Finance & Fury Podcast

Welcome to Finance & Fury, the ‘Say What Wednesday’ edition. Today’s question comes from Brad, “Any chance you could do a podcast on Australian foreign debt? Is it possible to pay it off? Will paying it off have a negative effect on our economy? Are most or all countries on the path to austerity?" Brad! Awesome questions as it will flow well into next Friday’s Furious Friday episode. We’ll tackle some of the debt issues here, which actually adds to the structural issues that our economy will face …which might cause some issues in the share market and property market. But to start off with…What is Foreign Debt? Foreign Debt is the total of government, financial institution, household and business debt that is borrowed overseas. Australia’s Net Foreign Debt totalled just under $1 trillion last year. It’s important to note that foreign debt does not equal national debt, which is the total government debt. It comprises government borrowings from overseas residents and government borrowings from Australian

Hi guys and welcome to Finance and Fury. Today we will start off on the miniseries with the best place to invest money in 2019. Investments to Consider in 2019 Where should you invest your money? Question plagues both beginning investors and established pros. We are always looking for the best place to invest money for the here and now, and beyond No investment is guaranteed, I wanted to share my thoughts on different investment options for 2019 and beyond. Each one of these will suit someone’s circumstances better than the other Maybe you have built up a respectable sum of money in a high-interest savings account, but you know that saving cash isn’t enough, you want to do something with it. The propensity to hold more money in a high-interest savings account versus stepping into the realm of risk and buying into something that can go up, and can go down. But, over the long-term has a higher return than cash but in the short-term can definitely lose more than cash.   What are the options: Break these down o

Welcome to Finance and Fury the Furious Friday edition. This is part 6 in the series, the second last episode of the series. So this is 2 more than expected in the series, which I guess is good for me. To do the last subject justice, I have broken it into 2 episodes otherwise it is just too much information all at once. When we started the series: How lucky we are lucky to live here and now. Today I want to start winding things up, break down what system got us here and why it works Core question behind why there are political fights. Different people’s beliefs in what part of progress the government should have Also, people have different solutions to different problems Socialism: Government solves all problems. Whereas in Anarchy: No Government to solve problems I don’t think either is good. Already gone through why on Socialism, I don’t like people starving or having no freedom Government policy is meant to help, but ends up hurting: China in 1958, they killed all the sparrows to spare their consumptio

Welcome to finance and fury, The Say What Wednesday edition, today we have a question from Mila: Question We are expecting our first child very very soon, so what is the best way to invest money for your children, apart from the obvious solution of having a dedicated savings account. Where can we get a better return and keeping in mind the different tax implications for having it in my name, my husband’s name, or the child’s bank account? We are looking to give it to them when they are 21. Thank you, Mila Today we will explore those points: Funds for your Kids Gift: we will also do another episode on Education Funding itself. However, this episode is just looking at investing funds Something they can access at 21 to put towards buying a house, holding still, etc. The best solution would be heavily dependent on your situation What are your marginal tax rates, mortgage payments, etc What is the intended purpose of the funds will be at 21 (gifting, education, etc.)?  Considerations: Are the funds being inve

Hi everyone, and welcome to Finance and Fury. Today won’t be a full episode, unfortunately, I am a little unwell. I am providing a bit of an overview of what the next few episodes will be about. When making investments, it’s all about considering what will be the best thing for you now and into the future. So, I will spend a few Monday episodes breaking down what investments you should actually be looking at to make now, for this year. I’ll be breaking down all the investments and options for 2019. We will be looking at shares, property, yourself (through education), starting your own business, and reducing debt. We will be looking at the 5 different options, and break them down in a lot of detail. We will start with shares and property, to see if they are a great investment, depending on your situation this year, what markets might do, what they are expected to do, what the long-term payoffs will be. Then, there’ll be another episode to break down investing in yourself or other businesses. In a way, investin

