This week I’m going to answer what is perhaps the number question people ask when it comes to financial advice. Drum roll, please… Should I use a financial advisor or do it myself? It’s a big one. The million-dollar question, if you will. Before I get down into the detail of the pros and cons each way, I’d like to preface it by saying that we actually cater...
Wealth is all about building up your asset base. This is something that I’d argue is vitally important for families, in particular. It’s not just about owning your own home (preferably your ‘dream home’). It’s about building your asset base to a point where you can start generating passive income to fund sending your kids to the right school and funding your family’s lifestyle well into retirement. If...
This week I want to touch on something I haven’t covered in previous blogs. Nearly half of adult Australians don’t have a will. That’s a lot. If you don’t have a will, that’s certainly no criticism, but more to say that you’re not alone. To be fair, it’s not something that’s really top of mind for your average Joe. And fair enough – no one likes to...
No one likes paying tax. Let’s face it. Actually, I’ll qualify that by saying ‘too’ much tax. There’s the often bandied about reason for the rich getting richer. To that I’d argue that anyone with a bit of wealth-driven nous is using the laws of the day – legal tax breaks, tax structure et al – to get their taxable income down and use potential return...
Have young kids? Well, now’s the time to introduce them to the concept of saving, and there’s no better way to do that than opening up a bank account for them. As parents, we play a critical role in educating our kids around money and, within that, establishing positive habits around spending and, more importantly, saving. To this end, if you’re good with money, chances are,...
The word ‘debt’ cops a bad wrap, in my opinion. Mention debt, and our minds tend to jump to the negative connotations of the word. And rightfully so. ‘Bad’ debt is exactly that – not great. Meaning, any debt that’s not going to make you money over the medium to long term (aka building your wealth) is something you want to avoid like the plague. Well, as much...
Being in debt ain’t fun. Particularly if it’s credit card debt and the compound nature of interest (in reverse!) means you can see no end in sight in terms of paying it down. I met someone recently who has racked up close to $30K between two credit cards over the past 18 months. She also has close to $3K on Afterpay. Both cards, I’m guessing, would be...
There’s a lot of uncertainty in the job market nowadays. Long gone are the days where you’d work for the same company for 20 to 30 years, get the gold watch, comfortably retire, play golf and put your feet up. Enter 2019, and the whole notion of a full-time job’s fastly becoming a thing of the past. Things have certainly shifted dramatically in the last five...
If you’ve been close to the property market over the past few years, you’ve no doubt come across the term ‘rent-vesting’ in your travels. If you haven’t, it’s basically where you’re both a landlord and a renter at the same time. Rent-vesting’s a concept that’s exploded in recent years. So much so there was even a rent-vesting expo held in Sydney a couple of years’ back....
Let’s face it, renovating or knocking down a house is a daunting proposition. Whichever way you look at it, it’s a huge decision. Same goes for selling up and the arduous task of then moving, particularly if you’ve been living in the same spot for a while. Many families arrive at a point where their home doesn’t quite meet their needs anymore. It could be...
