She's On The Money - Investing Tools For Financial Success

Episode Date: October 4, 2022

Investing can be confusing. It only takes a quick Google search before you're overloaded with endless options and conflicting advice. But don't worry, the She's On The Money team have got your back! On today's show, Victoria gives you the lowdown on the best investment tools to help you achieve your financial goals.Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.The advice shared on She’s on The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She’s on The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are Authorised Representatives of Infocus Securities Australia Proprietary Limited ABN 47 097 797 049 AFSL - AFSL 236523. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Investing can be confusing, especially when there is so much information out there giving you conflicting advice. Fortunately, there are a range of tools available that'll help you invest more seamlessly, all of which Victoria Devine uses herself, and that will be revealing live on the podcast today. You weren't meant to tell everybody that I use them. It adds authority to the podcast, trust me. My name is Georgia King and the aforementioned Victoria Devine joins me as always. V, another show all about investing today. Go figure. This time it's about the tools that make it all easier. Just how excited are you for today's episode?

I'm medium excited. Medium excited. I thought you'd be, you know, swinging from the chandeliers. I'm really excited, but you already yeeted me out and said, oh, V uses these. So obviously I can't have any lead up to be like, oh, I'll find out at the end whether I like it. I can't be like this tool. Is it good? No, they're all good. These are all good. It's true. It's true. And that is literally my first question of today is you confirming that you do use all of these tools that we're about to dissect. I do actually use all of these tools. And when we were pulling this episode together, we really sat down and had a chat about this because I was like, I don't want to just do a Google of tools because you can look up investing tools really easily on Google and

find out, you know, what the number one is, but this is just what I use and how it works for me. So obviously take all of this with a grain of salt. Obviously you don't need all of these to be an investor. These are just handy things that you can have in your toolkit. They're tools for your toolkit so that you can be a more educated and, you know, more confident investor. So from my perspective, yeah, I really love all of these. I don't want to be too self-promotional though. No, no, no. All good. V, let's hop straight into it. The first tool on our list seems obvious, but it also seems like the perfect place to start, and that is to know your budget. Talk us through why this is so essential to our investing strategy as a tool.

You guys are not going to be surprised that I started here. And obviously, understanding your budget and cash flow is going to put you in a position where you know what you can invest. If you're able to better understand your money, you're able to better create wealth. It is a no-brainer. I absolutely get so frustrated, G. I talk to so many people, they're like, yeah, but budgeting is boring and I don't want to do it. Can you tell me more about investing? I'm like, no, sit down. You have to do your budget. You have to do your cashflow. If you know every single dollar that's coming in, everything that's going out, you're not only going to be far more in control, you're going to know what's left over to invest with,

but you're also going to have a handle on whether that aligns to your values and going to be able to strip back what you're spending to allocate more to investing. Let's get it together. It is a very smart idea. Obviously, that is my first step when it comes to figuring out your investment strategy. This process is obviously also going to help you figure out whether you actually have anything to invest or not, or if it's just a bit of a pipe dream at this point. Because, you know, I don't want to be too negative too early in the podcast, but sometimes I talk to people like, yeah, I'm going to start, I'm going to start. And then we really get into budget and cash flow and you're maybe in a heap of personal debt. I get it. I was so excited to invest when I was in debt too,

but paying off your debt is an investment in itself and we really need to prioritize that first. And so from my perspective, get our financial house in order first and then we can start our investment journey. Starts with the budget though. Sorry. Nice. Nice. It makes sense. Without sounding too self-promotional. Oh, sounding self-promotional before. It's your turn. We obviously have a budgeting template available on our website and also there is your budgeting and cashflow masterclass, which I'm feeling could be very helpful for anyone who is having troubles with sorting out their finances. It is a course that is applicable internationally. And as much

as it is a course and you're like, I don't really want to do it. To be honest, a lot of people download it, do some of the videos, but the real value of that course is the tool that is included. It is the budget and cashflow spreadsheet that I have created. If you've never used a spreadsheet in your life, I promise you can use this one because I have created overlays. So it actually just looks like a very fancy notebook. You just pop all your numbers in. It makes a whole heap of sense, but that is going to enable you to take it to the next level, show you what bank accounts you need to set up and organize and put you in the best position to be successful. You know, I don't want to go on about it and on about it. If you want to check it out, it is on the She's

