0:07

Hello and welcome to It All ends up the podcast where

0:09

we chat about money, how to get it, how to spend it

0:11

and how to invest it. I'm money editor Dom.

0:13

Powell, and I'm senior economics writer

0:15

Jess Irvine, and this is our final

0:17

episode of the year. Dom I can't

0:19

believe we've actually this is our 17th

0:22

episode. Time flies when you're having fun.

0:24

17 It feels a bit like I feel

0:26

that we should have finished it on a round number. Obviously

0:29

we didn't plan this very well, but

0:31

17 just feels like it's, it just sort of irks me

0:33

a bit. But seven it's a lot. We did a lot of episodes.

0:35

It's a bit random, but yes. No, there's been some

0:37

excellent if I do say so myself.

0:40

Episodes that we produced. Did you have a favorite

0:42

so far?

0:43

I think my favorite was the one we did on Hacks.

0:46

I really enjoyed doing that one. If you have a listen to it, go

0:48

back and listen to it. But I think it's

0:51

just sort of one of those things that we're in a very unique sort

0:53

of situation where inflation really

0:55

does matter if you hexed it. So talking

0:57

about it, thinking about it, I think is really important.

0:59

Yeah, my favorite one we've done so far was on

1:01

pay rises and I think it's a

1:03

sensitive topic for a lot of people. Nobody wants

1:05

to ask, but it's just so important

1:08

that you ask in the New year. And

1:10

we're taking a little break, but we're going to replay

1:12

over the summer some of our best

1:14

hits, including the next one and including

1:17

the pay rises ones. So you will still

1:19

be getting little snippets from us dropping

1:21

into your podcast feeds in the coming

1:24

weeks ahead while you're sunning yourselves

1:26

at the beach, hopefully. And

1:28

yeah, we're looking forward to reading some of those

1:30

for you.

1:31

Yeah, it's sort of sort of like a greatest hits,

1:33

you know, those so fresh CD's that everyone used to

1:35

get back in the day. It's like a so fresh hits

1:37

of hits of this podcast. 2022.

1:40

Yeah, it's probably a bit premature for our greatest hits of

1:42

all time. I don't think we've been going on.

1:44

No, no, I think it's fun. I think it's all right.

1:46

I think bands, bands are a great asset album for

1:48

being around for like, you know, five years. So. All

1:50

right, we're getting that this week. We're rounding

1:53

off 2022 with some advice to

1:55

get you prepared for next year and

1:57

thinking about what it sort of means to

1:59

sort of have, you know, to be financially successful

2:01

or maybe not even successful, just sort of financially

2:04

stable in in 2023. And

2:06

just what does that what does that mean to you when it sounds

2:09

what does that sort of concept look like when we're

2:11

going into the new year?

2:12

Yeah, I mean, many people would

2:14

think that's having a lot of money to

2:16

be financially successful. I just need

2:18

to have quite a lot of money. But for

2:20

me, it's sort of just I mean, it's something

2:22

that has evolved in my own life over the last

2:25

couple of years, but just having a sense

2:27

of being in financial control and

2:29

actually when they do sort of studies of wellbeing

2:32

next to, you know, having healthy relationships

2:34

and a sense of purpose in life, having a

2:37

sense of being in control of your money

2:39

is one of the major predictors of whether

2:41

a person is going to feel well

2:43

or not. So it's it's really important

2:45

and, you know, it's going to be

2:47

a stressful year for many

2:49

people. In 2023,

2:52

we've got the rising cost of living that

2:54

is still going to be an issue. And of course,

2:57

particularly for people with mortgages, we're

2:59

going to be hit in the face with a

3:01

lot of rate hikes, particularly if

3:03

you're on the fixed interest loans

3:06

as I am. My fixed rate expires

3:08

in June next year. So

3:10

I will be confronting

3:12

a doubling, if not more, in my interest

3:15

rate when that happens. So I

3:17

think I would just like for people to

3:19

think through in advance what some of the issues

3:21

are going to be around their finances and try

3:23

to get ahead of the game a little bit just so that you feel

3:26

in control of your finances?

3:29

Yeah. What does financial success mean

3:31

to you, Don?

