Melbourne to Manhattan: A Podcast Pause for a City Change
Financial Autonomy
by Paul Benson
1M ago
A somewhat emotional episode this week as I sit down to record. After 6 and a half years, and 342 weekly episodes, I’ve decided to take a break from producing the Financial Autonomy podcast. Truthfully, at this point I don’t know if this is the end of the podcast or just a pause. It could be that I’m back in a few months. Perhaps we change things up somehow and Financial Autonomy morphs into something new. I just don’t know right now. I started this podcast in 2017 with the desire to put myself out there on what I felt was important in money management and wealth creation, gaining choice. My h ..read more
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Am I too old to achieve Financial Autonomy?
Financial Autonomy
by Paul Benson
1M ago
It’s not uncommon I find, for people to arrive at the desire to achieve Financial Autonomy in their 40s or 50s. Particularly for those with kids, until this point in life it’s largely just been survival mode. Money in equals money out. First it’s saving a deposit for a home, then it’s getting the mortgage under control. Usually either the first home isn’t the forever home, or else renovations and improvements are required. Then you’ve got the costs of raising children. Layer on top this is the potential for divorce, and it’s not uncommon for me to have people reach out wanting to achieve finan ..read more
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Having Goals is Not Enough
Financial Autonomy
by Paul Benson
3M ago
Today’s post is prompted by two separate discussions I had with new clients this week. In one case, there was a recent inheritance, the other, the couple had recently paid off their mortgage. In both instances, multiple options existed. I heard about things like home renovations, private school for the kids, cutting back to four days a week, early retirement, buying an investment property, paying off an investment property, going on a big family holiday, topping up super. And on it went. The problem in both cases wasn’t not having any goals, but rather, the opposite. Complete overwhelm with to ..read more
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Is Superannuation Worth the Risk?
Financial Autonomy
by Paul Benson
4M ago
This week’s post is inspired by a question I got for my Ask an Expert column in the Fairfax press. A reader asked whether it was worth adding extra money to super given the balance goes up and down. She can put $5000 in one day, only to see the balance drop by that amount the next, causing her to feel like those savings just got flushed down the toilet. There’s several different elements that are important to get your head around in thinking about this question, and the word count limit in the newspaper makes giving a complete answer challenging. The podcast format however offers far more flex ..read more
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Is Super Worth the Risk?
Financial Autonomy
by Paul Benson
4M ago
This week’s post is inspired by a question I got for my Ask an Expert column in the Fairfax press. A reader asked whether it was worth adding extra money to super given the balance goes up and down. She can put $5000 in one day, only to see the balance drop by that amount the next, causing her to feel like those savings just got flushed down the toilet. There’s several different elements that are important to get your head around in thinking about this question, and the word count limit in the newspaper makes giving a complete answer challenging. The podcast format however offers far more flex ..read more
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What is Factor Investing?
Financial Autonomy
by Paul Benson
4M ago
You’ve almost certainly heard of index investing, also sometimes called passive investing. Here investment portfolios are constructed to replicate I given a market. The weighting given to each individual stock is determined by the size of each company, its market capitalisation. So for instance in the Australian market, the largest allocation would be to BHP, then Commonwealth Bank, CSL, etc. The main alternative to index or passive investment is active investment. Here fund managers deploy various strategies in an effort to outperform the market average. Factor investing sits in between these ..read more
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When do SMSF’s make sense?
Financial Autonomy
by Paul Benson
5M ago
When does it make sense to move your superannuation savings into a Self Managed Super Fund? Is not shifting to an SMSF a wasted opportunity? Who should have a self managed fund? This week we’re going to get you answers to all these questions. So if you’ve ever wondered whether a Self Managed Super Fund is right for you, hopefully this week’s episode we’ll set you straight.   Let’s start by covering off the key foundations. Self Managed Super Funds are a legal structure set up to enable you to manage your own retirement savings. As with regular super funds, any money held within them is pr ..read more
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What are Annuities and what role do they play in Retirement?
Financial Autonomy
by Paul Benson
6M ago
Annuities are a product most people have heard of, but don’t know exactly what they are, or when to use them. With interest rates returning to more normal levels, annuities are coming out of the deep freeze. So this week I thought I’d take you through the basics of annuities so you have an appreciation for where they might have a use in your financial plan.   Let’s kick off with a definition. An annuity is a fixed contract product that produces income. The easiest way to think about them I find, is as a term deposit with extra functionality. At its simplest, you might for instance take ou ..read more
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Crushing Debt: A Guide to Paying Off Loans and Building Wealth
Financial Autonomy
by Paul Benson
7M ago
We all know that interest rates have leapt up quickly in the past 18 months. Whilst many people have been protected thus far by fixed rate mortgages, as these roll off, more and more of us are starting to feel the pain. That being the case, paying off debt has bubbled to the top of the priority list for many. This week I wanted to explore some of the ways that you might be able to accelerate paying down your debt.   Debt Snowball vs Debt Avalanche Debt Snowball and Debt Avalanche are two popular strategies for paying down debt. The difference between the two lies in the order in which you ..read more
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5 Key Steps to Building Wealth for Professionals in Their Prime
Financial Autonomy
by Paul Benson
7M ago
1.      Create a solid foundation   There are three things I consider foundational to successfully build wealth and achieve financial autonomy.   First you need to understand your cash flow. What does it cost you to live, how much do you have coming in, and is there a surplus?   Without surplus cash flow there’s nothing to invest and therefore nothing from which to build wealth. If you need help in this area take a look at chapter two in my book where I provide several different cash flow management strategies and a tool to help you find the best one to ..read more
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