Tag: Personal Finance

Welcome to another edition of Podcast Of The Week!

Each week we will post a few of the best podcast episodes that we have listened to over the last 7 days.  The podcasts will cover various topics, not just personal finance and investing.

Podcast: The Property Couch
Episode: Q & A on What % of your Income should you Spend, Borderless Investing and Smart Money Management Tips
Link: http://thepropertycouch.com.au/ep168-qa-borderless-investing-money-management/

Description:

It’s our favourite day of the month folks… Q & A Day!!!

And we’re covering quite a bit in a short & sweet amount of time today— including AN EXCLUSIVE ANNOUNCEMENT for our Couch listeners!!! (As it so happens, this was dropped with, “Yeah, go on, let’s tell ‘em” and a nod of the head… so an absolute scoop.)

Not only that, but also we answer 3 solid questions, thanks to the legends who leave us a SpeakPipe voicemail message (remember: we prioritise your Q if you do this too)!

But back to today’s episode — if you want to know what we think of investing in Hobart, and down in good ol’ Tassy in general (it’s been getting a bit of attention from a fair few property investors), OR you want to find out if now’s the time to invest in Perth … tune in.

But 100% TUNE IN if you’re keen to get on top of your Money SMARTS — we give you a rough rule of thumb for the amount of income you should allocate to your spending habits ie. How much you should spend on Bills, Living and Lifestyle and your Loan/s!!

Podcast: The MFCEO Project

Episode: Is It Better To Be Famous or Impactful? With Andy Frisella

Link: https://andyfrisella.com/blogs/mfceo-project-podcast/is-it-better-to-be-famous-or-impactful-with-andy-frisella-mfceo231

Description: 

There’s a question that I think – if you answer it rightly – will get you straight on what you’re doing with your business, your brand….even your whole life. If you answer this question correctly, you’re going to have a sense of strength and purpose that other people dream about. And you’re going to feel good about yourself. So here’s the question: is it better to be famous or impactful? That’s what I talk through on today’s episode.

Podcast: Self Made Man

Episode: How To Make 7-Figures With Amazon

Link: https://www.selfmademan.com/podcasts/4mrugsxOmQgiMaC2IywsIi

Description:

Today’s interview is going to be pretty special for a lot of you out there who want to build an online business, but who might feel like you’re just not cut-out for an information marketing type of model.

Obviously if you follow my work and this podcast, you know that I’ve done very well as an online publisher and educator.

I figured out about 10 years ago that I’m really good at writing books and courses, and selling those online. And in fact, I’ve sold around $60 million worth of those products during that time.

Naturally, a lot of my students want to create the same kind of business.

Well what if you’re just not meant for that… What if writing or recording products is a true struggle for you?

What if writing sales letters or sales video scripts is something you’ve attempted to do for years, unsuccessfully…

What if you don’t want to turn on the camera and start posting pictures and videos to instagram every week to become an influencer and leader in your niche?

The bottom line is that very few people are meant for this kind of business, and that’s okay.

If that’s you, then today’s episode is what you’ve been looking for.

The good news is that there is a different kind of business you can build… One that you can run from anywhere in the world, where you don’t have to write sales letters, or fire up the camera.

All you need to do is find and list great products for sale.

I’m talking about Amazon.

There are literally tens of thousands of average ordinary people who make a phenomenal living, buying products at wholesale, and listing them for sale on Amazon.

Many of them have now started to private label those products under their own brand, build up a customer base, and then sell that company for millions of dollars just one to two years later.

It’s one of the most simple and relatable business opportunities in the world, and the guy who help start this revolution is on with us here today…

His name is Matt Clark, and over the past 7 years, Matt’s company has produced more successful Amazon business owners than anyone else in the world.

So if you’ve been trying to build an online business, but it just hasn’t clicked, starting an Amazon business just might be the answer you’ve been looking for, and Matt is here today to walk you through the entire process.

Just like retail shopping, the finance industry is the same where it pays to shop around and find yourself the best possible deal. Thankfully, it’s a simple process to find the best term deposit rates in Australia thanks to Australian Money Market. You can see all the term deposit rates currently on offer from over 20 Australian financial institutions and you can pick and choose which offer sounds the most attractive to you.

Using Australian Money Market doesn’t cost anything as they receive a brokerage from the financial institution or bank for getting you to sign up for a term deposit. Much like a referral that a blogger would receive for affiliate marketing.

