Speaker 1: Welcome to How Do They Afford That? The podcast that
Speaker 1: peaks into the financial lives of everyday Australians. I'm Michael Thompson.
Speaker 1: I'm an author and the co host of the podcast
Speaker 1: Fear and Greed business news. As always, I'm with Canna Campbell,
Speaker 1: financial planner and founder of Sugar Mamma TV, the financial
Speaker 1: literacy platform covering YouTube, podcast books, Instagram threads, TikTok and more.
Speaker 1: Hello Canna.
Speaker 2: Hello.
Speaker 1: Every time I start that, I now laugh about about
Speaker 1: the time that I accidentally called you sugar mummy. Anyway,
Speaker 1: moving very quickly along from that, today's topic deals with
Speaker 1: something that I suspect that we have all struggled with
Speaker 1: at some point. I know I certainly have, and that
Speaker 1: is deciding what to tackle first when you are trying
Speaker 1: to come up with your financial goals. For instance, you
Speaker 1: pay down the mortgage first, or do you build up
Speaker 1: emergency money? Or do you start investing? Do you add
Speaker 1: to your super do you save for your kids education?
Speaker 1: Do you save for a holiday? Do you try and
Speaker 1: do everything all at once? Which is probably pretty unlikely
Speaker 1: because there is just a limited amount of money In
Speaker 1: the end, it would be great to do it all
Speaker 1: but when there is only kind of that certain amount
Speaker 1: of cash, then you need to start making some decisions
Speaker 1: and start prioritizing some life goals. Can we are going
Speaker 1: to get some help today in talking about this topic.
Speaker 1: It is an interesting one. Lucy Winship is the head
Speaker 1: of Ventures at Noble Oak which is a supporter of
Speaker 1: this podcast. She's also the founder of Wealth Maximizer, which
Speaker 1: is a program that we've talked about before on this podcast,
Speaker 1: which is basically helping people set and reach their financial goals. Lucy,
Speaker 1: welcome to how do they afford that?
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1: Now, Before we get into this, obviously, we just need
Speaker 1: to mention that this information is of a general nature
Speaker 1: only and doesn't take into consideration your objectives, financial situation
Speaker 1: or needs. Consider if it's right for you, read the
Speaker 1: Financial Services Guide and tees and c's on site before proceeding.
Speaker 1: Wealth Maximizer is operated by Noble Oaks Services Limited ACN
Speaker 1: one one two nine eight one seven one eight AFSL
Speaker 1: two eight six seven nine eight. Wealth Maximizer took a
Speaker 1: very big breath really announcing this, making giving it a
Speaker 1: bit of grandeur around it. Wealth Maximizer, can you give
Speaker 1: us the elevator pitch basically what it does, how does
Speaker 1: it actually work?
Speaker 2: Totally.
Speaker 3: So our mission is to make financial advice affordable, accessible
Speaker 3: and easy to use for Australians, noting there's a big
Speaker 3: gap in the industry basically because most people can't afford
Speaker 3: to pay the four K that it costs for plus
Speaker 3: yeah aiding from yeah traditional advice. So we've tried to
Speaker 3: make it a lot more affordable accessible by building a
Speaker 3: digital platform that does a lot of the maths, the
Speaker 3: cash flow projections and working out if you can actually
Speaker 3: afford your goals, and combining it with one to one
Speaker 3: wealth coaching so that you actually get supported education that
Speaker 3: you need and and empathetic support as you actually follow
Speaker 3: your financial plan.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's a really interesting business model because I never
Speaker 2: I think it's brilliant and I think it's very much
Speaker 2: needed to help, I guess, ease people into financial planning.
Speaker 2: You know, it's like it can be very intimidating and overwhelming,
Speaker 2: and this is a really gentle approach, which I love.
Speaker 2: It's also incredibly unique. I don't know if any other
Speaker 2: financial planning times that offer this, Like where did the
Speaker 2: idea come from?
