Financial Autonomy

A while back I put a call out in the GainCHOICE email asking for readers to reach out if they had a story to share about taking a career break or making a career transition. Several people came back to me, so over the next few months we’ll have a few interviews around this topic. This week is the first of these. I’m chatting with Brenda today, who is in the early stages of a 6-9 month sabbatical. We talk about her Financial independence journey and how she aligns that with her goal to visit every country on the planet. This is a wonderful discussion that I’m sure you will love.   [Disclaimer] [Website]

This week’s episode is another one inspired by a recent client question, one that we get asked multiple times each year. Should I be topping up my super? The primary motivation in seeking out an answer to this question is to determine whether you're on track to have enough retirement savings for a comfortable and enjoyable later phase of life. But the other element is around tax. There's a general awareness that there are tax savings to be had through using the superannuation system. The unsaid element to this question of topping up super, is whether potential tax savings are being squandered through not taking maximum advantage of the superannuation system.   [Disclaimer] [Website]

Redundancy. With the Australian economy slowing as the impact of higher interest rates begins to bite, job cuts are likely to accelerate. Layer on top of this the potential impact that artificial intelligence might have on the white-collar workforce of the future, and it's easy to understand why many people are feeling anxious about their employment future. I've found that when I'm feeling anxious, the best way to relieve stress is to identify what I would do if the thing that's keeping me awake at night, were to occur. Worst-case scenario planning. Once I'm clear on what I would do, even though it's somewhat unpalatable, I find the anxiety goes away. So if the potential for redundancy is something causing you sleepless nights, this week’s episode might provide you with a way to take control and move forward with positivity. [Disclaimer] [Website]

This week I have the pleasure of welcoming Michael Kemp onto the podcast. Michael's working life has bounced between dentistry and financial markets, sometimes doing both at the same time! For 9 years he was the chief investment analyst for Scott Pape’s newsletter. Michael has recently released his third book - The Ulysses Contact - how to never worry about the share market again.   [Website] [Disclaimer]

I try my best to avoid financial jargon, but “mean reversion” is one piece of jargon well worth being acquainted with. The “mean” is just a fancy way of saying the average. The concept of mean reversion then, is that investments and markets tend to want to pull back to their average over time. This week we’re going to dig into what mean reversion is, and perhaps more importantly, its implications for you as a long term investor.   [Disclaimer] [Website]

This week we’re talking all things financial modeling with Jacob Kettler from Intelliflo.   [Disclaimer] [Website]

Often when I ask new clients when they would like to be able to retire the answer is “tomorrow”, with a smile and a chuckle. Retiring as early as possible is seen by many as the pinnacle of financial success. This is interesting, because if you had someone who had been made redundant and was finding it difficult to get back into the workforce - early retirement but not at a time of their choosing - they're unlikely to be in a happy state. This week I want to explore a few alternatives to retiring early, and some reasons why you might like to consider these as part of your plans. If early retirement is the choice in life that you’re shooting for, go for it, by all means. But if your deeper goal is to live a happy and healthy life, perhaps these alternatives might provide a viable way forward for you. [Disclaimer] [Website]

This week we’re talking career change. For many of the clients that we work with, the choice being pursued is a career change, usually because the job they’re in is not making them happy. Sometimes it might be following a redundancy. Now our area of expertise is around the finances, so our focus is on how to make the career change possible financially. But there’s a whole lot more to a successful career change than just the dollars. I’m joined this week by Kate Richardson. Kate is an Executive Career Coach, who orchestrated her very own career change 4 years ago. Today she helps people like you and me succeed in their very own career transition.   Link: www.katerichardson.co [Disclaimer] [Website]

I came across a great story recently that got me thinking. A successful woman in her 50s observed that several of her younger colleagues at work, all in their 20s, were furnishing very expensive handbags. She realised that she'd never had a luxury item like that, and if these young folk could afford one, then surely after all these years of work, she could too. She mentioned this to a few friends, and they were all encouraging - splash out, enjoy yourself, you've earned it. She had a look around and found a Chanel bag that was to her liking. Apparently she even needed to make an appointment to buy the bag. But when the time came to hand over the credit card and make the purchase, she pulled back. She couldn't bring herself to do it. Spending thousands of dollars on a status symbol just wasn't something that she could do. In this week's episode I wanted to explore the idea of luxury, particularly as it pertains to financial autonomy. Once you've got yourself into a financially secure position, what use do you