3:32

Yeah, well, I think I'm sort of in the same boat. I think it's less

3:34

that around having a big lot of money,

3:36

though. Obviously that's nice. But, you

3:38

know, I think it's more just about not being

3:41

concerned or not being worried or at least

3:43

minimising your level of concern of

3:45

worry, worry about your finances and just sort of

3:48

being prepared for the

3:51

whatever, whatever the world throws at you. And by

3:53

by golly, is throwing a bit at us at the moment.

3:55

You know, there's, there's a little bit going on and has

3:58

been for a while. So I

4:00

think I think it's just more that sort of level

4:02

of stability that's that's sort of what it what

4:04

it means to me. And I think that's what we should all be aspiring

4:06

to or hoping to aspire to.

4:08

Yeah. And are you and New Year's resolutions

4:10

sort of person?

4:11

Look, not really. I have to say, every

4:14

now and again I think about making New Year's resolution.

4:16

But, you know, I just sort of I just sort of let it go.

4:19

I sort of go with the flow sort of guy.

4:20

You know.

4:21

This is the year into my yang,

4:24

which.

4:24

Is that I have rigorously.

4:26

Since I started writing at the Herald, I think been

4:28

set setting myself New Year's resolutions.

4:31

I once had a New Year's resolution that I was going

4:33

to save a dollar for

4:35

every for every dollar that I spent

4:37

or something. I was going to do a minute's exercise

4:40

or something. I have a sort of dual purpose

4:42

to sort of have health and money related.

4:44

So that's what that.

4:46

Seems to say to.

4:47

Me, like.

4:48

It was some sort of motivation

4:50

to get me to exercise or something.

4:53

It didn't like that. That was that would be.

4:55

So many minutes of exercise. Like,

4:58

obviously that's great if you could do that, that's amazing.

5:00

But like, say your mortgage is like, you know,

5:03

two grand or something. That's 2000. It's

5:05

an exercise.

5:06

Well, I mean, read.

5:07

That over a month. I don't know.

5:08

Yeah.

5:09

Then read everything else on top of that that you spent.

5:11

I don't know. It was.

5:13

It sounded admirable, Jess, but I think. I think

5:15

that might have been a bit far fetched.

5:16

Over the decades, that's evolved to this

5:18

year, My financial resolution was just

5:21

to track every dollar that I spent, and

5:23

I did that. So. And that is actually something

5:25

I've embedded into my lifestyle,

5:27

is just to be a tracker of where my money

5:29

is going. And that's actually my number

5:31

one strategy. And thank you for indulging

5:34

me and letting me kick off with

5:36

this one as our strategies for people,

5:38

because I think a lot of people would take

5:40

that is to Mickey Mouse. I'm beyond that.

5:43

I don't have time for that. I don't want to do that.

5:45

But I am. Having

5:47

said that, I'm just surprised since

5:49

I've been writing about tracking my spending, the

5:51

number of people and readers and listeners

5:54

who contact me go, Yeah, I've kept a

5:56

spreadsheet of every dollar I've spent since 1974.

5:59

You know, for some of our older listeners,

6:02

it's actually something that is quite

6:04

common to do. And if you are feeling

6:07

scared or worried about your finances for 2023,

6:10

just one really simple practical thing

6:12

you can do is to start to pay closer

6:14

attention to where your money is going. I

6:17

have my own spending tracker that

6:19

I use. You can find that through

6:21

my Instagram money with Jess play along

6:23

at home with. Exactly. I just have a sheet of

6:25

paper and I write down coffee for

6:27

dollars. You know, the utility

6:30

bill for water, which is quarterly,

6:32

you know, $250. And I

6:34

track everything. So I have that visibility

6:37

about where my money is going, and that helps

6:39

me to plan for where I want to go. And

6:41

that's been an absolute revelation for

6:43

me in my life. And that has given me that sense

6:46

of control that I think a lot of

6:48

people are going to be looking for in the year ahead

6:50

because things are moving quickly and

6:52

you're going to really need to be reviewing a lot of your

6:54

expenses to see if you can keep up, you know,

6:56

with the mortgage or whether it's the rent going

6:59

up. And, you know, I would just like

7:01

to be the person in the world who normalizes

7:03

that and just to go, yeah,

7:05

it can be as simple as track your spending,

7:07

find out where your money is going. And

7:10

lots of us are doing it. Not Don. No.