Speaker 3: I think it's kind of there was a combination of
Speaker 3: people having a similar idea at the same time. The
Speaker 3: core of making it more affordable is just something I
Speaker 3: think a lot of people in the industry want to do.
Speaker 3: Oh it's so important, I just need to otherwise people
Speaker 3: can't access it. Most people can't.
Speaker 2: It makes the situation worse, and ironically, people who need
Speaker 2: it the most people who can't afford it. So this
Speaker 2: is I think this is so honorable and admirable that
Speaker 2: you're doing this. We like to think, so.
Speaker 1: Look, can I ask you then? The reason why we
Speaker 1: want to talk to you about this is because it
Speaker 1: is so easy to be overwhelmed with options. And I
Speaker 1: mean I am a very aspirational person. I have a
Speaker 1: lot of big dreams and big goals financially, but it
Speaker 1: is hard to choose what to do. And I mentioned
Speaker 1: in the intro that in the end, there's only so
Speaker 1: much money, like your pay packet has to kind of
Speaker 1: be split so many different ways, right how.
Speaker 2: But also to point out you've only got so much time.
Speaker 2: There's only sort of hours per day, like are you
Speaker 2: going to spend your time learning and education about VESTA
Speaker 2: or are you going to focus on superannuation? Or are
Speaker 2: you going to spend your time doing a budget and
Speaker 2: looking at how to pay off the mortgage?
Speaker 1: Sudent?
Speaker 2: Like, sorry, I do not need to interject over you.
Speaker 1: But you actually know me better than I know myself,
Speaker 1: because that is probably that is the big issue.
Speaker 3: And I have.
Speaker 1: Complained to you about this in the past that in
Speaker 1: the end, it's the it's the time, and it's these
Speaker 1: money blocks and things that you go, Okay, I know
Speaker 1: I need to be doing all of these things, but
Speaker 1: I just don't even know where to get started. Why
Speaker 1: is it so hard to choose between these big goals
Speaker 1: and actually to say, Okay, I'm just going to focus
Speaker 1: on one and get going. But why is it's so
Speaker 1: hard to peak?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's a really interesting problem because it
Speaker 3: feels like if you've got a long list, like we
Speaker 3: should just go through it. But all of your goals
Speaker 3: are super emotional, so it's like, how do you actually choose,
Speaker 3: Like wanting to own a home is actually a sense
Speaker 3: of security, and wanting to give you know, private education
Speaker 3: to your kids is like love and legacy and yeah,
Speaker 3: so like how can you actually choose between those? And
Speaker 3: I think that can be really overwhelming for people and
Speaker 3: not being able to kind of pinpoint exactly how much
Speaker 3: they're going to need to achieve these goals and when
Speaker 3: they want to achieve them means that people, I think
Speaker 3: just get completely overwhelmed and just don't know where to start.
Speaker 2: And then they don't do anything. They just stuck. And
Speaker 2: then two three is time has gone past and you're thinking,
Speaker 2: why am I in the same situation and which I've
Speaker 2: made no progress? Yeah, exactly, which then can make you
Speaker 2: even feel worse and even more stuck.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And there's also the big question of kind of what
Speaker 1: do you want to achieve? What's your goal that you
Speaker 1: want to achieve? And if someone kind of you have
Speaker 1: asked me that on this podcast in the past, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, you're in the headline and I have no
Speaker 1: idea because you go, okay, I want financial freedom. Great,
Speaker 1: that's a big that's a big picture goal. But what
Speaker 1: is it?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And that is one of the things that I like
Speaker 1: about wealth Maximize it because almost as a as a
Speaker 1: thought starter, like as to help with the process, you
Speaker 1: actually have a list of dozens of potential financial goals
Speaker 1: that you can just go through it. And there are
Speaker 1: things like kind of build an emergency savings fund, improve
Speaker 1: your credit score, pay off a student debt if that's
Speaker 1: relevant to you, go on holidays, move overseas to live,
Speaker 1: start a new or purchase an existing business. And they
Speaker 1: are really quite specific and they cover a huge range
Speaker 1: of things. It's really valuable that kind of thing, just
Speaker 1: to help you go all right, that is actually how
Speaker 1: I kind of verbalize, how I actually put into words
Speaker 1: what I want to achieve.