on the Money website. There are a whole heap of like testimonials and like examples and exactly what's included. And then because you are a pod listener, let's be really self-promotional. Use the code POD50, so POD50 for 50 bucks off because we look after our friends. We certainly do. V, next on the list is assessing and understanding our risk profile as a tool. Why is it so very important to understand our risk profile before we start the journey into investing? Do you know what I'm having a bit of a laugh about over this side of the table? People are going to have started to listen to this podcast being like, sick, she's going to give us all these apps we can just download and become super investors. Lol, joke's on you. These are actual tools that are actually

going to help you not just be an app that you use for a month and then never log back into. And then the next time you look at it, Apple iCloud's asking you if you really want to download it back from the cloud. Like that is what's going to happen if I give you just recommendations for investment apps. It's not going to help. Your risk profile is one of the most powerful tools. First tool we talked about, whether you use my budgeting cashflow program or not is a budget. Having that is tool number one. Having tool number two is your risk profile because once your budget is sorted and you know how much money you have to invest, you need to establish how you want to invest and how that fits with your risk profile. Your risk profile is like a little bit

of a deep dive insight into you, Georgia King, into you as an individual and what you're willing to put up within the investment world and what you're not and what might feel too risky and what might feel comfortable so that we're always aligning our investment plans with our goals and with who we are. We've obviously done an entire episode on She's On The Money on risk profiles. So have a little bit of a scroll back to that one. But for anyone who is new to She's On The Money, I feel like I've just explained some of it, but it's essentially a process you go through when you're with a financial advisor, or you can do it on your own, to figure out how open or adverse you are to risk or to investing riskily. And from there, you're able to set up

an investment strategy that fits with your goals and what you're comfortable with. You really can't start investing without understanding your risk profile because it is a bit like analysis paralysis. You'll feel overwhelmed. You'll feel like you don't know where to go. And without a risk profile, the options for investing are endless. When you have a risk profile, it really whittles down the options that are available to you. So for example, if you're a high growth investor, that's where you'd be looking at individual shares and mutual funds and you'd be looking at managed accounts. If you are a little bit more conservative and maybe you're sitting in just like a balanced portfolio. Maybe an ETF is a good option for you and maybe some

bonds are what you want to dabble in. The things you can and should invest in is going to vary greatly depending on your risk profile. So knowing it is essential, G. In terms of that as a tool, V, is there like some kind of template we can download, like a little quiz we can do? Yeah, head to the She's On The Money website. What do you think I do? What do you think I do? I do this for you, baby. Bea, the next on our list is to have an emergency fund set up so that you never have to sell your assets if your investments don't work out. Why is this a handy tool? Obviously, I encourage absolutely everyone under the sun to have an emergency fund, even if you're not investing yet, even if you're in debt. I'm a big advocate of having an emergency fund,

even when you're in debt. And the reason is because then you don't have to rely on debt again if another emergency pops up. The reason it's really helpful from an investment perspective is that having a buffer on hand is going to mean that you never need to sell any investments if something pops up. Like if it's all in investments and then, you know, your car breaks, what are you going to do? Sell at a bad time and cut your losses? Like that's not what we're investing for. We're investing for the long term so that we put ourselves in a better financial position. And by not having an emergency fund, you're jeopardizing your investment journey. Bad idea. We don't do that. That is not a smart thing to do. A She's On The Money family member

would not do that. We don't do that. As we talk about on She's On The Money time and time again, I feel like I'm a broken record, which is fine because like one day every single person in the She's On The Money community is going to be an active investor and I cannot wait. But if you don't have a view to hold your investments for 10 years, it's not worth holding them for 10 minutes. if you do have to pull from your investments that could actually curtail everything you've been working towards and could put you further back than when you started depending on how the market is situated the time that you sold the shares not a good idea we don't recommend it we don't one out of ten do not recommend and on that v i know this is probably self-explanatory

but we shouldn't have our emergency fund in our investments no we do not invest our emergency fund one out of ten idea do not recommend the reason we don't invest our emergency fund is because we need immediate access to it. And investing does have some barrier to accessing it immediately. But also, give your emergency fund some slack. It is doing what it needs to do. That money is working hard for you because it's protecting you. Not every single dollar has to have a nominal return. Brilliant. Bea, let's have a little break there. Love a little break. I'd like to get a smoothie. Yeah, go on. On the other side, we will chat through our final three handy tools for investors, so don't go anywhere. Green smoothie? Let's go.

