Speaker 1: Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to Sugar Mama's Fireplay,
Speaker 1: the podcast that ignites your financial journey with inspiring stories
Speaker 1: and innovative wealth accumulation strategies. I am your host financial planner,
Speaker 1: Canna Campbell, and today we have episode one of our
Speaker 1: new series. Start here. This is where I will be
Speaker 1: answering your questions when it comes to what you should
Speaker 1: be thinking about, learning about, and quite possibly doing to
Speaker 1: get your finances moving in the right direction where you
Speaker 1: can potentially make up for lost time and stay ahead
Speaker 1: of the So let us begin now. Before we begin
Speaker 1: today's episode, I must do my upfront compliance duties, and
Speaker 1: that is to remind everyone that this episode, as with
Speaker 1: all of my episodes, are general advice only. Nothing is
Speaker 1: personal advice, product advice, strategic advice, or investment advice. And
Speaker 1: that is simply because I do not know anything about
Speaker 1: your goals, your dreams, your situation, your liabilities, your deadlines,
Speaker 1: or your risk profile may be and the finer details.
Speaker 1: All of my advice is educationally based only. Not at
Speaker 1: any stage is this personal advice, investment advice, product advice,
Speaker 1: or even strategic advice. It is simply to help educate
Speaker 1: you offer as a guide for your further research, analysis,
Speaker 1: and investigation. Please always refer to my financial planning and
Speaker 1: general advice warning in the podcast notes. All right, with
Speaker 1: that done, let us begin. So the other day I
Speaker 1: received a DM on Instagram and it said, Hi, Canna,
Speaker 1: I'm absolutely loving your work. I'm sure you get dms,
Speaker 1: but I was wondering if you had an episode or
Speaker 1: could create one about people in a similar situation to me.
Speaker 1: I'm thirty five, don't own my own home, and I
Speaker 1: haven't been great with money. I earn eighty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year. I have sixty thousand dollars in savings and
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars in my emergency fund. My expenses are
Speaker 1: low as I live at home, but continue beating myself
Speaker 1: up as I should be in a better position financially.
Speaker 1: I'd love to start investing for my future security, but
Speaker 1: I feel it is too late at my age. So
Speaker 1: this is the birth of the new series. As I said,
Speaker 1: start here. This is where I'm going to open up
Speaker 1: the forum for you to be able to reach out
Speaker 1: directly to me on Instagram and ask me what I think.
Speaker 1: What I suggest you start learning about, investigating, understanding, and
Speaker 1: potentially applying in your life after getting personal advice from
Speaker 1: a financial plan. These episodes start here to help get
Speaker 1: the wheels in motion again, help you find your faith
Speaker 1: and calmvidence in yourself and create that direction, that purpose,
Speaker 1: that clarity, so you can go from strength to strength
Speaker 1: and quite possibly help you make up for lost time
Speaker 1: where you can potentially end up being ahead of the game.
Speaker 1: So once you've listened to this episode, don't be afraid
Speaker 1: to send me a DM asking me where should I start?
Speaker 1: All right, so the first thing I think about when
Speaker 1: I read this DM is that it is never too late.
Speaker 1: When you put the right sensible, wise intelligent strategies in place,
Speaker 1: you can make up for lost time. And in fact,
Speaker 1: sometimes if you are really persistent and determined, you can
Speaker 1: actually get ahead of the game. You see, I don't
Speaker 1: really believe in any mistakes. And it's that old Buddhist saying,
Speaker 1: when the student is ready, the teacher appears. So what
Speaker 1: my advice to you to start is to actually behind yourself,
Speaker 1: be compassionate, beating yourself up that you've been bad with money,
Speaker 1: wasted time. Wasted money serves no one, especially you. So
Speaker 1: it is time now to draw a line in the
Speaker 1: sand and say to yourself, I'm now going to do
Speaker 1: things differently. I'm going to do things better, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to honor my future financial wellbeing as well as
Speaker 1: my mental and emotional financial wellbeing. And for the record,
Speaker 1: no one is dumb or bad with money. You get
Speaker 1: started as soon as you possibly can. The second thing
Speaker 1: that stands out to me is the importance and I
Speaker 1: think need right now for some simple kindness and compassion
Speaker 1: towards yourself. We are all doing the best we can
Speaker 1: do with the resources we've got. And to me, I
Speaker 1: may be making a bit of an assumption here, but
Speaker 1: I have a feeling that no one has actually ever
Speaker 1: sat down and given you any form of financial education whatsoever.