Current Best Term Deposit rates in Australia

• Citibank Term Deposit – 2.8% p.a. 6 month term $100,000 minimum investment
• Ubank Term Deposit – 2.6% p.a. 3 month term $1,000 minimum investment
• MyState Term Deposit – 2.6% p.a. 12 months term $5,000 minimum investment
• ING Term Deposit – 2.9% p.a. 24 month term $10,000 minimum investment
• RaboDirect Term Deposit – 2.6% p.a. 24 month term $1,000 minimum investment
• ME Term Deposit – 2.85% p.a. 7 month term $1,000 minimum investment
• Westpac Term Deposit – 2.4% p.a. 24 month term $5,000 minimum investment
• People’s Choice Credit Union Term Deposit – 2.8% p.a. 24 month term $5,000 minimum investment
• Macquarie Bank Term Deposit – 2.5% p.a. 12 month term $10,000 minimum investment
• NAB Term Deposit – 2.6% p.a. 24 month term $5,000 minimum investment
• Bank Of Melbourne Term Deposit – 2.5% p.a. 24 month term $1,000 minimum investment
• BT Term Deposit – 2.85% p.a. 60 month term $5,000 minimum investment
• St George Term Deposit – 2.95% p.a. 60 month term $5,000 minimum investment

So for an example with one of the best term deposit offers that ING has at the moment:

A $10,000 deposit over a 2 year period at a fixed interest rate of 2.9% comes to $580 interest earned. Not too bad! As we discussed in our diversify across stocks and bonds article, term deposits can come in handy in your investment portfolio.

Just make sure before agreeing to the terms and conditions, that you haven’t locked away too big a chunk of your savings away for too long a period. If you happen to urgently need access to the funds, you will take a hit on the interest and in most cases, have to wait out a 31 day notice period. Only in some situations where you are approved for financial hardship, the bank or financial institution can agree to release the funds back to you sooner.

It’s also good to take note if the bank or financial institution that you are taking a term deposit with has the Australian Government Guarantee of $250,000. In the event that the bank goes broke, you are at least covered for losses up to that amount.

So the best term deposit for you should include the government guarantee, have a minimum investment amount that you can afford to put aside and not have access to and just the right amount of duration.

Australian Money Market partners with the big players

Financial planning software platforms and providers of data feeds.

• iress
• Agility Applications
• CLASS
• COIN
• Hub24
• SuperMate
• MYOB BankLink
• Multiport

Platform Partners

• Bell Direct
• Multiport
• Super Concepts
• Super IQ
• Xpress Super
• Supervision Group
• OneVue
• AMG Super
• Smartwrap
• Eclipse UMA

Cash Management Account (CMA) Providers

• Westpac
• Bank Of Queensland
• ANZ
• Commonwealth Bank
• Macquarie Bank
• Bankwest
• DDH Graham

Financial Institution Partners

• Auswide Bank
• Adelaide Bank
• AMP
• ANZ
• Arab Bank Australia
• Bank Of Sydney
• BOQ Specialist
• Bank of Queensland
• BCU
• Community First Credit Union
• Gateway Bank
• Goldfields Money
• ING Direct
• Macquarie Bank
• ME Bank
• Move
• MyState
• NAB
• QBank
• RaboDirect
• Smarter Money Investments
• Spectrum Asset Management
• St George
• Suncorp Bank
• Westpac

BetaShares are set to release the lowest cost Australian ETF to date. This is great for investors as it’s giving more options and competition with other low-cost providers like Vanguard, Blackrock and Fidelity.

BetaShares has announced it will launch the world’s lowest cost Australian shares ETF, the BetaShares Australia 200 ETF, which will trade under the ASX under the code: A200.

A200 will give investors exposure to 200 of the largest companies listed  on the ASX by market capitalisation in a single trade, with management costs of only 0.07% p.a, which is currently half the cost of the current lowest fee Australian shares ETF available on ASX.

Register your interest in A200 here.

BetaShares have many other low-cost Australian shares available.

Another huge tech success story has joined the share market with Spotify announcing their IPO last month, and the stock went on sale to the public this week.

Ticker – SPOT

The stock opened at $135.51 a few days ago and as of today is sitting at $148.80 which is impressive considering the state of the markets in general this week has been a bit shaky.