V, straight back into it. The next handy tool on our list is the ASX website and app. It's not as self-promotional as me going, you need my budget or a budget and a risk profile and an emergency fund. Those are three very, very good tools though. 100%. Now we're going to explore the world. The world outside of Sosham. Tell me all about the ASX website. Does not exist. Look, I've written this one down. One, because I use it all the time. Obsessed with them. Thanks, guys, for being the OGs. But the ASX website is a hub with so much information on it when it comes to the Australian Stock Exchange. It is extremely useful for company information like at a glance. They have like individual company pages and it has tools that

enable you to learn more about companies that you might be interested in investing in. It'll tell you immediately what the stock price is, what the historical stock price is. You can deep dive into their company, like everything that you need is going to be there. They also have really great tools, which I feel like not enough people take advantage of, like webcasts that you can watch whenever you want, covering off on a range of topics. They also have a whole section on how to start investing and they have information on every style of investing plan and plenty more. Please take this with a grain of salt though, because if you go there and you're like, I'm so excited to get all of this information. It is definitely a little bit drier than you would

get at She's On The Money. And I totally get that. I'm all about absorbing as much information as possible. But obviously, we could have always Googled how to invest. It doesn't mean it's the most engaging content. But the thing I like about it is we know it is correct. It is the ASX. It is not just some random product website. And that's the next point I want to make about the ASX website is that it isn't product aligned, which is fantastic. And it means that you're going to receive non-biased information and insights on how companies perform. And while they won't tell you what the company does, because they're just about performance metrics, you can for free, obviously, look at a stock's performance on that website and you can Google what the company does.

Obviously, that is easy to do. Other cool features are that you can set alerts and announcements on stocks you might want to buy. So say, G, you're like, you know what, I've been looking at this stock, but right now I feel like it's a little bit overpriced. I would buy it if it goes down to this amount. Set an alert. ASX will send you an email and say, hey, gee, that stock's at the price that you want to buy it at. And then you can go and buy it at the price you want to buy it at.

Money, win. And then also the other benefit here is they're not going to spam you like a lot of other platforms that talk about investing content. I mean, we don't do that, but also they're not going to spam you. Often when it comes to investing, there can be lots of emails that get around and not all of them are relevant, but the ASX isn't actually going to fill your inbox with dense information that you just don't need. Not a sponsored mention, as always, just good eggs doing good things. So you did touch on my next question, V. When I was doing a little bit of

reading ahead of today's episode, I did jump on the ASX website. And as someone who is a little intimidated by investing, I found it quite overwhelming in how the information was presented. it was like that's why I wanted to mention up front that I was like look it is a little bit drier it's probably not what you want want it to be but when it comes to good information that's where you're going to find some do you have any tips for like navigating it or should we maybe like start with she's on the money and then use the ASX I mean I would always start with she's on the money because I am trying very hard to cover every single topic for you but if you want additional information as I've always said please don't only rely on our podcast not because we

aren't comprehensive, but because I think there's a lot of power in having a plethora of different places and coming to your own conclusion. My opinion, Georgia's opinion does not mean it is your opinion. Just because we present it in a certain way or give you a certain idea of something doesn't mean that that's going to work for you. So I'm all about looking externally and finding other places to get information. So from my perspective, have a look on their website. they obviously have a search bar. I would use it mostly when I'm looking for something specific, like I want more information on ETFs or I want more information on a particular company. They also have the share game. So the share game is a game that you can play with fake money that