Speaker 1: I would put money on it, and I'm not a
Speaker 1: gambling person, so this says a lot. But I would
Speaker 1: pretty much suspect that no one's talked to you about money.
Speaker 1: No one's talked to you about how to do a budget,
Speaker 1: or how to use a credit card wisely, or how
Speaker 1: to start investing, or why your superannuation is so important.
Speaker 1: And then I would also suspect that no one's ever
Speaker 1: taught you how to set some simple financial goals for yourself.
Speaker 1: So what I would love for you to do right
Speaker 1: now is to draw a line in the sand and
Speaker 1: know that it is great that you're aware of this now,
Speaker 1: because you're now going to do something about it directly.
Speaker 1: You're going to step up. You're going to take this
Speaker 1: problem with two hands by the horns and put some smart, intelligent,
Speaker 1: wise actions in place as quickly as you possibly can. Now,
Speaker 1: where do I think you should start? Again to remind
Speaker 1: you that this is general advice, because to this person
Speaker 1: who sent me this DM, I actually, other than the
Speaker 1: fragmented information you've provided me right here, I don't know
Speaker 1: much about you. I don't know the details of your goals.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the time frame is for these goals.
Speaker 1: I have no idea what your risk profile is. I
Speaker 1: have no idea what debts you may have, maybe credit
Speaker 1: cards or car loans, or personal loans or maybe investment loans.
Speaker 1: And I also don't know about what you value, what's
Speaker 1: really important to you. So again, for all the listeners,
Speaker 1: and particularly for this person who sent me this DM,
Speaker 1: please take this as general advice only and as a
Speaker 1: guide to get you moving. But this is where I
Speaker 1: recommend you start. Start here. So here are some assumptions
Speaker 1: I'm going to be making in this particular episode for you,
Speaker 1: the writer of this DM, and also for the listeners.
Speaker 1: So Number one is I'm going to assume, for simplicity
Speaker 1: here and educational purposes, that there is no toxic debt
Speaker 1: right now, so there's no credit card car loans or
Speaker 1: personal loans. I'm also going to make the assumption here
Speaker 1: that there is no desire to buy a home, and
Speaker 1: that this particular person values financial freedom first before buying
Speaker 1: a property, and that they are a long term investor.
Speaker 1: They understand that it takes time to make money, and
Speaker 1: they're certainly not looking for any get rich quick schemes
Speaker 1: because that's not my jam. So this is where I
Speaker 1: recommend you start. Number one, invest some time writing down
Speaker 1: some goals. Financial goals. Goals that excites you, goals that
Speaker 1: make you feel empowered, Goals that even maybe scare you
Speaker 1: a little. And if you don't know where to start,
Speaker 1: can I recommend having a goal that is based around
Speaker 1: what I call a mindful money number goal, a passive
Speaker 1: income goal. So you would set a goal for yourself
Speaker 1: to build a passive income for example of twenty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a year or fifty thousand dollars a year, or
Speaker 1: eighty thousand dollars a year or one hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year. A mindful money number goal is
Speaker 1: the amount of passive income that you would like to
Speaker 1: build over time for yourself to give for yourself that
Speaker 1: sense of financial freedom and for this person security. And
Speaker 1: you may want to keep this number low initially as
Speaker 1: you find your feet and build your faith and confidence
Speaker 1: within yourself, but having a goal to build up a
Speaker 1: passive income is definitely a goal that you're never going
Speaker 1: to regret setting for yourself. Trust me on that, I'm
Speaker 1: a financial planner and I've always been working on my
Speaker 1: financial goals. Not only does this excite me and motivate
Speaker 1: me and make me accountable with my money, it also
Speaker 1: acts as a beacon of light for those times where
Speaker 1: I'm frustrated, annoyed, or just having a crap day. So
Speaker 1: invest time setting goals for yourself, but most importantly, having
Speaker 1: a mindful money number that is a passive income goal.
Speaker 1: Number two emergency money. You mentioned in your DM that
Speaker 1: there is only two thousand dollars in emergency money. That
Speaker 1: is simply not enough. You really need to sit down
Speaker 1: and look at your individual situation and what your life,
Speaker 1: your responsibilities look like, and what the cost of things
Speaker 1: going wrong would be. Then look at three of those
Speaker 1: expenses happening all at the same time. That will start
Speaker 1: to give you a much clearer idea as to how
Speaker 1: much emergency money you need. Now. I actually have an
Speaker 1: episode purely based on working out how much emergency money
Speaker 1: you need on both Sugar Mummers fireplay and on how
Speaker 1: do you afford that? Or how do they afford that?