Spotify generated $4.99 Billion in revenue for 2017 with a 39% growth from 2016. Before the Spotify IPO went live, they received a private-market valuation of just under $20 billion.

The average revenue per Spotify Premium user has dropped due to a large amount of uptake on the family plans which allow 6 people to use the same subscription plan. Both Mrs. Income Master and myself have been using a Family Spotify plan for about a year now as it works out considerably cheaper than paying for individual plans.

Spotify’s main competitor, Pandora, continues to struggle. Ticker: P currently trading at $4.73 and have yet to turn over an annual profit.

I’ll be interested to see how this stock plays out but I’m unlikely to be a buyer.

To truly harness the power of compound interest, the earlier a person starts investing, the better. If you want your kids to start on the right track, it’s essential to teach them good habits with money. Not only teaching them good practices with finances by talking to them and having them read books about it, but showing them what you do yourself will have great power.

In just about any primary and high school in the world, there is a distinct lack of any mention of finances which is really alarming. So, many kids will turn to their parents and learn from their habits.

10 tips to Teach Kids Good Habits With Money

Teach them to invest and the benefits of starting early and having money work for you. Baby Income Master is 13 months old in a few days and has already amassed just under $3,000. This was built using a combination of automatic fortnightly deposits, Westpac’s Baby Bump account offer, and birthday gifts. Obviously we are a while away from Baby Income Master being old enough to understand what money is just yet, but she will have a very good base to start off with when she does reach that age.Showing kids a basic compound interest chart is relatively simple for them to understand and a lot will get excited about just how easy it is to start hitting big figures.

Learn from the mistakes that you made and help them avoid common pitfalls. Everyone makes mistakes, it’s part of being human. Mistakes make us better if we learn from them. As kids start getting older and into their late teens, it’s definitely important to teach them the right habits of credit cards, or to just not get one at all. I’m a believer that they are a useful tool if used correctly as you can receive benefits such as travel reward points.Also when it comes time for them to purchase their first car, rather than taking out a loan and buying something beyond their means, teach them to save for it and buy something reasonable outright. I bought my first car with money I had earned stacking shelves at Big W (Walmart for those in USA) valued at around $5-6K. It was a used Honda Accord with a lot of mileage but it did the job. It’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll have a few mishaps in your first car as you’re gaining driving experience so it’s best not to get anything too extravagant.  Sticking with small, reliable Japanese cars like the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Honda Accord and others are a great way to go as general maintenance is low, petrol usage is small and insurance is also affordable.

Teach kids the benefits of working well before they reach the typical working age. Small little jobs around the house is the perfect starting point. Things like cleaning their bedroom, mowing the lawn, taking out the trash. If they complete the jobs, you can reward them with a small payment that they can get into the habit of saving. If they have some sort of goal, that will make saving more interesting. rather than just immediately spending each payment on lollies and toys.

While they have their first part-time job and likely have few monthly bills due as they are still living at home, it’s great to put in place an automatic savings plan. With any banking app or website, you can setup automatic deposits and transfers. This is a powerful savings and investing tool to take advantage of. Pay yourself first. While the children aren’t paying off a mortgage, health insurance and a plethora of other bills us adults have the joy of dealing with, it’s crucial to be allocating a nice chunk of the pay away into a high interest savings account. Something like 15% of their paycheck is a good amount to start with. I was saving at a much higher rate during my first job but different people can tolerate different levels of frugality.

Talking to your kids regularly about money will help them get an understanding of good habits to have. Letting them know that the ATM doesn’t spit infinite notes out (sadly) and that being disciplined pays off. Speaking to them about their goals and what they want to achieve so they can start mapping out a plan of attack. Money is a big stressful monkey on many of our backs so having a game-plan put in place will make things easier.

The Beanstalk Activity centre. Commonwealth Bank have put together a great one-stop shop for kids to learn about saving and budgeting. There are many activity sheets for you to download and print off for your kids such as: Savings Tracker, Resume Builder, Learning About Value, My Budget Plan.

Setup a high interest savings account. There are many savings accounts that you can apply for that are designed for children.

Youthsaver account. Make at least one deposit and no withdrawals each calendar month to earn bonus interest of 2.29% p.a. on balances up to $50,000.

Bump Savings account. No monthly service or transaction fees. Variable interest rate of up to 2.30% p.a.