they run a few times a year where you can basically trade in the market with fake money. And after a certain period of weeks, you can see how you went. And I think that that's actually a really good way to, you know, do a little bit of testing around share trading with fake money. It's basically like playing Monopoly, which we love. However, yeah, it is a little bit dry. I'm sorry. Sorry, ASX. If they're listening, they're not going to be very happy with me, but that's okay. I just think it's important to point it out. The other thing is you can always Google it. You can always type in ASX website and then what you're looking for and Google will tell you what you're looking for on that website. I was about to segue into another website recommendation,

but I'm not going to do it because I know you're about to ask me about it. Perfect. So the next tool there is, of course, the surprise. It's the Money Smart website. and their very handy compound interest calculator. It's not the only thing I want to recommend. Their entire website is sick. Well, it has been. And over the last few years of doing this podcast, the Money Smart website has been a really useful tool

for helping me get up to speed with everything, writing scripts, all of that jazz. They should be paying a lot to us, but they're not. You want to talk government? Let me know. So tell me more about the compound interest calculator as well as just everything good about the Money Smart website. All right. So, I recommended the ASX one first. It wasn't because it came first. It was because

I wanted you to build up and be like, oh, okay, that sounds good, but what's better? Money Smart's website. It is so good. Obviously, different information though. The ASX website has a whole heap of stock information and information on companies, whereas the Money Smart website is more about financial literacy. My favorite thing on it, it's no secret, I have told you about it a billion times publicly, the compound interest calculator. It actually helps you work out what you would make on interest from your investments based on average returns and compare that to what you would have had if your money had just been stagnantly sitting in a low interest bank account. All of it is customizable. So you can go in and be like, oh, what would happen if I invested

$5 a week or $5 a month or $5 a year or $5,000? You can change all of the metrics. You can change the time frame. You can change the interest rate. You can change all of it. And it's so user-friendly. But from my perspective, the best thing about the compound interest calculator is the ability to work out what you're currently doing and whether it's enough to create financial freedom. So if you're investing and you're like, yeah, I want to retire early, you need to work out what retiring early means. And I'm going to use exactly the same example as I always do because I want to get it into your heads because then it's scalable on either side. But Georgia, if you are trying to work towards a $60,000 passive income, you need a $1.2 million portfolio. So this compound

interest calculator is going to tell you whether your current contributions are going to help you get there, or maybe you need to make some more. So it's just a cool calculator. Okay, guys, super simple. You plug in all of your information and it tells you what it does. And to be honest, the beauty of this tool is that the maths is easy. You don't have to do it. It tells you, and it has a cute graph to boot. Free graph, cute graph. We love a graph. Love it. 10 out of 10. So you can see what you're working towards and you can see where your hard work is aiming and be reminded of why you're doing what you're doing. Love. Yeah. Well, it'll help you set those goals as well, won't it? Yeah, it makes it really obvious. Yeah. And to be honest, it enables you

to really work backwards. Like if you're like, oh, well, oh, I thought that that was a lot. And I know that it can be a little bit disenchanting sometimes when you jump on this website and you're like, oh, I've been investing like $200 a month. I'm really young. This should equal heaps. And then you're like, oh, it's not going to get me to the goal I thought I would get to. That's okay because during different seasons of our life, we have more or less to invest. So it might not be always that it's just this amount per month. It could be more later. Or you could just be creating a plan because you don't actually have the ability to invest right now. But you're like, okay, well, I know that in five years, I'll probably have the ability to invest, whether you're a uni student or

you just don't have free cash flow at the moment, or you're a single mom and you're like, I cannot wait until my kids get to school so I can start earning an income again. Like you can make a plan for the future so you feel more financially secure. Financial security doesn't just come from having cash in the bank. It comes from also having a plan. And to me, this calculator helps you do that too. So nice. We love. I love it too. Other great things about the Money Smart website But from my experience, just include how easy to understand their definitions are about a lot of things. They've got great blogs.

They're very well written. Yeah. They just really simplify it all down. But it's very similar to what we try to do at She's on the Money. So love their work. Thank you, the government. Thank you, the government. This takes us to our very last tool of the day, which.

Self-indulgence. Surprise. It is, of course, your brand new book, Investing with She's on the Money. Talk us through it, my girl. Tell me all about it and how it will help people start investing. I like that the note you've put under this question literally just says, VD, go on rant. Like, thank you, Georgia King.