Speaker 1: I should say, so make sure you have enough. But
Speaker 1: I can tell you for the record, two thousand dollars
Speaker 1: is not enough. I don't care how much annually you've got,
Speaker 1: how much sickly you've got, the fact that you live
Speaker 1: at home. You need to be real about what your
Speaker 1: situation looks like and what could possibly go wrong. It's
Speaker 1: about being real, responsible and honest with yourself. Now, once
Speaker 1: you've worked out how much emergency money you need, you
Speaker 1: need to make sure that it is kept in a
Speaker 1: separate savings account away from your everyday spending account, and
Speaker 1: you nickname it my emergency money, and if possible, put
Speaker 1: the amount of emergency money in the title to remind
Speaker 1: you as to how much you must always maintain in
Speaker 1: emergency money. This is a non negotiable and just so
Speaker 1: you know, I've never had someone regret having emergency money.
Speaker 1: In fact, the only other thing I ever hear is
Speaker 1: I wish I'd had a bit more in emergency money.
Speaker 1: Step number three is to do a budget, sit down
Speaker 1: and look at your living expenses, look at what has
Speaker 1: to stay and what could possibly go. Now you're in
Speaker 1: a very fortunate position to be able to be living
Speaker 1: at home with low living expenses, so use this to
Speaker 1: your financial advantage to help maximize how much money you
Speaker 1: can save, or even better, how much money you can
Speaker 1: start investing. Now, I'm not sure what that sixty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars is earmarked for, and I'm not going about to
Speaker 1: go and provide advice for it, but it is very
Speaker 1: important that you understand the difference between money for short
Speaker 1: term expenses and money for the long term. So money
Speaker 1: for short term expenses is money that should always be
Speaker 1: maintained in assets such as cash, fixed interest or term deposits.
Speaker 1: The reason why is you don't have the benefit of
Speaker 1: time to see your money bounce around like a go
Speaker 1: yo with high levels of volatility that often come with
Speaker 1: high growth assets. It's a risk versus return balance. So
Speaker 1: please always keep in mind any money that you think
Speaker 1: you're going to need within the next one to five
Speaker 1: years should always be maintained in a safe, conservative environment.
Speaker 1: Do not gamble with this money. Yes, you may manage
Speaker 1: to get lucky and double your money or make an
Speaker 1: extra ten to fifteen percent over that time, but what
Speaker 1: if that money drops in value last minute with market
Speaker 1: volatility and pullbacks and corrections. You never want to be
Speaker 1: in a position where you have to crystallize a loss.
Speaker 1: When you do a budget, it really makes you aware
Speaker 1: of where your money goes, and you can quickly and
Speaker 1: easily identify any financial waste stage or things that actually
Speaker 1: you don't vowvalue or value as much anymore, so then
Speaker 1: you can look at cutting them down or cutting them
Speaker 1: out completely. Now, to avoid that lifestyle creep, it is
Speaker 1: really important that you immediately proactively replace those newfound savings. So,
Speaker 1: for example, if you realize that you're paying for a
Speaker 1: subscription service that's costing thirty dollars per month and you
Speaker 1: realize you don't use it anymore, you don't actually value
Speaker 1: it anymore and you cancel it, make sure you replace
Speaker 1: that with a regular savings plan, or a regular investment plan,
Speaker 1: or a regular debt reduction plan by that thirty dollars,
Speaker 1: Because if you don't do this, that thirty dollars very
Speaker 1: quickly will be end up being spent somewhere else, and
Speaker 1: you'll be scratching your head, going where did all these
Speaker 1: newfound savings actually go? You want to proactively take control
Speaker 1: and redirect them towards your financial goals, whichever they may be.
Speaker 1: But in this case, let's assume it's a passive income goal,
Speaker 1: that mindful money number goal. So as you do your budget,
Speaker 1: go as far back as you can look at the
Speaker 1: cold heart reality of your bank transactions so you can
Speaker 1: see what things actually cost. This will also allow you
Speaker 1: to see what change in expenses you've experienced without realizing.