7:12

No. Here's the thing and

7:15

again on the into to Jess's yang on the

7:17

on the guy this is out here and it's not not budgeting

7:19

at all it's like shooting from the hip. Yeah I

7:22

look it's great because it means that we get to see

7:24

both sides of the coin. But I mean, that

7:26

being said, I lived this way. It

7:28

may not be the best way to live. I'm sure it's probably

7:31

better of you if you do actually think

7:33

about things and plan and budget things a bit more than

7:35

I do. I think that Jess's strategies

7:37

are well-worn and and seem quite,

7:39

quite good. So, you know. Yeah.

7:41

And you don't seem particularly stressed about your

7:43

money either. I think it's sort of if anyone is

7:45

feeling that agitation and fear, it's

7:47

sort of an exposure therapy thing about

7:50

just a way to steer your money in the face

7:52

of sort of if it's scaring you. Take

7:54

a little look.

7:55

Absolutely. And I think that sort of brings us

7:57

to the our second tip,

7:59

which is sort of around thinking about the

8:01

things that are coming up this year, namely

8:04

refinancing, because obviously, as

8:06

just mentioned, there's going to be a lot of people coming from fixed interest

8:08

rates to, you know, probably onto a

8:10

variable rate, which is going to be likely

8:12

to be a lot higher than their fixed rate.

8:14

So that will be sort of

8:16

a cascading effect for a lot of people. There's this

8:18

sort of talk of this fixed interest rate cliff,

8:21

which we are approaching and will approach in

8:23

2023. So I think the best

8:25

idea for that for anyone that's sort of in that boat

8:27

is just to get ahead of it and really think about it well

8:29

in advance, probably at least two months before

8:31

your fixed period expires and

8:34

have a bit of a look around and all those there's many, many,

8:36

many comparison websites where you can sort

8:38

of look at the best deals and the best offers

8:40

and think about what sort

8:42

of variable rate you're going to move on to

8:44

and what sort of benefits you can get. Like, you

8:46

know, there always there are always people out there offering

8:48

big packages of cash. Cashback offers a

8:50

very popular and have become increasingly

8:53

more popular as lenders have been sort of fighting for

8:56

for people's money in people's business. So

8:58

definitely some things to look in the into the

9:01

just.

9:01

Yeah and one of the trends that seems to be

9:03

becoming entrenched and I think will continue

9:05

for 2023 is

9:08

the banks are sort of not too

9:10

backwards in coming forward and saying, you know,

9:12

they are offering lower interest

9:14

rates to attract new customers. So the

9:16

new customer variable rates are lower

9:18

than the existing customer variable

9:20

rates. You know, the incentive,

9:22

they are trying to steal customers from

9:24

each other. And if you can

9:26

put yourself through the effort of refinancing

9:29

and it can be a bit of can be a bit of a

9:31

hassle depending on how complex your situation

9:33

is. But there will be cheaper

9:35

rates for new customers. And the best way to

9:37

get them is to become a new customer.

9:39

I, I have a sort of I don't endorse

9:42

anyone, but I do like to look at there's

9:44

an online only lender called Tick tock

9:46

not tick tock the queue

9:49

for the kids, which I'm on by

9:51

the way but TikTok

9:55

and I was just check what they're variable rate they've

9:57

got a 4.61% comparison

10:00

rate offer with

10:02

with a mortgage offset and

10:04

I. Like to check in. So if you're sitting

10:06

there and your mortgage rate is already at a five

10:09

plus, do just

10:11

know that there's probably some cheaper rates for you. Another

10:13

one that came up I looked on right city

10:15

dot com Heritage bank was

10:17

offering 4.69% going into

10:19

Christmas plus the $3,000 cash back

10:22

not endorsing any of those but just to let you know

10:24

there's banks this heaps of lenders out there

10:26

and probably ones you've never heard of before and

10:28

this is the time to go looking for

10:31

for a better deal. And with

10:33

a note that some people are going to find that difficult

10:35

because they will have seen the equity

10:38

that they have in their home decline with

10:40

house prices. So if you've gone over

10:42

that 80%, Elvia, because

10:44

house prices have come down, it

10:46

may be more difficult for you to refinance because you might

10:48

be paying Lynda's mortgage insurance when you do.

