All posts by Robert Wright

Show your finances some self-love

By Robert Wright /April 16,2021/

Show your finances some self-love

Are you guilty of changing your spending habits when you’re in a relationship? Do you have a financial plan, or are you relying on a partner to take care of you in retirement? Whatever your situation, there’s never been a better time to step up and take charge of your finances.

Your relationship status can have a big impact on your finances. From spending and managing your money, to the types of investments and purchases you make, romantic partners are a big influence.

Some of life’s biggest financial decisions are made together with a partner. Moving in together, buying a house and having children are all big triggers for differences in your spending habits to crop up.

Whatever your relationship status, the most important thing is to make sure your finances are sound for you. This is especially true for women, who face extra hurdles to financial freedom. On average, women retire with 47 per cent less super than men, so it pays to have a clear financial plan.

When spending habits don’t align

Do you splash your cash on everything you desire, while your partner steadily saves for a rainy day? Or vice versa? When spending habits don’t align, it can cause tension in a relationship. One study found that finances were a contributing factor in 42 per cent of divorces and separations.

Lying about your spending might feel tempting when you and your partner have different attitudes to money. But it’s likely to lead to a loss of trust, and eventually relationship breakdown. Financial infidelity is on the rise however, with one-in-three adults admitting to hiding purchases, bank accounts, bills, or cash from their partner.

How to get on the same page

The best way to get in front of these issues is to talk about your finances early on. Having open and honest conversations about your attitudes to money, your financial goals and what you expect from each other will help build a strong foundation for your relationship and your finances.

It’s quite likely that you won’t be in the same financial situation as your partner, so talk through things like your:

• Income
• Expenses
• Assets and investments
• Any debts or loan repayments you may have
• Your individual and shared financial goals – and how you’ll reach them.

Being honest from the outset also means not overspending to impress a potential partner. Splitting bills 50/50 can be a good way to keep the relationship equal and ensure both parties feel empowered. Just keep in mind that one partner may have less disposable income than the other, or more expenses to cover. Tailor your spending so that you both feel comfortable and can meet your other financial obligations.

Dealing with debt

It’s likely that you’ll need to borrow money at some stage of life. In fact, nearly two-thirds of working Australians have some form of consumer debt outside of a home loan.

If you’re in a relationship, be careful about taking out credit cards or loans in both your names. Understand that if you do, you’re both responsible for repaying the debt. In many cases, if the lender can’t recover the loan from one party, they’re entitled to recover it from the other. Any default on your payments will affect both your credit scores.

If your partner has a large debt, or is unable to access credit for any reason, don’t offer to obtain credit on their behalf. Never personally guarantee someone else’s debt or take on any loans or credit cards to help clear their debt.

There may be other ways you can support your partner while they’re repaying the debt, such as contributing more to household bills and expenses for a time. Encourage them to repay the debt themselves and keep them accountable. You want to see clear progress towards paying off the debt, as it shows their money management skills – and that they take the issue as seriously as you do.

Source: Money and Life

Change your spending habits and boost your happiness

By Robert Wright /March 10,2021/

After living through a year when our collective mental health took a beating, 2021 has brought with it a fresh sense of optimism and relief about what the future may hold. Like many people, you may be planning to do things differently this year.

But before you work on a wish list of things to buy and changes to make, you might like to take a look at the growing body of research into what we should spend our hard-earned cash on to bring us happiness.

Experiences, not consumption

Dr Thomas Gilovich, a professor of psychology at Cornell University in the US, has been exploring the relationship between spending and happiness for more than 20 years. After publishing a number of studies and reports, he offers important insights about how much happiness we can expect from buying stuff compared with spending on experiences.

“There’s a lot of work in the area of well-being and happiness showing that we adapt to most things,” Dr Gilovich says. “Therefore, things like a new material purchase make us happy initially, but very quickly we adapt to it, and it doesn’t bring us all that much joy. You could argue that adaptation is sort of an enemy of happiness. Other kinds of expenditures, such as experiential purchases, don’t seem as subject to adaptation.”

Not only do experiences leave us with lasting happy memories, anticipation of an experience can substantially increase your happiness, often more than the experience itself.