Speaker 1: So a gym membership may have actually gone up without
Speaker 1: your realization, or you may actually be spending more money
Speaker 1: on say clothes or restaurants or takeaways than you like
Speaker 1: to actually think you do. So go through those transactions
Speaker 1: and go back as far as you possibly can. Now
Speaker 1: for anyone who's listening, goes, actually, I really need help
Speaker 1: with my budget. Please head to my link in the
Speaker 1: podcast notes because I can share with you the Sugar
Speaker 1: Mamma Budget and cash Flow Academy, where I teach everyone
Speaker 1: how to do a budget and build a cash flow
Speaker 1: system for their individual needs. And this is a brilliant
Speaker 1: program where you learn how to do a budget the
Speaker 1: right way the first time, and you just get on
Speaker 1: and deal with it and don't only have to think
Speaker 1: about too much going forward because it starts working for
Speaker 1: you quickly and easily. So step number three to reiterate
Speaker 1: is you've got to do a budget and from that
Speaker 1: you've got to work out where your savings or even
Speaker 1: better investment plan can begin. So, as I said, look
Speaker 1: at all those things you've been able to cut out
Speaker 1: and cut down, add them up, and then set up
Speaker 1: a regular investment plan, ideally where that newfound savings accumulated
Speaker 1: go into a separate savings account. And to make it
Speaker 1: actually happen and not create another task on your list
Speaker 1: of things to do, set up a regular savings plan
Speaker 1: so that the moment you get paid that thirty dollars
Speaker 1: per month or three hundred dollars per month or what
Speaker 1: are the total amount of things you've been able to
Speaker 1: cut out of your budget to free up. Money comes
Speaker 1: out of your account as a priority a couple of
Speaker 1: days after being paid and into a separate savings account
Speaker 1: where it can sit there safely, away from temptation, and
Speaker 1: accumulate and be used when you're ready to start investing
Speaker 1: or working on that particular financial goal. Step number four
Speaker 1: is to do some work on your mindset. Clearly, in
Speaker 1: reading this DM, I can see that this person is
Speaker 1: really feeling very insecure, lacking a lot of faith and
Speaker 1: self confidence within yourself. This doesn't serve you. You need
Speaker 1: to realize you're actually doing a great job. The fact
Speaker 1: that you're listening to these episodes around investing and financial
Speaker 1: freedom and independence is brilliant. That to me shows you're
Speaker 1: very motivated, You've got direction, and you clearly understand the
Speaker 1: importance of all these things because you've made these decisions
Speaker 1: and you've reached out directly to me. As I said,
Speaker 1: you have sixty thousand dollars in savings. That is evidence
Speaker 1: you're actually smart with money and you actually know to
Speaker 1: have emergency money, even though it may not necessarily be
Speaker 1: the right amount. Can you please take a moment to
Speaker 1: give yourself a pat on the back, and can you
Speaker 1: also get excited about these new goals about what your
Speaker 1: future is now going to look like. And you now
Speaker 1: know that it is never too late, and you've got
Speaker 1: plenty of time and options and opportunities around you to
Speaker 1: make up for lost time and to get back on track,
Speaker 1: and even better, to get ahead of the game, and
Speaker 1: even better, stay ahead of the game. So write down
Speaker 1: things that you are grateful for, write down things that
Speaker 1: you are excited about in embracing this journey, and really
Speaker 1: look at the things that exist within you that you
Speaker 1: can turn the volume up and actually become better with
Speaker 1: what you are doing already. So clearly you're good at savings.
Speaker 1: So now we need to turn the volume on that
Speaker 1: skill set that you already have within you and shift
Speaker 1: it and allow it to evolve and grow into becoming
Speaker 1: a great investor. Your greater savings. You're now going to
Speaker 1: become a great at investing. So work on this and
Speaker 1: always be aware of your mindset. We all have these
Speaker 1: little like negative self tught conversations that creep into our minds.
Speaker 1: We just need to create the awareness so that if
Speaker 1: we hear them, we shut them down quickly. And laugh
Speaker 1: them off and then go and replace them with empowering
Speaker 1: affirmations and positive self talk. Number five is to educate
Speaker 1: yourself now. Of course it goes without saying. If this
Speaker 1: part is overwhelming you don't want to do it, and
Speaker 1: you know that you're going to procrastinate, go and see
Speaker 1: a financial planner. This is what they do for a living.
Speaker 1: They can give you personal advice. They can go into
Speaker 1: the finer details that's really needed right now and look
Speaker 1: at the goals, help you even come up with some
Speaker 1: goals and more details for those goals and actually get
Speaker 1: them in place. I think one of the most underested
Speaker 1: things about a financial planner is they stop the thinking
Speaker 1: and the talking, but make things actually happen because they
Speaker 1: go and do it for you. And before you know it,
Speaker 1: you've got a share portfolio, and before you know it,
Speaker 1: you've got a savings plan for an investment property, or
Speaker 1: before you know you've got a debt recycling strategy in place,
Speaker 1: or before you know it, your superannuation has now been
Speaker 1: fixed and corrected and is invested correctly with the right contribution.