10:51

So for people who are sort of in that situation

10:53

are stuck. The best piece

10:55

of advice I can offer you is if you're negotiating

10:57

with your current lender, just ring

10:59

them up and say, you know, don't mention about

11:01

the LVR stuff because they wouldn't figure that out

11:03

until the sort of mortgage application process

11:06

where they would value your property just sort

11:08

of come in strong and ask for a mortgage

11:10

discharge form, which is the magic

11:12

words these days. That's the form that tells them

11:15

that you're very serious about switching to another

11:17

bank and see how you

11:19

go with that. But it is going to be more difficult

11:21

for people who who've recently bought

11:23

and the value of their property has come down.

11:25

So they haven't quite got as much equity.

11:28

So refinancing is going to be difficult, but yet about

11:30

two months out from when you fix is ending, that's

11:32

when you want to be thinking in 2023

11:34

about refinancing.

11:36

Yeah, you've got to scare those banks, you know.

11:39

You've got to play the game, but you know, keep.

11:41

Them on their toes. They keep us on their on

11:43

our toes. So, you know, you should. Yeah.

11:45

Yeah. Like he's, he's sort of scary. You

11:47

call them often like, oh, when a malicious judge,

11:50

when you know, who knows what'll happen. Maybe they'll offer

11:52

you a big fat wad of cash to to stay that happen

11:54

to my sister and she ended up staying with the lender that she

11:56

was already with. So.

11:57

You know, getting cash back to stay

11:59

with your existing lender.

12:00

It's insane. Like they just so desperate to

12:02

keep people on the books that they

12:05

will they will go to the ends of the earth. Well,

12:07

not quite. But, you know, they will

12:09

do a lot to keep you around. So it's definitely worth milking

12:11

that.

12:12

Yes. Ask number

12:14

three strategy for 2023

12:17

is to review your insurances.

12:19

And people ask me like, oh, yes, I need to

12:21

save some money because interest rates are going up. And I say

12:24

review your insurances. And they say,

12:26

what about another tip? Because that sounds

12:28

really boring, but

12:30

this is actually a great time of year. We've

12:32

got a little bit more time on our hands,

12:34

you know, do spend a lot of time at the beach.

12:36

But if you've got an extra hour or so to

12:39

call up your insurance company. So

12:41

I'm thinking your car insurance,

12:43

your home insurance, your health

12:46

insurance, and then if you've got any

12:48

forms of the life insurance TPD

12:51

and sort of income protection insurance, make

12:54

sure that you know at least what you are

12:56

and are not covered for. And

12:58

know that if you do sort of scale back

13:01

some of the coverage in ways that you're comfortable

13:03

with that will reduce your premiums.

13:05

So just having a look at each

13:07

of those insurance policies, you know, reading

13:10

some of the finer details because,

13:12

you know, we talk about, you know, don't drink coffee

13:14

or don't, you know, your Netflix subscription.

13:17

But if you want to save sort of in the tens

13:19

to hundreds of dollars per year,

13:22

your insurance contracts are

13:24

one of the best places to start for

13:26

some of the more substantial savings.

13:28

So you might be able to keep your coffee and, you

13:30

know, keep your Netflix if you

13:32

sort of maybe look at your car

13:34

insurance and, you know, increase the excess

13:37

on that perhaps, which is

13:39

a strategy I love, which means you're more exposed

13:42

to paying the higher excess out-of-pocket in

13:44

the event that you do make a claim, but it makes your premiums

13:46

cheaper. So particularly if you're someone with a bit

13:48

of cash set aside to cover, you

13:51

know, a rainy day expense like that, and

13:53

you can afford to pay the higher excesses

13:56

that's going to save you. It's going to help your

13:58

cash flow in the in the

14:00

immediate term. So that

14:02

can be a really great strategy for saving, I

14:04

reckon.

14:04

And again, look, you could even do this while you're at the beach.

14:07

Pick up the phone and just give them

14:09

a call. Get on the blower, go talk to

14:11

your insurer and see what they'll offer you and see what they'll

14:13

do for you. Because again, everyone's everyone's

14:15

in the same sort of boat and there's deals out there that you can

14:17

get that may not be immediately obvious. So

14:20

getting on the phone underrated I'd say

14:23

in in 2022. Yeah.

