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....

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...

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...

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] [Dis...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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 su...

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...

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 y...

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 t...

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 AS...

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 ba...

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]

One of the most common reasons for a new client joining us here at Guidance is due to the receipt of an inheritance, whether a traditional one upon the passing of a close family member, or increasingly frequently, an early inheritance where the family member has determined that they have assets in excess of their needs and wish to see their loved ones enjoy the gift during their lifetime.   [Discl...

We're all familiar with traditional investments - stocks, property, term deposits. But there is a whole other universe of investments that get broadly bracketed together as "Alternative" investments. Alternatives could be classic cars, collectibles like guitars, stamps or coins, cryptos, futures funds, private equity, and precious metals. The rationale is diversification, but even more important t...

The new year has arrived, you're re-charged, it's time to release the hand brake and get moving! Welcome back to another episode of the Financial Autonomy podcast, where our goal is to help you gain choice in life – perhaps that's the choice to cut back to working 3 days per week, maybe it's making a career change, or being able to retire at 60 and travel around Australia. Whatever the choice it i...

Taylor Riley is a young business dynamo having established multiple businesses already, and he hasn't even hit his mid 20's. In this interview, we discuss content creation, the law of reciprocity, and control as a vehicle to gain choice. I'm sure you're going to love this one. [Disclaimer] [Website]

This week's episode is inspired by a real life conundrum that my wife and I are currently facing. With reports of property prices falling we've been wondering whether there might be an opportunity to pick up an investment property at an attractive point in the cycle. The title of this week's episode is precisely the issue we have been tossing around, namely what is a reasonable price to pay for an...