ANZ Progress Saver account. Free monthly account service, up to 1.71% p.a.

When paying the bills, explain the amounts that daily living expenses add up to and how many days of work it takes to cover such costs. This will help them build the relationship between time and money in their head. Living within your means so you can live comfortably and not having to work until you’re 65-70 as you’re still paying off material objects.

While doing the grocery shopping point out that the same items can vary in price drastically depending on brand and other factors such as buying in bulk. This can keep kids occupied while in the shops while they spot cheaper prices for items on the weekly shopping list and will help with their general maths skills.

Monitor mobile phone usage. I didn’t get my first mobile phone until I was about 16 or 17 from memory. The very first Motorola phone which had a colour screen! The size of the screen was only slightly larger than a postage stamp. Children now days are getting them as early as 10. It’s important to make sure they understand the costs associated with owning a mobile phone and to be responsible by not racking up a gigantic bill. Many parents have received phone bills in the mail for their kids because they have managed to spend an exorbitant amount on micro transactions with their favourite games.

Let us know in the comments what tips and tricks you use to get your kids to be smart with money!

Vanguard launched a range of diversified ETFs a few months back that you may not have come across yet.

• Vanguard Diversified Conservative Index ETF [VDCO]
• Vanguard Diversified Balanced Index ETF [VDBA]
• Vanguard Diversified Growth Index ETF [VDGR]
• Vanguard Diversified High Growth Index ETF [VDHG]

What do these ETFs with Vanguard consist of?

All of the diversified ETF funds are invested in a mix of up to 8 Vanguard funds.

Vanguard Diversified High Growth Index ETF [VDHG]

1. Vanguard Cash Plus Fund (-% ratio)
2. Vanguard Australian Fixed Interest Fund (3% ratio)
3. Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond Index Fund (hedged) (7% ratio)
4. Vanguard Australian Shares Index Fund (36% ratio)
5. Vanguard International Shares Index Fund (26.5% ratio)
6. Vanguard International Shares Index Fund (Hedged) (16% ratio)
7. Vanguard International Small Companies Index Fund (6.5% ratio)
8. Vanguard Emerging Markets Shares Index Fund (5% ratio)

Vanguard Diversified Growth Index ETF [VDGR]

1. Vanguard Cash Plus Fund (-% ratio)
2. Vanguard Australian Fixed Interest Fund (9% ratio)
3. Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond Index Fund (hedged) (21% ratio)
4. Vanguard Australian Shares Index Fund (28% ratio)
5. Vanguard International Shares Index Fund (20.5% ratio)
6. Vanguard International Shares Index Fund (Hedged) (12.5% ratio)
7. Vanguard International Small Companies Index Fund (5% ratio)
8. Vanguard Emerging Markets Shares Index Fund (4% ratio)

Vanguard Diversified Balanced Index ETF [VDBA]

1. Vanguard Cash Plus Fund (-% ratio)
2. Vanguard Australian Fixed Interest Fund (15% ratio)
3. Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond Index Fund (hedged) (35% ratio)
4. Vanguard Australian Shares Index Fund (20% ratio)
5. Vanguard International Shares Index Fund (14.5% ratio)
6. Vanguard International Shares Index Fund (Hedged) (9% ratio)
7. Vanguard International Small Companies Index Fund (3.5% ratio)
8. Vanguard Emerging Markets Shares Index Fund (3% ratio)

Vanguard Diversified Conservative Index ETF [VDCO]

1. Vanguard Cash Plus Fund (10% ratio)
2. Vanguard Australian Fixed Interest Fund (18% ratio)
3. Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond Index Fund (hedged) (42% ratio)
4. Vanguard Australian Shares Index Fund (12% ratio)
5. Vanguard International Shares Index Fund (8.5% ratio)
6. Vanguard International Shares Index Fund (Hedged) (5.5% ratio)
7. Vanguard International Small Companies Index Fund (2% ratio)
8. Vanguard Emerging Markets Shares Index Fund (2% ratio)

These funds have a low 0.27% pa management fee with Vanguard as you would come to expect from their low-cost offerings. ETFs with Vanguard are a popular choice and with good reason. While their website could definitely do with an update, their customer service and products are sensational.