In a good way. Obviously, I've written this book because you guys asked for it. And I am eternally grateful that after my first book, you actually wanted more content because I was terrified that it would be a complete flunk. So it's very cool to know that you guys are interested in learning more about investing. I think it was very necessary as well because obviously it's not the first investment book on the market. It's not even the first investment book written by a woman on the market, but it is the first one that I think genuinely takes into consideration you as an individual and your thoughts and feelings and values and

beliefs and behaviors in addition to actually what you need to do to get there. Because I think too many times it's you know stereotypical white male written books or they feel like white male written books even if it was written by a woman that just doesn't have that level of empathy so as much as you know you guys might be going I don't need empathy Victoria I just need the information it's so important that you also have buy-in and you understand why you're doing what you're doing and that's why I do what I do so the investing book is really taking it to the next level. If you read the first book, you know that there is a chapter in there about investing, but that really just scratches the surface of why it's important and gives you some basics,

whereas this really deep dives. And I've tried to structure it. And I don't say this in the book because, you know, it's just how I've tried to write it, but I've really tried to structure it in the same way I would have created a statement of advice for a client. So I go through the same process with you in each chapter. So we do the same tick points. So obviously it's going to start with a fact finder and understanding where you're at. Then we'll talk about risk. Then we'll talk about all of the things that come after that. And I think that by taking you down that garden path in a way, you're going to create your own investment plan. You're going to work out not only what your goals, your values, what you can contribute are, but you're also going to take it

to that next level and pick and then implement. And I have spent so long, Georgia. I know you have the book. I don't know if you've gotten to page, I think it's 156, 156 or 159. I cannot remember. But at that point in the book, there is actually this really fancy table that I've made. It's basically comparing all of the popular investment platforms that the She's On The Money community usually has access to in a really simple way. It's a table. It has their names down the side. It has ticks to say it invests here, it doesn't invest here. It has the fees. It has the additional information you need so that you can basically go to that chart after you've read the rest of the book. Like, don't just skip. I mean, I shouldn't be telling you this, but don't

just skip to the end, but it basically will enable you to go, all right, well, this is the platform that makes the most sense to me because I wanted A, B, C, and D, and here it is on a platter so that I can make the right decision. Because working in Australia means that I can't just spoon feed you the information and say, this is the best platform. There's no such thing in reality because different things work for different people but I've taken you down the garden path so that you can work out what works for you and I think that it's something I'm really proud of to be honest it took a long time to get to that but genuinely hopefully by the end of it you have your investment plan and you should be very proud of it my girl can confirm it's bloody brilliant

Vy would you recommend it for new investors or people that like know a little bit or like how far along the journey should people be who are turning to this book? It is definitely for beginners and intermediate investors. I mean, if you're a really accomplished investor, you're probably going to go V, I know. But if you are a beginner or you're an intermediate investor, it doesn't matter if you've never invested before or you've been investing for a few years and you're just like, all right, well, I've been doing this, you know, this rodeo all by myself and I just want a better plan. I think that's where it would come in handy. But to be honest, I've tried to make it everything to everybody in a way, but in the investment space.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Brilliant. And would you say you need to read the first book first and then progress to investing with She's On The Money? Good question. Yes and no. Yes, because obviously I am a staunch advocate of doing your budget and your cash flow and getting your financial house in order before you invest. Like I want you to have those financial fundamentals and that's what She's On The Money is about. Investing with She's On The Money though can be read in isolation. I have read it so that you don't feel like you're coming into part two of a story you didn't understand right but it definitely is

more investment focused and i definitely recommend reading the first and then the second but if you don't want that then don't do it that's cool it'll still serve the purpose yes bloody brilliant all right v was there anything you wanted to add to today's episode i think it is time to wrap the boring but important stuff george king can you read it out of course i can please remember guys that the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision. And we promise Victoria Devine and She's on the Money are authorised representatives of In Focus Securities Australia,

Proprietary Limited, ABN 47097797049, AFSL 236523. See you on Friday, guys. Yes, you will. Bye, guys. Thanks for watching!