Speaker 1: Advice around how to make sure you've have enough money
Speaker 1: in retirement. This is the value of financial planner it
Speaker 1: is they get things done. And if your time poor
Speaker 1: find is overwhelming and want to spend your weekends with
Speaker 1: your family and friends doing fun things good, go see
Speaker 1: a financial planner and get them to do it. Delegate.
Speaker 1: We delegate things like our dry cleaning and our ironing,
Speaker 1: and some of us are gardening and just the maintenance
Speaker 1: of our homes and cleaning of our homes. Delegate to
Speaker 1: a financial planner. It makes sense. But if you want
Speaker 1: to go down this path where it's all about self
Speaker 1: education and doing this for yourself, and you feel a
Speaker 1: little bit intimidated seeing a financial planner for the short term,
Speaker 1: which I can kind of understand, make sure you use
Speaker 1: this time to educate yourself so that when you do
Speaker 1: see a financial planner, you turn up going, Hi, this
Speaker 1: is who I am, this is what I've done so far,
Speaker 1: because I did this, this and this and why, and
Speaker 1: this is now what I need from you, And these
Speaker 1: are the goals I want to achieve, and this is
Speaker 1: where I want to learn more of and this is
Speaker 1: what I'd like you to help me to do. That
Speaker 1: is going to make your relationship with your financial planner
Speaker 1: so much better. And the financial planner is going to
Speaker 1: take you really seriously because you know what you want
Speaker 1: and you are determined to make sure it happens. So
Speaker 1: we'll make the financial planner's job a lot easier as well.
Speaker 1: But as I said, if you're going down the self
Speaker 1: education path, you've got to pick up some books and
Speaker 1: start reading them. My book Mindful Money is pretty much
Speaker 1: a roadmap from start to finish as to what to do.
Speaker 1: I really focus on how to start investing, how to
Speaker 1: build up that passive income. I mean the book's called
Speaker 1: Mindful Money, so it's literally how to build that mindful
Speaker 1: money number goal. And I talk about, as I said,
Speaker 1: debt recycling. I talk about your superannuation, how to invest
Speaker 1: it correctly, what to look for, how to understand market
Speaker 1: pullbacks and corrections, the importance of long term investing, being patient,
Speaker 1: your emotions, your mindset. I do everything in that book.
Speaker 1: It's a great place to start. The other book that
Speaker 1: I highly recommend everyone reads, and you would have listened
Speaker 1: to my episodes with Peter Thornhill, and that's Motivated Money,
Speaker 1: particularly if you want to start investing in shares. And
Speaker 1: then of course you need to educate yourself around superannuation.
Speaker 1: Why it is so important. Superannuation is most likely going
Speaker 1: to be the biggest financial asset that we will ever
Speaker 1: own in our lives. And if you look at how
Speaker 1: much money our employers are putting in every single year,
Speaker 1: that percentage is only increasing, so we're putting more and
Speaker 1: money in there. Our superinnuation is simply an investment portfolio
Speaker 1: is just locked away from temptation because the government knows
Speaker 1: we'll go and spend it, because that's what we tend
Speaker 1: to do. You should also start educating yourself around the
Speaker 1: power of gearing. No, that is not advice to start
Speaker 1: borrowing money to invest, far from it. It is to
Speaker 1: understand what gearing is, the risks involve, the costs involved,
Speaker 1: and when is possibly the right time to consider using
Speaker 1: something like this, and how to do it in a sensible,
Speaker 1: wise conservative way that actually adds value to your financial
Speaker 1: situation in helping you achieve your goals more efficiently and effectively.
Speaker 1: It's also important that you understand the different types of investments.
Speaker 1: I have a huge passion around shares, in particular industrial shares. No,
Speaker 1: I'm not recommending that, but it's important that you understand
Speaker 1: there are plenty of others. Some people will be better
Speaker 1: off looking at bonds, corporate bonds, government bonds. Some people
Speaker 1: will be better looking at residential investment properties because that's
Speaker 1: what suits them and their needs. Some people will be
Speaker 1: better of having a great mix of all of them.