What kind of experiences?

If experiences define who we are, how can we determine what sort of experiences we should be having to make us happiest?

Much of the recent research on happiness has revealed that it’s “inextricably linked to having strong social ties and contributing to something bigger than yourself – the greater good.”

So it makes sense that experiences you share with others bring you more happiness than solitary ones.

Author and leading expert in positive psychology Martin Seligman has another theory. He divides experiences that bring us happiness into two categories: pleasures and gratifications. Pleasures bring us immediate contentment and enjoyment – things like a delicious meal or glass of wine, a massage or relaxing in a warm bath. There’s no doubt we’ll enjoy these experiences in the moment and remember them with appreciation, but they won’t bring us an enduring sense of satisfaction the way gratifications can. By challenging and engaging us, things like rock-climbing, dancing or restoring an old armchair can have a much longer lasting impact on our happiness.

Getting the best from experiences on a budget

The good news is that many gratifications don’t cost much, especially when compared with pleasures like expensive restaurant meals and holidays.

In his more happiness bang for your buck blog, Chairman of the Australian Government Financial Literacy Board, Paul Clitheroe offers a couple of useful tips for discovering new ways to experience happiness without spending big:

The $50 test

Take time to plan three activities costing less than $50 each during the next month. Ideas include going to the movies, buying art supplies, doing a cooking class or planting a small vegetable garden. For each activity rate how happy you think it will make you, how happy it makes you immediately after and how happy it makes you a month later. You’ll soon start to learn which experiences are contributing more to your overall happiness.

Keep a happiness diary

During the next month write down everything you buy and do in a notebook. Include how much it costs and how happy it makes you both immediately after and a month later. Now look at what you’re spending most of your money on. Does it match up with what makes you most happy?

When you take stock of what you’re spending money on and how happy you end up being as a result, you’ll have the insights you need to make changes to your budget and invest more wisely in your happiness.

Source: Money & Life

How much do I need to start investing?

By Robert Wright /March 10,2021/

While investing into traditional property might require a significant deposit, and a commitment to a long investment horizon, investing in shares, ETFs, managed accounts or managed funds can be accessed with a much smaller outlay along with the benefit of shorter term access to the value of your investment should the need arise.

It’s all about knowing where to start, which is quite often the hardest step. But we all have the potential to be successful investors – all it takes to get started is being armed with the right knowledge.

Taking the first steps

While some prefer to take the first few steps alone, others seek professional advice before investing. Either way, it’s important to select an investment type after you have done your research, determined your personal goals, and weighed up how you feel about risk.

Considerations such as your investment timeframe, current market conditions, expectations of future market conditions, and your tolerance to capital loss, and volatility (both positive and negative movement in returns) all need to be taken into account when choosing the right type of investment. This step alone is critical in assessing your propensity to take certain levels of risk to achieve an expected return over a given time-frame.  

As mentioned above, it doesn’t take a lot to get started. You can begin investing directly in shares, or a managed investment (offering a diversified range of investment assets including shares), with a lump sum of as little as $1000, or less when setting up a regular investment plan. You can also contribute regularly to steadily grow your investments and build a diversified portfolio – while taking advantage of the benefits of compounding returns.

Paying yourself first

If your budget isn’t quite working and you’re struggling to set aside funds to grow initial capital, there is an alternate strategy.

Called ‘pay yourself first’, instead of aiming to save whatever is left over after regular bills and expenses, consider setting aside a fixed percentage of your regular wage or salary as soon as you get paid. Better still, set up an online funds transfer with your bank timed with each pay day, so that this amount goes directly into your savings account – you may be surprised how quickly you can accumulate funds to start investing.

Doing the groundwork

Be sure to do plenty of research so you understand the market and assets in which you’ll be investing. You should also research the products you’ll use to invest in that market, such as a managed fund (you should always read the Product Disclosure Statement for the fund itself). For shares in a listed company, it might mean looking at companies’ annual reports, analyst research reports or on a stock exchange’s website.

The key point is, there’s a wealth of information you can, and should use, to help decide which investments to consider. This information should also provide insights into the risks and to some extent the tax implications of the investment you are considering.