Speaker 3: And what we've tried to approach as well. Is I
Speaker 3: think a lot of the time people think a goal
Speaker 3: is actually more of a hope or a dream. It's
Speaker 3: a bit like nebulous, and you don't you can't really
Speaker 3: pinpoint it. So I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: You can see that I'm classic client seeing right here
Speaker 2: in front.
Speaker 1: That's right. And also I'm hearing things coming out of
Speaker 1: your mouth that I've heard coming out of Cana as well.
Speaker 1: When you were talking about the fact that I say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I want kind of financially no, be specific, what do
Speaker 1: you actually want?
Speaker 2: Money loves definition and clarity exactly. We don't do flaky.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 1: It feels like I'm a high risk of getting ganged
Speaker 1: up on in the studio. And sorry, Lucy, I interrupted you.
Speaker 3: That's so, how do you go from kind of a
Speaker 3: nebulous hope or dream into a goal? And that's all about,
Speaker 3: you know, the smart goals approach that I think people
Speaker 3: use at work. Sometimes they don't tend to use it
Speaker 3: in their own life as much. So yeah, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant,
Speaker 3: and time time specific as well.
Speaker 1: Acronym Yeah, why kind of Actually this is now a
Speaker 1: question for you. Why is that so important to actually
Speaker 1: nail down a specific goal in terms of, say you
Speaker 1: want to pay your mortgage off by the time you're
Speaker 1: fifty or something like that. Is it because you can
Speaker 1: actually be more deliberate in the actions that you take
Speaker 1: towards it. Because I know that you've told me again
Speaker 1: and again just don't be vague, be specific.
Speaker 2: If you take this like scatter gun approach, you're going
Speaker 2: to make barely any progress. The results are going to
Speaker 2: be I don't mean to be harsh, but maybe a
Speaker 2: little bit like poor and pathetic, underwhelming. Yes, mean today,
Speaker 2: Oh my god, what's happened? Or maybe yeah, maybe that's
Speaker 2: normal to be mean, And you also can be lacking
Speaker 2: a huge amount of inefficiency, whereas if you actually pause,
Speaker 2: add some details and definitions and apply the smart acronym,
Speaker 2: you know, application to your goals. You'll see greater progress,
Speaker 2: which I always say fuels even you know, further progress.
Speaker 2: It's like, Okay, this is working. I'm inspired, I'm excited.
Speaker 2: I'm going to keep going with this, and you can
Speaker 2: start to almost form like like I always call like
Speaker 2: a hit list. You go, all right, I'm going to
Speaker 2: tackle the budget first, and then once I've done that,
Speaker 2: I will then move on to looking at the home
Speaker 2: loan and negotiating a better deal with my homelan. Once
Speaker 2: I've done that and got that out of the way,
Speaker 2: I'll then look at investing. You can kind of have
Speaker 2: a bit of an order of events and almost like
Speaker 2: a schedule or an itinery, you know, like you would
Speaker 2: do for a holiday, and you're going to just have
Speaker 2: far better outcome within the year. And if you think
Speaker 2: about the course of investing in you know it's thirty years,
Speaker 2: it's just very different where you end up and what
Speaker 2: you the confidence you build along the way with education
Speaker 2: that you gain from a financial planner or a wealth coach,
Speaker 2: as well as the experience.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we've kind of we've established the basis for this.
Speaker 1: Then you need to have goals, and you need to
Speaker 1: not be vague with your goals. You need to be specific.
