This might help if you aren’t offended by the ABC and their IS supporting journalists.
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I so, so need a financial advisor. If for no other reason than to understand the last few days of posting in this thread!
Im a decent tradesman. Im a totally rubbish businessman/investor/finance person. I pay shitloads of tax (a lingering doubt is that im fairly sure there are loopholes i know nothing of) , i raise three kids, I’m trying to get rid of the mortgage on a pretty crappy house - even though some corporate mates speak some weird finance dialect to me that apparently suggests i should stay in debt and buy other stuff , i figure that surely owning my place isnt a bad outcome- and i basically just get on with it each and every day. I dont need to rule the world and my current accountant probably meshes with that - he doesnt seem to propose complicated or “clever” ideas to minimise tax. Maybe i already have the right setup legally. Whatever.
But Where i worry is this: is my relatively simple brainpower costing my kids an easier future? And the property market with its utterly insane price-to-income ratio figures large and brooding in that fear. I dont see how they get started without me doing something for them. So i feel that pressure well beyond just providing for them day to day. I look at their future far more closely than i consider mine.
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Geez the bottom has fallen out of Telstra shares the last couple of days.
Keep it simple, pay your house off then once your done invest the payments you were making into either super a second property or your business, when your kids are ready to buy their own place use the equity in your house to pay for their deposit.
As payment for this advice you can come over to my place and rewire the shed out the back because I think I’m going to get electrocuted next time I open it 
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TPG getting into the mobile space has caused PANIC…
I think it has been a market overreaction.
Yep buy TLS if you have the cash*…
*Not a financial advisor, don’t take my advice
Go see a financial adviser then.
There is not some magic investment out there.
And for the ones that people tell you about, then you probably get on late and lose money/ dont see that great returns.
If your income is over $87000 single , or combined with spouse $174000 then you probably should consider putting some into super as salary sacrifice. And if you are over 50, then you should be trying to top up your super anyway.
A lot of people are buying a rental property now (negative geared) as a potential home for their kids later. And multiple homes for multiple kids.
Getting rid of the mortgage is the safest bet you can make.
If you want some basics, figure out the position you are in right now.
The advice below is general in nature and has not taken into account your personal situation.
Some simple things to look out for with personal and home loans.
If you have a loan does it have an offset account or redraw facility? If yes and you have a separate savings account immediately move that money to the loan! Your savings account will at most give 2.5% while you pay 5% on your loan. Straight away you are ‘saving’ more money. If you were putting aside the savings for holidays etc you can redraw BUT you need to keep track of the extra you are putting in. Remember any money earning that 2.5% is also taxable.
Read your superannuation statement and understand what you are invested in. Majority of people in any super fund are invested in a ‘balanced’ portfolio. This might not be right for you particularly if you are younger. Having longer to access your super generally means you can afford to be more aggressive with it.
If you tell me which super fund you are with I can give you the links you should be reading to help.
That’s your Easter homework 
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I’d be keen to know what I can do with super.
I’m as lazy as can be with it and still use Hostplus from when I was an apprentice (20 years ago).
Should I be more aggressive and if so, how do I do that and what does it mean?
Sorry to jump in Sal.
For everyone else, remember you can pretty much access superannuation style investments outside of super as well. Be aware though, it will be cheaper to access these products through an adviser as the fees are cheaper than direct (Generally it could be between 1% and 4%). In addition you can access products with ‘internal gearing’.
Want to buy shares but don’t have a lot of money? Maybe try something like an index fund. It means it has a portfolio of shares that closely mimics the ASX 200 or 500 for example. So if you only had say $2000 instead of only buying in 1 or 2 companies (you could buy more but the brokerage fees don’t make it worthwhile) the index fund will mean your ‘risk’ is spread across 20 / 50 companies.
https://pds.hostplus.com.au/5-how-we-invest-your-money#df7a2dc1-80f9-4406-92e4-a397cd9ec297
5.30 for your investment options. I can’t get more than that as it’s held behind a login but at least it breaks it down fairly nicely.
Also read this to help you understand the risks involved with the different choices.
I’ll just explain one more thing.
Aggressiveness basically means being exposed to assets with more volatility. So a bank account is relatively safe. The only way you can really lose money here is if the bank collapses or you’re in Greece or inflation outpaces the return. Shares are volatile because they can fluctuate on a daily basis. Fixed interest is safe as well but can lose if the interest rates go the wrong way. International shares are like local shares but with the added risk of currency.
Thanks Soulnet!
I’ve had a quick look and from what I understand Hostplus is medium aggressive?
I
Perhaps we need a Money/Finance thread??
Further to Soulnets great advice about banging as much as you can into your Mortgage & redrawing (if you have redraw, . it’s a good thing to have) the other thing to do is get a Credit Card with the longest Interest free period you can, I have one with 55 days.
Then put every penny of wages etc into said Mortgage & pay for everything on the CCard, (when they DONT charge extra fees etc ,. so AVOID AMEX for this, as they seem to always have it), then when the Card payment is due, redraw from the loan to pay it, you will have enjoyed using the Banks money for free for 55 days, whilst cutting the Mortgage interest markedly, and over the years, the difference will be tens of thousands less paid for the Mortgage proper.
(Thankyou to Paul Clitheros, Money show from 20 years ago)
PS: The added bonus is for every dollar that gets churned through the card gives you the Points, which, for the last ten years have provided me with enough to cash in for 5 or 6 $100 voouchers to David Jones or Myer etc, which I then send to the kids & others as Xmas presents. Makes Xmas so much less stressful, and they dig it.
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That’s my single biggest fear too Sal, my wife and I have decided to open another account to start saving for them
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Maybe a Mod could move a few items and we could go from there
On your advice, it does work but it’s high maintenance and you have the risk of spending more than you earn to pay it off when the bill comes. Would work well if you budget but again that’s high maintenance.
Given people don’t even know what they are invested in I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are fully committed
P.S. (you edited your post) Most banks will offer you credit cards with your home loan package. They will normally offer something basic but you should be able to get point cards for no extra fee. Will depend on your bank and loan package though.
Want to use the points for flying?
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Their default fund is 75% in growth assets. On a risk scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being riskiest it’s a 4.
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Yeah, it only works when the redraw has built sufficiently & you dont buy Lounge Suites etc on the credit card,… you only use it for daily living, …petrol food and the bills etc, … or in my (& others) case, everything for the business I can as well).
I used my old financial calculator (I’m sure you’ll know what that is) about five years ago, to work out what I’d saved in interest over 15 years just with that practice using a monthly average, and it was about 23k then, so It’d have to be 30 plus now.
Anyhoo, back to politics/economics, those aware of the universal wage proposition might be interested in this … Rutger Bregman discussing his new book, Utopia for Realists.
Exciting new thinker Rutger Bregman visits the RSA to argue that the real crisis of our times is not that we don’t have it good, or even that we might be worse off in the near future - it’s that we don’t have the imagination to come up with anything better. Having already sparked a movement across the Netherlands, where 20 municipalities are now putting basic income into action, Rutger’s work inspires a firm belief that the most vital ingredient for political change is the conviction that there truly is a better way.
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