Welcome everyone to Finance and Fury, the Furious Friday edition. Today’s episode is part 5 of the miniseries. The last part looked at the ‘fair go’, what is fair for some, isn’t for others. Nearing end of series, I want to put forward a case. The constant need to make things ‘fair’ i.e. have an equal distribution of goods = destroys equality of opportunity for a nation. It destroys what makes nations great (no opportunity from authoritarian governments, we covered this in episode 2), and starts to reduce the freedoms of the nation which is the equality of opportunity. Where does this ‘fairness’ mandate come from? Because it’s a relatively new concept in society. The cause is our progressive nature. Progressivism is the support for the improvement of society by reform A philosophy based on the idea of progress, which asserts that advancements in science, technology, economic development, and social organisation are vital to the improvement of the human condition Progress is what separates us from other anim

Happy New Year! Welcome to Finance & Fury’s Say What Wednesday. It’s been pretty quiet on the question front, I’m guessing with everyone away over the holidays… so today will be a quick episode covering the number 1 question I got all of 2018 but never answered – Sponsorship.   I get one or two emails a week from companies looking to promote products/services and everyone I talk to asks me why I don’t advertise? Do I make any money from sponsorship?   The quick answer is no, and I never plan to.   Preface – I don’t have anything against advertising. Lots of people now make their living from Youtube, Podcasts, etc. I think it is great. It’s the free market in action and allows people to make a living. Podcasting started as a little side project. I get bored pretty easily, so it was something to do nights/weekends. I enjoy doing this. Helping to educate people, talk about topics that don’t get covered very much. I get to learn as well. Thankfully the personal finance topics don’t need be researched (other

Welcome to Finance and Fury   Welcome to the new year, depending on when you listen it may be new year’s eve or the new year  Hope you are in for a good night, or not recovering from one. Starting off with a question; looking back on the year, are you in a better or worse financial position? If not, never fear because today’s episode we will look at how to be in a better financial position (and what that really means) this time next year, and importantly how to implement some action plans to make sure you’re always moving forward. Plus I will share with you my goals and the process on how I came to them Help to illustrate my strategy, to help you put yours together and implement them   What are your financial goals for this year? Or new year resolutions? Maybe you haven’t thought about them yet. By the end of this episode you should be able to think of at least 3 and something to put in place Financial goals are related to ‘what you need money for’. Most will be related to other goals you have Short te

Welcome to Finance and Fury the Furious Friday edition. This is part 4 of the mini-series. Hope you all had a good Christmas. In the last episode, we talked about how the population is mobilised in a political spectrum. Today we talk about what the population is currently being mobilised for:   Australian politicians/interest groups - the idea of the “fair go” Australia’s last four prime ministers have all used the term at some point. (Hard to keep track of them now) Rudd used it on Howard’s WorkChoices reforms. Gillard said it in “we are the people who hold onto mateship and the fair go” Turnbull used it when saying “We have a very unique culture in Australia and we have a very good mixture of capitalism and the free market, but we also have a culture of fair go, of looking after each other.” What is this ‘fair go’? Well it’s impossible to associate the idea of the “fair go” with any precise meaning. It is essentially whatever the person using the term regards as fair or just from their frame of reference.

Welcome to Finance and Fury. Today we have Jayden with us, and we will be talking about negotiating with banks and refinancing. Refinancing: Pros and Cons and how to negotiate Bank Valuations Interest rates might go up or might go down.so this is all about asking, is my bank giving me the best rate? The difference between 4.55 and 4.5 could mean 10’s or 100’s of thousands of dollars over the life of your loan. There are lots of reasons to refinance your home loan. If you have a home loan you are probably getting bombarded at the moment, from your next-door neighbour to the 7 o’clock news and they’re all talking about refinancing. So is now a good time to refinance? There are a few different situations where refinancing could make sense for you, so let’s go over a few of the main reasons to refinance your home loan in 2018. First up, what is refinancing? Refinancing is the process of taking out a new mortgage to repay an existing loan: often because there has been a change in your personal or financial situati