Speaker 1: So it's important that you understand what the different asset
Speaker 1: class is out there and what is the right blend
Speaker 1: for you. And that is when something like a risk
Speaker 1: profile comes in. And when you've done a risk profile,
Speaker 1: you can then use that as a guide to help
Speaker 1: build up your investment portfolio and let you know where
Speaker 1: and how you should start investing. Now, I will say
Speaker 1: this when people ask me where should I start investing.
Speaker 1: Obviously I don't tell them more to invest because that
Speaker 1: could be deemed as advice, and that's responsible and I
Speaker 1: don't think about them. But if you are looking at
Speaker 1: investing and you want a diversified investment portfolio, and you
Speaker 1: do not want the stress and pressure of working out
Speaker 1: which investments to invest in, how, when and why and
Speaker 1: in what amounts and with what market movements and currencies
Speaker 1: and so forth, this is why we have wonderful products
Speaker 1: out there like ETFs, diversified ETFs, like high growth ETFs,
Speaker 1: balanced ETFs ETFs that specialize in certain industries such as
Speaker 1: Australian shares, Australian high yield shares, bonds, ethical investments, international investments,
Speaker 1: a Japan fund, a US fund, a European fund, an
Speaker 1: Asian fund. They're all immediately diversified. Don't need to worry
Speaker 1: about those heavy, overwhelming, complicated, very lengthy research processes. Use
Speaker 1: those as a guide, educate yourself around them. And of course,
Speaker 1: you know, if you're interested in industrial shares and the
Speaker 1: sand share market, a listed investment company is another great
Speaker 1: vehicle to do research on, So understand that and do
Speaker 1: that risk profile. Vanguard has one of the best risk
Speaker 1: profile questionnaires, and it's free. It's there for you, and
Speaker 1: there's so much available information online for free as well.
Speaker 1: So once you've educated yourself, it doesn't really actually stop that.
Speaker 1: You need to continue on doing this. But the next
Speaker 1: step is is the moment you are ready, you feel educated, informed,
Speaker 1: you need to start investing. Get that ball rolling. Waste
Speaker 1: no time at all, and when you'll know when you're ready,
Speaker 1: because you'll understand the costs, you'll understand the risks, you'll
Speaker 1: understand the fees, you'll understand about how to do this
Speaker 1: in a smart, intelligent, wise way. And what I recommend
Speaker 1: you do the moment you have made your first investment,
Speaker 1: for example, you've decided you want to invest in shares,
Speaker 1: Australian shares for example, you make that investment and you
Speaker 1: continue on with that journey. As I said, this is
Speaker 1: not a magical formula. This is that's going to fix
Speaker 1: your finances overnight. This is a long term journey. It's
Speaker 1: about yes, using dedication and commitment to make up for
Speaker 1: lost time and even better, as I said, to get
Speaker 1: ahead of the game. So focus on your passive income.
Speaker 1: When it comes to investing. Turn down the noise of
Speaker 1: the market, what's going on, what stocks and bonds people
Speaker 1: recommend you should buy and sell, because that's going to
Speaker 1: confuse and overwhelm you. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: you want your money working for you. So yes, you
Speaker 1: can't bury your head in the sand when it comes
Speaker 1: to looking at all your portfolio is worth. But what
Speaker 1: your focus should be predominantly is on your passive income.
Speaker 1: How much money is your portfolio making for you and
Speaker 1: is it growing in the right direction. Because I set
Speaker 1: the more passive income you have in your life, the
Speaker 1: more financial freedom and independence you will have. And the
Speaker 1: objective is, and this is where you should be focusing
Speaker 1: all of your energy and your resources is building that
Speaker 1: number up, growing that number from fifteen thousand dollars a
Speaker 1: year to sixteen thousand dollars a year, seventeen thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year, eighteen thousand dollars a year. And if you
Speaker 1: are using smart, intelligent two dimensional investment assets such as
Speaker 1: shares and property that have a capital growth element as
Speaker 1: well as a passive income element, where the most important
Speaker 1: the passive income can grow with the capital growth. This
Speaker 1: growth will also happen organically for you as you commit
Speaker 1: to a regular investment plan. So when you are ready, start,
Speaker 1: don't deally daddle and daydream, get moving. And it's funny.
Speaker 1: A girlfriend came over to my house the other day
Speaker 1: and said, can you just help me buy some shares?
Speaker 1: I've never done it before. I was like, of course,
Speaker 1: you know, bring your laptop, like, I'll sit and watch
Speaker 1: you do it. And she did it. And she's sitting
Speaker 1: there and we did it and she's like now what.