14:24

And legit to say I don't have

14:26

enough money. I'm feeling the cost of living

14:28

pressure and just come at it fairly

14:31

directly and I think that's totally fine. There's no

14:33

shame in that. We're all feeling that go

14:35

go for it and just haven't got the money to afford

14:37

this. How can I make this cheaper? And they

14:39

might come up with some strategies for you or

14:41

just a better deal.

14:43

Yeah, absolutely. And my,

14:45

my fourth tip is sort of a bit of a crusade

14:47

I've been on during the course of these 17

14:50

podcast episodes, which is making life easier for

14:52

yourself through technology

14:54

and other things. I've said this

14:56

a number of times. Regular listeners

14:59

will know this. I have

15:01

like a bank app I'm with like a new fangled

15:03

digital bank. It's. It's made

15:05

banking is made my finances like far,

15:08

far easier. And I know that there are people

15:10

out there who are still sort of with, you know,

15:12

that whatever bank they've been with for 30

15:14

years and their parents or whatever. It's

15:17

not that hard to switch banks. It's really

15:19

not that hard. You have to it does take a little bit of

15:21

a bit of time, but it is worth doing because

15:24

sometimes this the quality

15:26

of life that you will get from a newer

15:28

bank or perhaps a different bank

15:30

with some sort of newer technology, like there's loads

15:32

of them out there. It's just it's

15:35

just so good. It's so good.

15:37

This happened with my super fund recently.

15:39

I switched super funds and

15:41

I didn't realize what I was missing out because the new

15:43

fund has like an app where I can check my

15:46

balance. I used to have to log in through a web browser

15:48

and see in it, and it tells me

15:50

and maps my, you know, past contributions.

15:53

And it's just a lot better.

15:54

Yeah, absolutely. And this is you.

15:56

Don't know until you switch and see what

15:58

else is around.

15:59

And this is happening across the board, like I'm talking

16:01

about the bank banking app because obviously

16:03

I use it every day and it's very front of mind. But like pretty

16:06

much every single thing that

16:08

may like, you know, look at anything in

16:10

your life that you may have been using for a very long

16:12

time or been with for ages. And just

16:14

think about ways that maybe, oh, maybe

16:16

there's a better way to do this, or maybe there's a new way to do this,

16:18

especially with something to do with your finances. Like,

16:21

it's almost like it's like disrupting yourself. If

16:23

we're going to use some real Silicon Valley sort of, you know,

16:25

terminology here. But it is quite literally

16:27

just like think about anything where you might

16:29

be able to improve your quality of life, because

16:31

that's a big part of, you know, finance

16:34

and and getting more on top of your finances.

16:36

If it's easy to do, you're going to be more likely to

16:38

do it. So and and

16:40

this is like, you know, this can be as easy

16:42

as something like, you know, there's apps that make it

16:44

easy to split expenses with friends, you

16:46

know, or petrol spy, which we've

16:48

spoken a few times about, which helps you

16:50

sort of find all the cheap petrol around you. Like just

16:53

little things like that. Like that's the sort of stuff that's

16:55

going to make 2023 more manageable

16:57

for you because it's just small and incidental

17:00

but can actually make a

17:02

big difference in the long run.

17:03

Yeah, I never fill up the tank without checking

17:06

the petrol app for in New South Wales,

17:08

Fuel check is the one you want and it's just

17:10

creating those new behavioural

17:12

habits for yourself that you know, I'm a person

17:14

who checks a petrol price out before

17:16

I fill up and you know, it does require

17:18

new ways of thinking, particularly if you're not

17:20

across all the technology, but you

17:23

know, it is well worth sort of getting

17:25

a little bit uncomfortable by, you know, and another

17:27

one I like now using is cashback

17:30

sites like Shopback Cash Rewards.

17:32

It's an extra step in your life, but one

17:34

that will make it a lot better if you can get your

17:36

head around. And I just use I

17:38

bought like ten something that was $10

17:40

and got sort of $0.20 back on a cashback

17:42

up. But it's just teaching me. It's a learning

17:45

curve of to how I can get those savings

17:48

and yeah, but just maybe

17:50

committing to try one of those new apps

17:52

or downloading, you know, the petrol

17:54

price app in your, in your state is awesome. It's

17:57

well worth it.

17:58

Yeah. And when in doubt talk to Zuma.