Hi everybody and welcome to Finance and Fury the Furious Friday edition. Today’s episode is the Stages of Socialism Part 3 – the series talking about politics. The first episode was about the Fabians and their strategies, then we addressed the political spectrum and how nations shift along it over time If you haven’t listened to those episodes it may be worthwhile catching back up or if politics isn’t your thing feel free to skip because I know it can be dry I Feel like the basics aren’t talked about enough, especially when it comes to passing laws etc. so sorry if it is dry but I find it interesting and I hope you do too Recap: So in the last episode, we talked about democracy and the transition to socialism: Getting the power to change the rules in democracy comes from the side with the most votes, and the ability to form legislative actions. In today’s episode, we will talk about how political change occurs in Australia, through legislative powers, and how to get power to legislate from numbers Also, r

Welcome to Finance and Fury, the Say What Wednesday Episode, where every we answer questions from you guys! This week’s question comes from Nelson, “Hi mate, Love the podcast. Admittedly don't agree with some of your more conservative political opinions but that aside I think the financial education you are providing to many people including myself is amazing. I have a question for Say What Wednesdays, something probably quite close to your heart. Can you please elaborate on the role of a financial advisor/planner. What do they do? Do you have to pay them up front? And, as a 24-year-old would it be suitable to go see a financial planner from the beginning of my journey or are they more targeted towards older people?” Awesome questions! And thanks also for sticking with the podcast even though we may have different political points of view. It’s really nice to see, because there seems to be a lot of people bail on others, just because there’s one thing they don’t agree with. For anyone else – if there’s anyth

Welcome to Finance & Fury! Today we’re talking about five property investing myths you have to stop believing. At the moment property has gone from being the most talked about, exciting thing… to the most talked about, negative thing. Since 1994 there has been considerably accelerated growth in the property market. Generations have seen this, leading everyone to believe that “property always goes up”. Everyone knows someone who lost someone in the stock market especially around the time of the GFC but made money on property.   Myth one: Negative gearing is a great investment strategy (especially for the tax benefits) Negative gearing relies on you making a loss on an investment property while speculating the capital values will increase enough over the longer term to make a profit. While it can be good for some investors, it isn’t going to be perfect for everyone, so you should consider looking at positively geared properties or reducing your overall debt position.    Chalk this myth up to property sprui

Welcome to Finance and fury, the Furious Friday edition. Today’s episode is Stages to Socialism Part 2, so if you haven’t listened to last Friday’s episode it might be worthwhile doing so. To start I want to talk about oranges. They’re a delicious fruit, they grow on trees, and then mature. Then you can eat them. They have nutrients, that helps you survive. Have you ever left an orange on the bench too long? It starts getting a small soft soggy area, that slowly expands Then that mould starts to grow, this starts eating the orange and eventually consumes the whole thing I always thought of the Government as mould and the orange as the economy/free market/individuals The free market matures and Individuals get wealthy. Then government starts growing, we ignore the orange, and it rots Can’t blame them, just like companies, or bacteria, every organism has one purpose to multiply and survive. This is the best tactic to last. Unfortunately, it is an organism which doesn’t create, it only redistributes. Spending

Welcome to Say What Wednesday! Today’s question is from Mark; “Hi guys, lovin’ the show – I’m looking to buy my first place in Brisbane and I was just wondering if you have any tips on how to negotiate with the real estate agents and work out what price I should be offering first go” Negotiation Fundamentals As former FBI Hostage Negotiator Chris Voss (author of “Never Split the Difference”) says, our life is a series of negotiation. Negotiate every day in our lives; with our kids to go to sleep early, a better salary, to buy a house. Negotiation is about finding a meeting point between what the sellers want for their property and what you want to spend as the buyer. When you are buying a house, everything is negotiable… What are the best Negotiation Techniques? I find I use mirroring when dealing with real estate agents…This is just repeating what the Real Estate agent said to you, helping you get more information from them. The more you know about them, and the less info you give about your situation,