Speaker 1: I'm like, You've just done it. You've just bought your
Speaker 1: first pass loop shares. She's like, you're kidding that was it.
Speaker 1: I was like, yes, that's it. I'm like, you're going
Speaker 1: to get some paperwork in the mail in the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. But she's like, am I a shareholder?
Speaker 1: I'm like, welcome to the club. It is so easy.
Speaker 1: As I say to people, if you can buy a
Speaker 1: pair of shoes online, you can buy shares online. So
Speaker 1: once you've done that, focus on the passive income. And
Speaker 1: what I recommend is explain in my full money is
Speaker 1: take that passive income number and ear market against the goals. So,
Speaker 1: for example, say your passive income goals to build a
Speaker 1: passive income of forty thousand dollars a year, and you
Speaker 1: now know from investing that you've started, say for Simpler City,
Speaker 1: you've now got a passive income of four thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year. You now know you are ten percent of
Speaker 1: the way. So next time you go and buy, for example,
Speaker 1: another paslip shares or ETFs or listened to mess and
Speaker 1: Companies or whatever it may be, go and look at
Speaker 1: what the estimated passive income is for that investment and
Speaker 1: add it to what you've built so far. So you'll
Speaker 1: go say from you know, ten percent to twelve percent
Speaker 1: to fifteen percent to eighteen percent to twenty two percent
Speaker 1: to twenty seven percent is a slow and steady progressive growth,
Speaker 1: but in the right direction where you get to that
Speaker 1: point where you are at one hundred percent capacity, that is,
Speaker 1: you're making that forty thousand dollars a year in passive income.
Speaker 1: So don't worry too much about what the market is
Speaker 1: because the share market doesn't actually reflect the true value.
Speaker 1: What do you want to do is see where your
Speaker 1: businesses are making money and putting money in your pocket.
Speaker 1: And of course, if and when you can to help
Speaker 1: with that organic growth, try and enroll in a dividend
Speaker 1: reinvestment plan if you can afford to. Assuming that this person,
Speaker 1: as I said, they live at home, their living expenses
Speaker 1: are low, they've got a great salary. I'm assuming that
Speaker 1: this person doesn't need this money and it's for their
Speaker 1: long term financial security, so reinvesting it is a brilliant idea. However,
Speaker 1: reinvestment must be done with caution because if you have
Speaker 1: a reinvestment plan, depending on what your underlying investments are,
Speaker 1: you want to make sure that your portfolio is diversified.
Speaker 1: That is, you haven't put all of your eggs in
Speaker 1: one basket. You have covered all the necessary asset classes
Speaker 1: that your risk profile suggests as a guide, and you
Speaker 1: do need to check your risk profile on a regular
Speaker 1: basis every I would probably suggest maybe every six months
Speaker 1: or every year, because the more experience would become, the
Speaker 1: more comfortable we are with taking educated risk, and of
Speaker 1: course that is just natural evolution. So it is worth
Speaker 1: just checking in on your risk profile every year and
Speaker 1: to see if it's changed and adjusted. And of course
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean you have to sell your entire investment portfolio.
Speaker 1: You may be able to just with new money coming
Speaker 1: in start investing in those more high growth assets to
Speaker 1: help make sure that your portfolio is growing. But you're
Speaker 1: not crystallizing capital gains tax along the way. But make
Speaker 1: sure if you can, you are reinvesting. You're not spending
Speaker 1: that money that you're actually putting that income that you've made,
Speaker 1: that passive income back into your portfolio for future compounding
Speaker 1: growth opportunities. And as you go along the way, make
Speaker 1: sure you're taking note, even like through a journal, as
Speaker 1: to how much passive income you have built so far
Speaker 1: and the date, because I cannot tell you how incredibly
Speaker 1: inspiring it is to look back and see how far
Speaker 1: you've come in such a short period of time, and
Speaker 1: this will give you the motivation to stay true, to
Speaker 1: stay committed and dedicated to the journey in growing your
Speaker 1: passive income and actually creating that true, authentic, sustainable financial
Speaker 1: security in your life. Step number seven is to protect
Speaker 1: your wealth. I touched on very briefly about emergency money,
Speaker 1: and of course emergency money does offer a form of
Speaker 1: wealth protection for you, but it does actually go far
Speaker 1: beyond that. Policies like income protection policy, where if you
Speaker 1: cannot work due to a medical reason, an insurance company
Speaker 1: will pay up to seventy five percent of your income
Speaker 1: until you can return back to work or until a
Speaker 1: certain age ideally around the age of sixty five, because
Speaker 1: you can then access potentially your superannuation money. So it's
Speaker 1: really important that you have protection policies in place. Another
Speaker 1: one that's important to know about and understand is trauma cover.
