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**hmd** · 27-12-09, 10:20 PM

Get the wife to work fulltime spend more on the 901 upgrades.
Life should be simple don't complicate it.

**Fishcop** · 27-12-09, 10:55 PM

If only!

**MrUpwey** · 31-12-09, 12:27 AM

John, make sure you have quality and adequate superannuation.......and always get 2nd or 3rd opinion on advice or recommendations given by financial adviser.

..............and consider investing in a little tax free haven down south here known as the "Gouldwil Benevolent Fund"

**IXXI72** · 31-12-09, 10:21 AM

Financial Advisors..... When someone with money meets someone wih experience & they swap!

Happy new year all

**Fishcop** · 31-12-09, 11:03 AM

Hmmm, a bit of a theme here

I've had some good advice through PMs (which pretty much paralleled the posted advice).

I guess I'll simply set some budget goals and see how I go...

**griffiths_r** · 31-12-09, 11:50 AM

there are some logical steps to take which any financial advisor should tell you:

1. INVESTMENT STRATEGY - pay down non-tax deductible debt (best 'investment' you can make). pay the expensive debt first (i.e. credit cards before mortgage). If you don't have any debt then maybe find a financial advisor for best use of your free cashflow (see point 2).

2. put money into super only to the extent that you can afford not to have the cash for the next 25 years. (i.e. at your stage of life I would suspect you would not be contributing more than the 9% compulsorary contribution your employer makes). you can't pull the money out of super to buy nappies and pay school fees, but you can sell shares.

3. start tracking your expenses (even just what goes in and out of your bank accounts) - best way to really work out how much you spend. once you know what you spend you can work out where you can make changes. anything else is guess work (and a financial advisor should want to know this as well).

just my simple 2 cents worth. and no i am not a financial advisor so all advice above is not to be relied upon for anything at anytime by anyone - just me being an opinionated person in finance...

**hmd** · 31-12-09, 12:10 PM

I work in the industry and Marcus' saying is not too far from the truth.

And some good advice from Rich particularly (1), depending on your top tax rate you almost have to make twice the return in your investment to have the same outcome as paying off your debt. For example let's say you pay 8% for your home loan you will need to find an investment that makes almost 16% to be worthwhile other than paying off your home loan. That's not to say all debt are bad, debt for investment that will appreciate is good and debt for non-essential consumptions is BAD. A 901 analogy would be debt to buy a collectable car that will appreciate in value is good and debt to put a couple of driving lights on the car is bad

**Fishcop** · 31-12-09, 12:38 PM

I think I'm about to have my 'midlife' event - there's no crisis, just a whole heap of changes

Having our little bloke has certainly caused me to take stock and I realise I've been working a bit too much and the result of the hard work is unlikely to make me any happier (or much better off). So I'm trying work out how to work to the minimum but still make ends meet etc...

I don't have any "bad" debt. I guess I just need to get advice on tax thresh-holds and strategies to minimise it

Sounds like I should just keep chippin' at the mortgage.

Ta

**griffiths_r** · 31-12-09, 01:43 PM

john

the only relatively 'good' debt is tax deductible. if you have a mortgage on your home and you can't deduct the interest, then you should absolutely keep chipping away at that rather than anything else.

really no better 'risk free' investment...

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