Welcome to Finance and Fury Shares are at almost the same price as 2 years ago in Australia – What is happening? Mid Dec 2016 – 5,580, Last week (3rd) – 5,667 Today – is it a great time to buy some shares or a warning sign of things to come? Break down the health of the market, some reasons for the decline, and what the future may have in store To start – clarify some things When talking about Shares – Monolith of the market – ASX 300, but there are: Financials make up a large chunk (35% approx.) - These have been declining XXJ and XFJ = -11% over that time period = -3.6% decline in ASX Telecommunications (TLS) – Much smaller percentage of the market XTJ = -37% over that time period Volatility – Shows the average movements in price from their average over a period of time Higher levels of volatility can show that markets will rebound Volatility is higher when markets have declined – Markets go down faster than they go up Good time to buy? Looking back through history – graphs to help co

Welcome to Finance & Fury, the Furious Friday edition. To start this episode, I want to say just how incredibly lucky we are to be born in Australia during this time, even compared to 100 years ago. Free societies are amazing – so why is there a massive shift lately in wanting to change it?   What if you think that what we have is actually broken? What happens then? If you take for granted what you have? The loss of historical context, and perspective relative to how others live globally, there is a loss of ability to see how good we have it. This is our demise as it is used by those in power or those seeking power. We create a non-existent problem to solve and mobilise the masses, for the benefit of those in power, or those seeking power.   This will be the first in a 5-episode series which will aim to break down the real risks of socialism in detail, and just how it infiltrates a society like ours. Breaking down socialism and they methods that are used including the conditions needed to be created fi

Welcome to Say What Wednesday. Today's question is from our listener, Sam. "Hi Louis, love the podcast! I’m wondering if you could do an episode on Adani. I’ve seen lots of protests over this and am just wondering what your thoughts are? Why are people so opposed to it? Seen the school kids striking or the media saying it will be the end of the world?" A wide range of groups are opposed to the project for different reasons – So let us go through each one in detail – not platitudes Let's get into it! What is it? - Adani Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate – diverse businesses include energy, resources, logistics, agribusiness, real estate, financial services, and defence and aerospace. Carmichael Mine in QLD - Adani has said that over a 60-year lifetime, the company expects to extract 2.3bn tonnes of coal, which would make it equivalent to the biggest mine in the US. Six open-cut pits as well as five underground mines - area more than 30km long. first mine in the giant untapped Galilee coal basin

Welcome to Finance & Fury. Today we’re talking about 9 reasons you may have your home loan application declined. We have Jayden Vecchio this episode running through the 9 reasons.  As a result of the recent Royal Commission into banking, the lending criteria has become more strict to slow down the market there has been a limit set on lending. Small Deposit These days you will need 8-10% of the property value as a deposit to get a home loan…BUT, there are situations where you can use a guarantor to help you borrow up to 100% of the property plus additional costs. Best of all, you avoid paying lenders mortgage insurance which is usually payable if you have less than a 20% deposit.  Being over 45 years old Although there are laws (check out the Discrimination Act) to make sure banks don’t discriminate because of your age, these days it is common for the lenders to ask for an exit strategy in paying off your home loan if you are over 45 years old. This is because a 30 year loan term structure means the lo

Welcome to Finance & Fury, the Furious Friday edition. For the past few weeks we’ve been talking about the EU and this week we’ll finish up by looking at the flow on effects of the EU breaking up. There’s no way to be 100% sure of what will occur but having a look on a country by country basis will help to break down what the flow on effects might be. The EU is simply a collection of countries so looking at the individual countries and consequences of them leaving is a good place to start. Also, we will have a look at the collective overall and how it redistributes wealth within its budget nature, and how this will help or hurt nations if they leave. If you haven’t already listened to the previous two Friday episodes, it might be worthwhile having a look at them here and here, as we covered a lot of the history of this topic in those episodes. If you aren’t interested, that’s fine too it won’t really hurt. First, we’ll take a look at Britain and “Brexit” which has been a mess from the start Designed to