Speaker 1: The big question and I keep coming back to this,
Speaker 1: and this is one now for you, Lucy, how do
Speaker 1: you decide which goal is first, and which goal is second,
Speaker 1: and which god is third? How do you actually prioritize
Speaker 1: these things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good question. So I think, well, how
Speaker 3: we've built it a wealth maximizer is that you think
Speaker 3: of it more about kind of what is time sensitive?
Speaker 3: What are the things that you actually do need to
Speaker 3: do in a certain timeframe. Is it having a child
Speaker 3: because there's a biological clock, And also considering things like
Speaker 3: is one goal going to enable another? So yes, maybe
Speaker 3: I can't afford buy a property now and I won't
Speaker 3: be able to for four or five years, but if
Speaker 3: I start investing, that actually can contribute towards that other
Speaker 3: goal as well. So there's a couple of factors that
Speaker 3: you can think about when you're balancing them. What we
Speaker 3: do as well is we offer a free goal setting
Speaker 3: session with our West coaches so that you can actually
Speaker 3: talk through those options. They can balance those things with people.
Speaker 2: That's so valuable. How does one sign up to that
Speaker 2: asking for a friend.
Speaker 1: Of course, it's the friend Michael Thompson or Canon Campbell.
Speaker 2: Okay, I've got goals coming out of my ears.
Speaker 1: You have no problem for goals? Yes, yes, we've established
Speaker 1: who the target in this room is right now.
Speaker 3: So if you go to wealthmaximizer dot com, dot au
Speaker 3: forward slash, how do they afford that you can actually
Speaker 3: just book on there?
Speaker 2: That's an exclusive we're doing for you guys.
Speaker 1: At the moment, I love any website with How do
Speaker 1: they afford that a bargain?
Speaker 2: What a great inspira session.
Speaker 1: Now we're going to take a quick break. When we
Speaker 1: come back, I want to talk about them the financial side,
Speaker 1: cash flow and savings and those things, how you work
Speaker 1: those into the goals as well, and how Wealth Maximizer
Speaker 1: can kind of factor all of those into achieving some
Speaker 1: of these goals. We'll be back in a second. We
Speaker 1: are talking today about competing life goals and basically how
Speaker 1: to decide what on earth you are supposed to do first,
Speaker 1: and we are joined in the studio by Lucy Winship
Speaker 1: from Noble Oak, which is a supporter of this podcast,
Speaker 1: and we've been talking about the Wealth Maximizer program and
Speaker 1: the part that I really love and I just keep on.
Speaker 1: Like even just then during the break, I was just
Speaker 1: scrolling through the list of potential goals. Kind that's a
Speaker 1: good one anyway, And to me that is really valuable,
Speaker 1: those potential goals because it crystallizes kind of and really
Speaker 1: targets where you are heading. How does the money side
Speaker 1: of at work in terms of your cash flow, your savings,
Speaker 1: all of these little bits and pieces. How does Wealth
Speaker 1: Maximizer then actually work with your current circumstances to actually
Speaker 1: help you achieve these goals.
Speaker 3: So what we do is that you, as customers start
Speaker 3: to get going with Wealth Maximizer, you put in a
Speaker 3: bit about your financial situation, so income, your expense, any
Speaker 3: assets you have, any debt you hold, and then if
Speaker 3: you choose to sign up for one of our packages,
Speaker 3: we put all that information into our smart platform and
Speaker 3: it calculates how likely you are to achieve your goals
Speaker 3: in the time frame and to the amounts that you've
Speaker 3: kind of set.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's cool, and it considers like competing ones as well,
Speaker 3: So can you actually take time off or print or
Speaker 3: leave at the same time as you know, planning to
Speaker 3: buy an investment property? Is that that we've put quite
Speaker 3: a lot of it into.