18:00

Talk to someone under the age of 25 because they'll

18:02

have it all sorted out and no.

18:04

Sooner is that.

18:05

I think so.

18:06

Is that a thing?

18:07

Because I like I'm 26. I know I'm right

18:09

on the edge of being a part of

18:11

being a millennial. And I think the next generation is gen-z

18:14

or zoomers. So.

18:15

Oh, we're calling that Zuma.

18:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

18:19

Exactly. So talk to some it turns

18:21

out under the age 25 because they will have it sorted out. They

18:23

will.

18:24

Cost a young person.

18:25

On the side. Scuse me,

18:27

young fellow. How do you do

18:29

your finances? Um.

18:32

Yeah, the kids, they're pretty savvy. They know

18:34

what's.

18:34

They know what's going on. And like, just as a final

18:36

point around this off, this also extends to things like concessions

18:39

and rebates, which which we talked

18:41

about in the past. But there are many of them out there, and

18:43

especially with the energy price sort

18:46

of debacle that's going on, it looks like there will be more

18:49

rebates and concessions available for people

18:52

next year. So definitely keep on top of that. And

18:54

I believe even in Victoria they have reintroducing the

18:56

$250 energy rebate

18:58

for next year as well. So that's something that Victorians

19:01

look out for.

19:01

And so finally, just number five to

19:04

say that this is a really good time

19:06

to rest and reflect

19:08

and think about your goals and

19:11

reset your thinking. You know,

19:13

about many things, but including money.

19:15

So having some sort of idea of what

19:17

you want the New Year to

19:19

look for for you, or it

19:21

could even be as simple as sort of how

19:23

do I want to feel about money in

19:25

the new year or how do I currently

19:27

feel at the end of this year? Probably

19:30

spend a bit too much on Christmas or

19:32

but just being aware of

19:34

what sort of relationship you you have

19:36

with money. Because I think, you

19:38

know, going into 2023 is

19:40

going to be a more difficult year

19:42

for people financially. I think that's

19:44

fair to say across the board.

19:47

So having a little moment to to

19:49

rest and reflect whether you actually want to set a New

19:51

Year's resolution, I'm not actually not

19:53

going to set a money related use

19:55

resolution. I actually do them by financial year

19:57

because I love to have two New Year's every year and

20:00

it.

20:01

Seems more appropriate to think.

20:02

About money via financial years.

20:03

But that's. Suggesting to do

20:06

this just.

20:06

Like.

20:08

Your parody of yourself. Just.

20:09

But I do. But these sort of turning

20:12

points in the calendar year,

20:14

I do love to break up time into

20:16

sort of nice, easily measurable things.

20:19

And I think there is a new year effect

20:22

where you can sort of surf it for a little while.

20:24

Maybe it doesn't last forever, but at least sort of saying,

20:26

I want to have a new relationship with money.

20:28

I want to feel better about money

20:31

in the new Year. What's one of the one tips

20:33

I heard on the podcast that I will commit to

20:36

in 2023?

20:37

Yeah, and I think this

20:39

year a lot of people were shocked and

20:41

were quite surprised by the cost of living crunch.

20:43

Obviously war in Ukraine and stuff

20:45

that sort of came out of nowhere and people were sort

20:47

of a bit unprepared. But I think now that we're in

20:50

this environment that we've been in for the past nine

20:52

or so months, it makes it a little

20:54

bit easier to sort of prepare for it and

20:56

think about it. And I think that's what is it's

20:58

a good time to do over this sort of sort

21:00

of end of year break, obviously, take some time

21:03

off, have a great time. You know, enjoy

21:05

your time with your loved ones. Don't worry

21:07

too much about money because that's what Christmas is for.

21:10

But then, you know, it is also a great time to sort of

21:12

think about, you know, get yourself prepared

21:15

for energy bill rises,

21:17

interest rate rises, all those sort of terrible

21:19

things that we're not going to look forward to at all when

21:21

they come through next year. But the more sort

21:23

of steeled you are for the the

21:25

better it will be rather than this year where it sort of came

21:28

out of nowhere like a freight train.

21:29

Yeah. And I think what's kind of nice about it

21:31

is we're all in the same boat. It's

21:34

actually yeah, it is across the board, these

21:36

pressures. We're all going to be going into 2023

21:39

feeling a little bit. A little bit. I'm

21:41

a little bit nervous about when my mortgage

21:43

interest rate rolls off. Yeah.