Another critical piece of research and decision making driver when choosing the types of investments to use is looking at the costs of investing. Things such as brokerage when purchasing shares, management fees and buy/sell costs when purchasing managed funds are key when investing as when investing small amounts, fees can play a major part in impacting your initial outlay.  

Getting started

Having done your research, and formulated an investment strategy, getting started can require filling out a form, or applying digitally to purchase the investments you have selected (and paying some initial capital). From here, you might decide to set up a direct debit to steadily add to your investment portfolio.

Source: BT

How to save for retirement in your 40s

By Robert Wright /March 10,2021/

Let’s start with the good news: studies show that your income peaks between the ages of 45 and 54. You’ll potentially have more money than ever – but you may also have unexpected or unwelcome expenses, like divorce. At this age you might also put retirement planning on the backburner in favour of more pressing financial commitments, such as your mortgage and kids’ school fees. Use these potential life changes as the impetus to re-evaluate your assets and income, and look at how you can maximise savings for your retirement.

In your 40s, retirement age is still some 20 years away and, while that seems like plenty of time, your decisions now can help secure your financial future. Read on to find out how to save for retirement in your 40s.

Calculate how much you’ll need for retirement

According to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, by the time you reach 49 you’ll have between around $87,500 and $145,000 in your super account. The same group estimates singles will need retirement savings of $545,000 for a comfortable retirement, while couples will need combined retirement savings of $640,000. Are you on track to getting there in the next couple of decades?

Set realistic financial goals

While your financial goals in your 20s and 30s may have been idealistic, as you get closer to retirement, they should become realistic. It’s time to develop a clear plan for your savings, with achievable short, mid and long-term targets in working towards your overall retirement goal.

Live within your means

Your 40s are typically peak earning years, but with Australia in the grip of a recession, many things aren’t typical right now. One thing that’s changed is where we do our work. At the start of the coronavirus epidemic, more than 10.5 million Aussies swiftly transitioned to working from home, and many people are yet to go back to the workplace. While there might have been some initial expenses to set up a suitable home workspace, there’s also a reduction in day-to-day costs like commuting. Consider funnelling any of this cash into your savings instead, to actively save for your retirement in your 40s

Become more mindful around spending on big-ticket items as well – before a splurge, try taking a day (or a week) to give yourself time to think about how much you really need the item. You’ll be surprised at how often you decide it’s not essential to your life, and the money you save can be added to your retirement savings instead.

Review your investments

Your super might be ticking along, but what about other investments? It’s not too late to start saving and investing. Work out what style of investor you are so you have a better understanding of how comfortable you are with risk. Then talk to a financial adviser about creating a portfolio that suits you, which might include property, shares and other investment classes.

Aim to be debt free

Entering retirement with debt means juggling repayments with a high interest rate, which will eat into your retirement income.

To enter retirement debt free, look at paying off your home loan before you retire. Preparing for retirement in your 40s might mean getting a better deal on interest rates or creating a budget that allows you to make extra contributions to your mortgage, above your minimum monthly repayments.

Make sure you pay off your credit card balance in full each month so you don’t accumulate interest. Be cautious about borrowing money that you won’t be able to pay off in a short period of time.

Update your insurance

For many people, COVID-19 has been a strong reminder of how much we value good health and wellbeing – and how quickly things can change. Having the right kind of insurance can help create peace of mind when you need it.

Review your private health insurance to make sure it’s still right for your needs, particularly if your circumstances have changed or you have a growing family. Income protection and life insurance help to protect you and your family if you can’t work due to injury or illness, so you can continue to pay the bills without dipping into your savings.

Plan for your kids’ futures

Your kids mean the world to you – we get it. But their education doesn’t have to come at the expense of your retirement. As part of your retirement planning, consider setting up a separate savings account to fund things like your kids’ school and university fees, so you don’t have to dip into your retirement fund for their education.

Show your children how and why you’re cutting back on discretionary spending (meals out, trips to the movies) to make their long-term goals (like getting a job) a priority. You’re never too young to develop a healthy understanding of finances and budgeting.

Source: AMP