Speaker 2: So kind of peels back the layers and allows you
Speaker 2: to go, actually, how realistic is this? But also you've
Speaker 2: got the benefit of heart, not hindsight. Foresight, Yeah we
Speaker 2: can go you know what, Okay, these conflict or I'm
Speaker 2: trying to do too much? Yeah, this is unrealistic. I'm
Speaker 2: sitting myself up a failure. I'm now going to pick
Speaker 2: one or two as a priority and just maybe park
Speaker 2: that for in say three is time or four years
Speaker 2: time exactly. So you're still committed to your journey of
Speaker 2: financial wellbeing and improving your financial situation, but you're it's
Speaker 2: not like you're sacrificing or you're wasting time. You're actually
Speaker 2: still progressing on in the right direction to you today.
Speaker 3: And it's also like once you have a conversation with
Speaker 3: your wealth coach, you can work out how to maybe
Speaker 3: you want to reset expectations. Maybe it's it is important
Speaker 3: for you in that timeframe, so maybe you want to
Speaker 3: bring them out and things like that.
Speaker 2: And that's such a good point because your financial strategy
Speaker 2: and journey should evolve with you because we go through
Speaker 2: different life stages. But also things happen in life, good
Speaker 2: and bad, and you have a bit of a shake up,
Speaker 2: or you know, you step into on a different path
Speaker 2: that you'd never expect to do, and your value system changes,
Speaker 2: and what you thought was important isn't anymore. Like I know,
Speaker 2: when I was younger, if I had kids, I was
Speaker 2: so motivated to invest and build wealth. But when I
Speaker 2: had children, it was such an awakening and suddenly it
Speaker 2: was more about protection and about stability, and about time
Speaker 2: and peace of mind. So it's so important that you
Speaker 2: can allow people to adjust their goals safely without feeling like,
Speaker 2: you know, they've made a mistake and got to start
Speaker 2: it all over again. They can tweak it and keep
Speaker 2: heading in the right direction. Is that what I'm saying? Absolutely?
Speaker 3: Yeah, And really, at the end of the day, money
Speaker 3: is just supposed to be the enabler that helps you
Speaker 3: live the life you want. Yeah, And the life you
Speaker 3: want will change, and that's okay. You just need to
Speaker 3: be able to adapt adapt. I like that, not sitting stone.
Speaker 1: No, that's good. A quick question for you, Kenna. In
Speaker 1: the midst of all of this, I really like the
Speaker 1: fact that Lucy, as you're saying this, so that you
Speaker 1: can kind of model these things and see how it's
Speaker 1: going to go, because there would be a risk Canna
Speaker 1: that if you were trying to do too many things
Speaker 1: at once and without being able to see how it
Speaker 1: would play out, that you can actually spread yourself too thin.
Speaker 2: Right, and then you're burnt out and you're not engaged
Speaker 2: anymore with your finances, and you know, it can be
Speaker 2: a bit of a downward spiral, you know, on many
Speaker 2: different levels, not just financially, and.
Speaker 1: Also there would come a point where you actually need
Speaker 1: to be putting a certain amount of money into make
Speaker 1: a meaningful impact. Right, if you were trying to do
Speaker 1: a little bit on a whole bunch things, then you're
Speaker 1: not actually going to reach that kind of critical mass
Speaker 1: point at which it starts to make a difference to
Speaker 1: your financial future. You've just done a whole like ten
Speaker 1: different little things and not actually achieved anything on any
Speaker 1: of them, rather than focusing on one or two goals
Speaker 1: and using this tool, for instance, using wealth Maximizer to
Speaker 1: actually model how that would look.
Speaker 2: Particularly when you think about investing. You know, if you've
Speaker 2: got ten different savings accounts, but really what would work
Speaker 2: for you is actually not saving But you know, doing
Speaker 2: a different split of say seventy percent investing thirty percent
Speaker 2: of saving. Where's that going to end up in the
Speaker 2: long run? And particularly you look at you know, the
Speaker 2: magic of compounding interests of a long run, it can
Speaker 2: take you into it you're landing in a very different destination,
Speaker 2: a much more stable, safer, secure, and even more luxurious destination.