The focus of our podcast is to help you gain choice through the achievement of what I’ve called Financial Autonomy. A very close cousin of the idea of financial autonomy is Financial Independence. Financial independence is the concept of owning assets that produce income such that it is not necessary for you to engage in paid employment to produce the money you and your family need to live. I'm sure most listeners are familiar with the FIRE acronym. As we've canvassed in past episodes, whilst this is a cool and catchy acronym, most advocates of this philosophy have come to the realisation that the RE portion, the retire early portion that is, is probably misguided. The financial independent piece though, the first half of the acronym is a valid pursuit, and that's certainly something that aligns well with us here at Financial Autonomy. The bulk of the people we work with are in their 40s and 50s, and so that's why this week I thought I'd share with you the key strategy elements we use to help people like you

You'd have to have been living on a deserted island for the last 18 months to not know that interest rates have been on the rise. Central banks around the world are endeavouring to return rates to normal levels, following sharp cuts through the pandemic. Normalising rates is not without pain however, as many who bought homes two or three years ago are very well aware right now. But higher interest rates have impacts for investors too. So this week I wanted to dig into four ways in which today's higher interest rates are impacting your share portfolio.   [Disclaimer] [Website]

If you've listened to a few of these podcasts, or read our weekly email, you will know that our core theme is helping you Gain Choice in life. Today's episode covers a few different systems which we can use to make better financial decisions.   [Disclaimer] [Website]

This week we're going to look at 6 core personal finance concepts. These are concepts that it's easy for those of us working in the space to assume everyone understands. It might also be that your understanding of what these terms mean differs from the industry definition. So let's run through these core concepts together and make sure we’re all on the same page.   [Disclaimer] [Website]

Given the large increases seen in property values in recent decades, combined with more and more of us living well into our 90s, the problem of being asset rich and cash poor is becoming increasingly common. Another way to frame this problem is something an old neighbour said to me once, “Paul, you can't eat bricks”. It's great to be financially secure and have significant assets behind you, but you need cash flow to pay the bills and put food on the table. That's easy enough whilst you are working, but once you retired you either need your assets to be throwing off income, or else liquidated to be available for spending. In this week's episode we're going to look at a few ways that you, or perhaps an older family member you care for, might be able to solve the problem of being asset rich but cash poor. [Disclaimer] [Website]

As a parent, providing your child with the best possible education is core business. This week I'm talking to Marie Van Asch of Futurity about education funding solutions. This was a great discussion, hope you enjoy it.   [Website] [Disclaimer]

It's not uncommon for our clients to want to assist their children to get into the property market. Particularly in our major capital cities, we all know that prices are at levels that make it very difficult to accumulate an appropriate deposit and be able to service the level of debt required. Usually, parental assistance in the property market is achieved through a gift, or a lump sum of money to supercharge the deposit. Sometimes, parents might go guarantor on a loan, with all the risk this entails. Recently I've been working with some clients who have a slightly different take on how they would like to help their kids. In the medium term, they do want to be able to assist their children to get into the property market. But in the short term, their priority is about helping them transition from living in the family home to becoming independent adults.   [Website] [Disclaimer]

This week to explore when you should be taking some time to look at your personal insurance. Appropriate insurance is an essential financial safety net, but we want to have the right levels of cover - not too much, and not too little - because insurance costs money, and that’s money you can’t use for other things like growing your wealth.   [Disclaimer] [Website]

The Australian share market has gotten off to a great start this year. Indeed the last 12 months have been fantastic. If you've been following along via the gaining choice email you will know that over the last 12 months, investors in the Australian market have gained around 11% inclusive of dividends whilst those investing in the US market are down about 6.5%, again inclusive of dividends. The ASX’s outperformance is a distinct break from what we've seen over the last decade or more. What's going on and will it continue? That's what we'll be discussing in today's episode.   [Website] [Disclaimer]

This week joining me on the podcast is Shelley Johnson, who, in addition to hosting the My Millenial Career podcast, recently co-authored a book with a friend of the podcast, Glen James from My Millenial Money. Their new book is called Sort Your Career Out. This is a great fit with our goal of gaining choice, which very often relates to issues around our paid employment - a career change, going back to study, or perhaps taking a sabbatical and doing some travel. So I’m looking forward to having a great discussion with Shelly today.   [Website] [Disclaimer]

How can you find the right balance between enjoying life today, and having that wonderful lifestyle, versus the delayed gratification of saving and investing to achieve bigger, long-term goals? That’s what we’ll explore in this week's Financial Autonomy podcast.   [Website] [Disclaimer]