Speaker 1: This pays a lump sum tax free to you in
Speaker 1: the event if you suffering a major medical trauma such
Speaker 1: as a cancer, heart attack, stroke, And it is really
Speaker 1: important that you take these types of policies out sooner
Speaker 1: rather than later, because further down the track we tend
Speaker 1: to have more health conditions. We're aware of maybe hereditary issues,
Speaker 1: you know, we've maybe been in an accident or broken
Speaker 1: a few bones, and we now have loadings and exclusions,
Speaker 1: which also makes it a lot more expensive. So I've
Speaker 1: shared with this in other episodes on Sugar Mum's Fireplay.
Speaker 1: But I took out my personal insurance policy in my
Speaker 1: early twenties, and I'm so glad I did because if
Speaker 1: I was to go and reapply for new insurances today,
Speaker 1: I would not get it. I have the exact same
Speaker 1: policies in place and they are non negotiables. And my
Speaker 1: partner Tom is also properly insured. And there's income protection,
Speaker 1: trauma cover, life andtputy and life cover. So protect your wealth,
Speaker 1: be smart, intelligent, and understand things can happen in the
Speaker 1: blink of an eye. So there are the seven steps
Speaker 1: to help you start start here. By starting here, you'll
Speaker 1: be well and truly on the right path again. But
Speaker 1: the thing is you need to keep going to do this. Listener,
Speaker 1: you're obviously in a very fortunate position, so you can
Speaker 1: use this to your financial advantage, and that is to
Speaker 1: start building passive income in your life. Whatever amount of
Speaker 1: passive income you would like. It doesn't matter, just start
Speaker 1: building it and remember that passive income maybe the pass
Speaker 1: of income that allows you to switch to part time work.
Speaker 1: That passive income may eventually help pay your rent, or
Speaker 1: even better, help pay your mortgage and eventually pay your
Speaker 1: mortgage off. It also may be the passive income that
Speaker 1: helps pay for maybe further educational costs for yourself, or
Speaker 1: if you have children, for your children's educational costs. That
Speaker 1: passive income may pay for a holiday every single year,
Speaker 1: to the destination of your dreams. That passive income may
Speaker 1: allow you to take sabbaticals regular sabbaticals, And that passive
Speaker 1: income may actually allow you to have an earlier or
Speaker 1: even more luxurious retirement. This is the power of passive income.
Speaker 1: It gives you not only financial security, which is what
Speaker 1: this person put in their DM to me, It gives
Speaker 1: them choice, flexibility, time, and a wonderful sense of financial
Speaker 1: peace and independence. So, for this listener, and for anyone
Speaker 1: else that's in a similar situation, has similar questions and queries,
Speaker 1: draw a line in the sand, step up to the plate,
Speaker 1: because something deep within you knows that you are actually
Speaker 1: ready right now. You do not need to waste precious
Speaker 1: time and energy beating yourself up anymore. As one of
Speaker 1: my favorite quotes goes, work hard in silence, let's success
Speaker 1: make the noise. You now know where to start, so
Speaker 1: get started today. So to this listener right now, you
Speaker 1: now know exactly where to start. You know exactly what
Speaker 1: you need to do today, and if you're really honest
Speaker 1: with yourself, you know how exciting it is to be
Speaker 1: able to know that you are going to be watching
Speaker 1: your future, your financial future, flourish well into the future,
Speaker 1: and you'll be so glad that you got started today.
Speaker 1: So thank you everyone for listening to Sugar Mama's fireplate
Speaker 1: for our very first start. Here. To anyone else that
Speaker 1: would like to send me a d M on Instagram
Speaker 1: asking them for some advice as to where to get started,
Speaker 1: please don't be shy, remember, of course, that this is
Speaker 1: general advice only and for educational purposes. And when in doubt,
Speaker 1: please please please always go and see a financial planner
Speaker 1: because they can give you not a general advice, but
Speaker 1: personal investment strategic product advice. Thank you everyone for listening.
Speaker 1: Please feel free to leave me a rating and review.
Speaker 1: I would greatly appreciate it. Until next time. Stay motivated, empowered,
Speaker 1: and never stop seeking new ways to achieve your financial
Speaker 1: goals and dreams. This is sugar warmers. Fie