21:45

So just to feel like you're not alone in

21:47

it. And it is, it's something that we are all going

21:49

to have to pay a little bit more attention to

21:52

in the new year. And yeah, I agree. Everyone

21:54

have a have a great break over

21:56

summer. Hopefully you can get some time off

21:59

and we'll be back in 2023

22:01

to help everyone with more financial tips

22:04

and strategies so you won't be alone

22:06

will be will be freaking out right next to you.

22:08

Exactly. And for

22:10

our final listener question of the year,

22:13

this one's from Zac, and it is for Jess.

22:15

So I'm going to bow out of this one. But I'll, I'll,

22:17

I'll, I'll posit, which

22:20

is about solar panels. So Zach wants

22:22

to know how you would invest evaluate

22:25

solar panels as an investment. He thinks

22:27

that $1,000 a year annual savings

22:29

on your electricity bill on an on a $9,000

22:32

investment is a pretty good return

22:34

and might be a better return than

22:36

anything else you could invest in at the moment, such

22:39

as equities or cash or anything along those lines.

22:42

He wants to know Cassandra, He just has done the

22:44

research from this. What's the cash?

22:46

You know, what's the what's the bad thing here?

22:48

Like, does this solar panels a good

22:50

investment to make money on or not?

22:52

Yeah, well, if you are in the fortunate position

22:54

of sort of having nine to 10 to

22:56

$11000 sitting around, this is really something

22:59

for people to think about over summer. As you're

23:01

switching on your air conditioning, you have

23:03

to think about, you know, what sort of dollar return

23:05

will you get on your money. So you've

23:07

got to have that outlay. You're going to save a certain

23:10

amount on your electricity bill because

23:12

you know, you're getting feed in tariffs by

23:14

putting money back into the grid. And you're also,

23:17

you know, getting free energy from the sun when you use it.

23:19

So I did do the sums on this recently.

23:21

If you Google my name just so on and

23:23

solar panels, you'll you'll find that. But

23:26

it is saving money is

23:28

great. Not spending money is

23:30

a great investment in a way because

23:32

if you compare that so you've dollar you know

23:34

you get your you spend your $9,000,

23:36

maybe you get $1,000 every year in savings

23:39

on your bill, you know, and about 10

23:41

to 11% return. That's true. Maybe

23:43

you think I'm going to go invest that dollar

23:45

in the share market and then you'll

23:48

get a percentage return. It's incredibly

23:50

volatile and you have to pay tax

23:52

on the earnings. So

23:54

that's something to keep in mind. So and then

23:57

maybe you could have the money sitting in the offset

23:59

account. That is another way of

24:01

just saving money because you're not going

24:03

to pay as much interest on

24:06

your loan because you've got the extra dollar

24:08

sitting there. So that's also

24:10

a great strategy, but yet finding

24:13

a way where it's just going to cut your costs

24:15

out of pocket in

24:17

an ongoing sense. That could be

24:20

a great thing for a lot of people

24:22

to do. If the caveat

24:24

being if you've got the $10,000 or

24:26

so that's going to cost you to install the

24:28

solar panels. So yeah, I think the tax

24:30

it's the tax thing that really when you comparing

24:32

it with alternative uses of your money and even putting

24:35

money in a 4%, you know, savings

24:37

account, you're going to pay tax on

24:39

any earnings that you get on that. And particularly

24:41

for high income earners, if you're at a higher marginal

24:43

rate that starts to get you know, you

24:46

get a lesser return because you're paying losing

24:48

more of that on tax. So, yeah, there's nothing

24:50

like a quick, you know, saving

24:53

an expense. Cutting an expense is another

24:55

way of investing money if it does

24:57

make sense. And I think

24:59

there's that is something definitely worth

25:01

thinking about. And I don't think you're missing anything

25:04

there that. That could just be a really good

25:06

saving if people have have that sort

25:08

of disposable cash around.