Speaker 1: What's the take home, Like, if you could get one
Speaker 1: message out there, is it about taking action now? Because
Speaker 1: as you just alluded to, kind of the power of
Speaker 1: kind of compounding interest and everything is get started early,
Speaker 1: get these goals set in place, because while it's never
Speaker 1: too late to get started, there is an obvious benefit
Speaker 1: to getting started earlier.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, so yeah, definitely take action now, get proper clarity,
Speaker 3: really set clear goals for yourself. And then also you
Speaker 3: don't have to do it alone, like maxpens, we can help,
Speaker 3: but there's yeah, actually making sure that you've got you're
Speaker 3: turning your goals into a plan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the most important thing. And someone's holding your hand,
Speaker 2: listening to you, and you've got a human being that
Speaker 2: you can call and they've.
Speaker 3: Seen it from other people's perspectives.
Speaker 1: And no judgment, Okay, so, and that's it's impossible to
Speaker 1: kind of overstate how much of a relief it is
Speaker 1: when you actually do talk to somebody when you go
Speaker 1: through this and start to clarify, because I'm talking like
Speaker 1: a new convert having recently gotten gone through a similar process,
Speaker 1: when you actually do have these conversations about your money,
Speaker 1: and when you actually say, hey, I would love to
Speaker 1: be able to travel overseas every two years, or I
Speaker 1: would love to be able to pay off the home line.
Speaker 1: I'd love to be able to have schooling options open
Speaker 1: to us for the kids and not limited because of finances.
Speaker 1: Once you actually start talking about these things and once
Speaker 1: you start going through this list of goals and clarifying it,
Speaker 1: it is actually an incredible feeling to have that out there.
Speaker 1: And that's what I love about wealth maximizers. It actually
Speaker 1: does open that up to more people because of the
Speaker 1: system that is in place that it is targeting a
Speaker 1: group of people who may not be able to afford
Speaker 1: the full four five six thousand dollars package, which is
Speaker 1: a lot of money, particularly in a cost of living crisis.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, all.
Speaker 1: Right, if people want to talk to you, chat more
Speaker 1: about all of this, talk to one of Wealth Maximizers
Speaker 1: wealth coaches. It is the website is the best place
Speaker 1: to go.
Speaker 3: Yes, so Wealthmaximizer dot com dot au and then slash
Speaker 3: how do they afford that to get access? So the
Speaker 3: goal setting call, You can also call us on one
Speaker 3: three zero zero two four nine zero eight four.
Speaker 1: Just remember that went straight off the top of your head.
Speaker 1: I can barely remember my own phone number, let alone
Speaker 1: kind of if you asked me to call the station
Speaker 1: that we're recording in right now, I have no idea
Speaker 1: of what the number is. That's quite quite impressive, Canna.
Speaker 1: This is very much aligned with what we talk about,
Speaker 1: isn't it with it.
Speaker 2: Just about it's really cool.
Speaker 1: Every week we talk about the need to just to
Speaker 1: try and make financial advice more accessible to people. This
Speaker 1: is actually a really nice thing to hear.
Speaker 2: And it sounds like you actually get to incorporate this
Speaker 2: into your everyday life. And we all know that you know,
Speaker 2: daily habits stacked up over three hundred and sixty five days,
Speaker 2: have a powerful outcome.
Speaker 1: Lucy, thank you for joining us, Thanks so much for
Speaker 1: having me. That was Lucy Winship, the head of Ventures
Speaker 1: at Noble Oak, which is a supporter of this podcast,
Speaker 1: and that the website for Wealth Maximizer wealth maximizer dot
Speaker 1: com dot au slash how do they afford that? If
Speaker 1: we want more information from you, where do we find you?
Speaker 2: The best place to contact me is through Instagram at
Speaker 2: Sugar Mama TV, and.
Speaker 1: You can hear me every day with Sean Aylmer on
Speaker 1: Fear and Greed, daily business news for people who make
Speaker 1: their own decisions. Thank you very much for listening to
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