’ve got our first event for May kicking off next week, don’t forget to sign up. Check out the rest of our May events, covering money fundamentals, including – money mistakes, money mindset and investing. Click through to register and join the session:

Event schedule and links to book here:

Share market wrap
As of Friday morning the Australian share market lost nearly $70 billion, and Wall Street has lost trillions as investors took flight amid concerns that more interest rate hikes by the US central bank would not be enough to curb surging inflation.

Key sharemarket numbers:  

  • The ASX ‘All Ords’ (top 500 shares in Australia) finished the week -3.4% lower than last Friday, on 7,464.20 points.
  • The US ‘S&P 500’ (Top 500 shares in America) finished the week -2.44% lower than last week, at 4,146.87 points.
  • The US ‘Nasdaq’ (Top 2500+ mainly tech shares in America) finished the week -3.05 % lower than last week, at 12,317.69 points.
  • The Global FTSE ‘All World’ index (largest 3100 companies in the world) finished the week 1.13% higher than last week (Friday AEDT), at 7,503.27
  • The S&P Cryptocurrency ‘Mega Cap’ Index (tracking market value of Bitcoin and Ethereum) is currently at 4,019.04 for the month, down -4.33% for the month to date

Investment story of the week: Incannex Healthcare Ltd (ASX:IHL)
Incannex Healthcare Ltd (ASX:IHL) is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing novel medicinal cannabinoid compounds and psychedelic therapies for unmet needs. This includes treatment of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), traumatic brain injury (TBI)/concussion, lung inflammation (ARDS, COPD, asthma, bronchitis), rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Over the past 12 months, the Incannex share price has surged by more than 30% following its IHL-42X positive phase 2 clinical trial results. With its growth exponentially climbing alongside its successful trial results, this company could make a giant splash in the second half of 2022.

Smart Money upside #67
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 40’s, income ~$150k, total assets ~$1.1m, saving~ $10k annually

Frustrations

  • Analysis paralysis
  • Understands finances but doesn’t know where to begin
  • Just doesn’t know, what they don’t know

What they wanted from us / the advice process

  • Help to understand their current financial position
  • How to invest idle cash
  • How to be efficient with tax
  • How to do all of the above without being stretched or feeling cash poor

What success looks like for them

  • Have mortgage paid down to around $200k
  • Increase super contributions
  • Invest spare cash to shares
  • Purchase an investment property if possible
  • Be able to retire with an income of $50k p.a.

What money strategy they were following before we went through the planning process
Saving cash surplus into offset account and building an investment portfolio of individual stocks and a few ETFs

What money strategy they choose to pursue from our planning work
Additional concessional contributions and diversified share portfolio

Key benefits of going through the process

  • Clear strategy with current investments that helped arrange upcoming important costs
  • Increase concessional contribution each year to reduce tax
  • Clear plan to regularly contribute and build an investment portfolio
  • Banking framework that makes it easy to save
  • Access to a low cost super with a range of quality passive investment options

Value of advice after all advice fees year one: – $2k
Year 20 upside after advice fees: $1.5m

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
This week we wanted to celebrate our amazing Philippines based team and the great work the future generation of entrepreneurs are doing in the ‘peens’ to grow their economy. So we celebrated by providing a month’s worth of social entrepreneurship education to students in the Philippines. 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.

Money Hack of the week: How to find a great mortgage broker.
How much is a stress-free buying process worth to you? Because if you’re like most first-time property buyers, you’re bound to be put through the stress test! This is why we are big fans of mortgage brokers. Aaron Christie-David and I sat down to talk about the massively underrated benefits of mortgage brokers (like sleeping soundly while making a big investment). Check out our full chat here.

Money mistake of the week: Not having a tax plan that can save you in the future.
Any seasoned taxpayer knows that tax preparation can be a difficult, time-consuming, and often perplexing procedure. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. I sat down to chat with Stuart Reynolds about the biggest areas people go wrong with their tax planning and why it’s his job to make sure you don’t get caught out down the line. Check out our full chat here.

Jargon Buster of the Week: Fixed interest (via Macquarie)
Fixed interest is an amount earned on funds to be paid on top of a principal calculated as a percentage that remains unchanged for the term of the loan

Podcast from last week: #167 How to avoid the most painful money mistakes
This episode is a recording of a live event I did in collaboration with the General Assembly, all about how to avoid the key money mistakes.

I unpacked the small and big mistakes that people make as well as dispel a handful of money myths to help you understand the things to look out for to make the best financial decisions. Also, I uncover a couple of different frameworks that I found to be really effective when it comes to setting up your money for success.

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.