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

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

I think I mentioned in a previous episode that I’ve been doing a lot of research recently on a possible new book I’m working on focused on investment portfolio construction and evidence based investing. One aspect that’s cropped up is the question of how much international share exposure we should have in our Australian portfolios. If you’re in a default balanced fund option, then this decision will be made for you. But those listeners who break down their superannuation and investment portfolios into different investment options will have faced this dilemma. This week I wanted to share with y ..read more

It’s summer and hopefully you’re kicking back somewhere, recharging the batteries with plenty of blue sky and sunshine. It’s at times like these, perhaps strolling along the beach with our partner, nothing urgent to be done and plenty of time to think, that the thought might pop into our head “wouldn’t it be great to spend more time here. I wonder what it costs to buy a holiday house?” Conveniently, real estate agents will have their windows brightly broadcasting all the various potentials to satisfy your desire. As a Financial Autonomy listener though, you are likely the prudent, perhaps even ..read more

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

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

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

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

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

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