Weeks 8-9

Week 9 - 1-7 February

I'm a little behind in the posting. It was my birthday and my sister-in-law's birthday this week and my brother's belated bday celebration and my best friend's bday last week. Talk about crazy! And expensive.

So my budget's taken a beating again, so soon after holidays and Xmas. But I have been keeping up with the expense tracker and I did the figures for my partner and my combined wages. It's going to be wonderful to have the money coming into one bank account to use for living expenses and savings transferred into ING.

I found the lectures very informative but the Retirement section was a little scary to me. I am 41 years old and my superannuation fund at the moment leaves a lot to be desired. Therefore it is imperative for me and my partner to get a mortgage going and then start to add more funds to our super. It's a bit sad we'll be the first generation that don't have a pension and who can say what rules for super will be in place then? Being part of Gen X can be a curse sometimes.

Speaking of generations, there was an article in MX last week 29 Jan that talked about some Gen Y jobseekers having bad attitudes. HR Managing Director, Katherine Graham, says, "The majority come into interviews with a sense of entitlement, a sense that any employer would be privileged to have them". An article in today's Sunday Telegraph about a new book, NurtureShock, is challenging the role of "touchy-feely parenting" and how "over-praising can de-motivate children". I wonder if Gen Y's "bad attitudes" and sense of "privilege" stem from this. Of course, Gen X are just perfect in every way - ha har! (I'll refrain from asking the baby-boomers if they agree with this.) Whatever theory you believe in, I am glad AH is addressing some of these issues in the nicest possible way in his lecture slides from Week 3!

What I found most eye-opening this week was AH's comments about advisers and Australian attitudes toward them. I'm afraid I fell into the camp that didn't appreciate just how much time and effort went into financial planning. My friend, who is financially secure, has been using the same financial adviser for years and he has given her great advice. When I found out she pays him several thousand dollars a year, I baulked! However, working on my own plan, and listening to AH's slides and reading PC's book, I realise that this advice is potentially worth every cent! Once we have some savings behind us and are a year or so into our plan, we are going to seek an adviser to steer us through the financial waters!

All up, I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this course. I wish I had done the full semester instead of Summer School because I was so busy over that period and I would have like to have dedicated more time to studying each module. However, I am confident I will be able to apply the knowledge I have gained (a lot!) to secure myself and my partner a more financial future so we can enjoy a long and happy life.

Thanks, Andrew!

Week 8 - 25-31 January

I found the information about investments just fascinating. As I said in my last blog, I still don't have a handle on everything but it is all becoming so much more clear. There's an article in last year's Money August magazine where top financial planners have been asked for their wealth secrets. Pippa Elliott says to get off the renting treadmill - use a budget (tick!), reduce discretionary spending (tick!) and choose the appropriate savings account (tick). Lisa Faddy says to make your first million you need to invest regularly in shares, managed funds, property and superannuation - surprise, surprise! Sam Henderson suggests ways of stretching your retirement dollar by using a concession card and look into a possible reverse mortgage. Sean McGowan gives tips on recouping your losses by salary sacrificing, gearing, investing in capital growth, yield investments and assessing your risk - and I understood every word!

Managed funds still have me a little scared but I've been looking into several online factsheets. I did find a site that compares funds www.comparefunds.com.au and it has been very good. I am leaning towards BT and I don't know why. Is it because it is a name I am familiar with therefore I'm placing misguided trust into them? I see that Perpetual funds are listed there, too, but I used to work for Permanent Trustees...our natural enemy ha har! All sentiment and jokes aside, there needs to be a lot more research done before I invest any of our money into a fund.

My partner's mum gave me an article ripped from a magazine (no title in the headers) on Dawn Bolton-Smith. It talks about her extraordinary predictions and her impact on the financial world. I was interested in reading about her but I was more interested in the resources list they provided at the end - they listed Your Trading Magazine, Regina Meani's Investor's Guide, websites for market analysis, David Fuller's FullerMoney and the Finonacci online Newsletter. I am mindful of what both PC and AC say about trying to time the market but I'm not necessarily interested in doing that. I am finding it informative to see how people think they can do it. Fascinating stuff!

The funny thing is, I wouldn't have read these articles, not in a million years, prior to doing this course. Now I find myself going to the financial section of a newspaper first, being genuinely interested in financial magazines and online resources and excited about my financial future.

No mean feat, GENC3003!