Current prices of these Tickers as of today:

• VDCO $49.90 AUD
• VDBA $49.84 AUD
• VDGR $49.70 AUD
• VDHG $49.55 AUD

These ETFs are available on most online stock brokers like Commsec now.

Here is a list of 50 popular quotes from the investing legend, Warren Buffett. It’s good to keep these in your mind when you feel lost as to where to go to next, or if you think your portfolio maybe isn’t heading in the right direction.

• A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.
• Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.
• I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute.
• I am quite serious when I say that I do not believe there are, on the whole earth besides, so many intensified bores as in these United States. No man can form an adequate idea of the real meaning of the word, without coming here.
• I buy expensive suits. They just look cheap on me.

• I don’t have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It’s like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption.If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GNP would go up. But the utility of the product would be zilch, and I would be keeping those 10,000 people from doing AIDS research, or teaching, or nursing. I don’t do that though. I don’t use very many of those claim checks. There’s nothing material I want very much. And I’m going to give virtually all of those claim checks to charity when my wife and I die.
• I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.
• I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.
• If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.
• If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.
• If you’re in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.
• In the business world, the rear view mirror is always clearer than the windshield.
• Investors making purchases in an overheated market need to recognize that it may often take an extended period for the value of even an outstanding company to catch up with the price they paid.
• It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.
• It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.
• It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.
• I’ve reluctantly discarded the notion of my continuing to manage the portfolio after my death – abandoning my hope to give new meaning to the term ‘thinking outside the box.’
• Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.
• Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.
• Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. But Sir Isaac’s talents didn’t extend to investing: He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later, ‘I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men.’ If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases
• Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.
• Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results.
• Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars.
• Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.
• Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.
• Our favorite holding period is forever.

• Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
• Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.
• Risk is a part of God’s game, alike for men and nations.
• Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.
• Wall Street is the only place that people ride to work in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.
• The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.
• The investor of today does not profit from yesterday’s growth.
• The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money. After a heady experience of that kind, normally sensible people drift into behavior akin to that of Cinderella at the ball.They know that overstaying the festivities — that is, continuing to speculate in companies that have gigantic valuations relative to the cash they are likely to generate in the future — will eventually bring on pumpkins and mice. But they nevertheless hate to miss a single minute of what is one helluva party. Therefore, the giddy participants all plan to leave just seconds before midnight. There’s a problem, though: They are dancing in a room in which the clocks have no hands.
• The only time to buy these is on a day with no “y” in it.
• The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. For to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves-and the better the teacher, the better the student body.
• There are all kinds of businesses that Charlie and I don’t understand, but that doesn’t cause us to stay up at night. It just means we go on to the next one, and that’s what the individual investor should do.
• There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.
• Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre.
• Value is what you get.
• We believe that according the name ‘investors’ to institutions that trade actively is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a ‘romantic.’
• We don’t get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we’ll wait, we’ll wait indefinitely.
• We enjoy the process far more than the proceeds.
• We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.
• We’ve long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune tellers look good. Even now, Charlie and I continue to believe that short-term market forecasts are poison and should be kept locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children.
• When a management team with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.
• Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.
• Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful”.
• Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.
• You do things when the opportunities come along. I’ve had periods in my life when I’ve had a bundle of ideas come along, and I’ve had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I’ll do something. If not, I won’t do a damn thing.

You may have noticed that your investment portfolio was mostly swimming in a sea of red today.  This was due to US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would impose tariffs on Chinese imports in the billions.

Some of the damage that took place:

• Japan’s Nikkei dropped 4.5 percent
• Dow Jones down 724.42 points or 2.93 percent
• S&P 500 down 2.5 percent
• ASX 200 down 2.0 percent

Now it’s not time to panic just yet, many economists don’t think this is the beginning of a recession or even the start of a bear market.

It’s important to not focus on the day-to-day changes of your investment portfolio, look at the big picture. Today’s change will be a drop in the ocean when you look back on your investment performance graph over say a 10 year period.

It’s best to look at it as if a sale is on and it’s time to grab a bargain! The worst thing you can do is panic-sell during a dip like this.

Just about the only thing that was in the green today was precious metals such as Gold. Another reminder that being diversified across all different classes and assets is crucial.

Big players weren’t safe either with Facebook [FB] continuing to fall. (0.96%) Amazon [AMZN] (1.70%) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. [JPM] (4.17%).

Next week will be interesting to see how the markets reacts and if we start to see some very high sell walls.