25:09

Yeah, And it's I think it's also worth thinking about,

25:11

you know, how long are you going to be in the place that you going to put the panels

25:13

on? You know, I would love to have solar panels

25:16

on my apartment despite the fact that I'd

25:18

need to get the approval of the other 13 people

25:20

that live in the block. But, you know, I'm probably

25:22

only going to be there for maybe another five ish or

25:24

more years sort of thing. So like, therefore, it's

25:26

not worth it. So I think there's there's a lot of things to take into account.

25:28

But, you know, yeah, I'd do

25:30

it if I could.

25:31

Yeah. Solar panel advocates do say that

25:33

if you do install them, it will increase, it will

25:35

increase the sale price of your home. So I'm not

25:37

sure if that.

25:38

Is true or not that that.

25:40

Might be a bit of a line, but

25:42

yeah, definitely worth investigating.

25:44

And lastly, a budget

25:46

tip. Just bring us bring us into

25:48

the end of the year. Sleigh bells ringing,

25:52

carols, caroling. Well,

25:54

what is it? What's your what's your festive budget tip?

25:56

Well, maybe, you know, you're at your Christmas

25:58

party. You've had a wonderful time. You should definitely not

26:00

drive yourself home. And I want everyone to

26:02

get home safely this Christmas. One

26:05

of my tips is to mix

26:07

up your ride share app. So

26:09

I feel like Uber has become like Google versus

26:12

I'm going to Uber, you know, I'm going to Google something

26:14

and you've you've forgotten that there's actually competitors

26:17

to Uber. So I actually use Didi

26:19

for the first time in the last couple of months.

26:22

And there's also Ola and Lyft

26:24

l y left. You know, they're not

26:26

in every single area of Australia, but it's well

26:29

worth having a Google. And just it's

26:31

another one of those habitual things, you know, you think,

26:33

I've got to get myself home, I'll just

26:36

get an Uber. Remember that there

26:38

are competitors and if you Google

26:40

Didi and $20

26:42

voucher or even just a voucher,

26:44

I guarantee you will get to a website

26:46

where you can get at least $20 off your

26:48

first drive, which might get you home from your Christmas

26:51

party this year. So

26:53

yeah, don't forget to shop around on absolutely

26:55

everything, including Rideshares.

26:58

And here's my supplementary budget tip, which

27:00

is don't forget about taxis. I go to

27:02

taxi the other day because sometimes you

27:04

go into you go going to Uber or your Didi or

27:06

whatever, and it's surging and it's like, you know, $80

27:09

to get you home or something ridiculous. But you

27:11

can stand on the street and hail a cab. That's still something

27:13

you can do in like the middle of the city or something,

27:15

you know, similar to that. And

27:18

it's usually cheaper. And they can't surge

27:20

price.

27:20

They do night time.

27:22

So they do they do that. But like, it'll

27:24

be like a flat thing. And, you

27:26

know, often they're

27:28

pretty, pretty good experience. But, you know,

27:30

there is the caveat that the taxis can

27:32

sometimes be a little bit dodgy.

27:34

But, you know, we want we want, you know, domain

27:37

domain not.

27:38

To be just place. It is. It is. It is.

27:40

I think this is.

27:40

A good time to call it taxi. This

27:43

is the end of the episode.

27:44

It I'm hailing the end

27:46

of the episode.

27:48

The Christmas party is over. I

27:50

hope everyone does have a great break. And as

27:52

as we say, look out for our summer series

27:54

of our greatest hits. Still

27:56

hitting your podcast players while we're on

27:58

hiatus.

27:59

Yes. And we'll be back in the first week

28:01

of February. Hopefully

28:03

we'll have some juicy new tips. Well,

28:06

no, not hopefully we will have some juicy new tips

28:08

and there'll be all sorts of things going

28:10

on that we'll be able to talk about for for the new year.

28:12

So I hope everyone has a lovely break and

28:15

we'll see you next year.

28:16

See you next year.

28:21

This episode of It All Adds Up was produced by Julia

28:23

Carl KASELL. The information discussed

28:25

is general in nature and does not take into account

28:27

your personal financial situation, goals

28:29

or objectives. You should always do your own

28:31

research well, get professional advice before making

28:34

any major financial decisions. If

28:36

you like today's episode, hit follow a new podcast

28:38

app. Leave a review and recommend it to all your

28:40

friends. You can also submit your listener questions

28:43

in text or audio form, and

28:45

it all adds up at 9:00 pm today.

28:48

Thanks for listening.