Glen James - Sort Your Money Out

1 Cover

2 Title Page

3 Copyright First published in 2022 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064 Office also in Melbourne Typeset in FreightText Pro 11pt/15pt © John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2022 The moral rights of the author have been asserted ISBN: 978-0-730-39650-5 All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above. Cover design by Jason Knight, creative director of Brand Solved Front cover photo: David James Front cover and internal image (money in the air): © Cammeraydave/ Dreamstime.com p138: Coroner photo: © Elnur/Shutterstock Disclaimer The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication. This book contains general advice only. It does not contain or replace your own personal financial, taxation, legal or financial product advice.

4 Dedication I wish to acknowledge the Darkinjung people, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work, and pay respect to their elders past, present and emerging. I wish to extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who may read this book.

5 hi, I'm Glen! hi, I'm Glen! Congratulations on getting invested! This book might be your first investment: an investment into yourself and your understanding about money, mindset, behaviours and investing. Before we get into it, let me tell you a bit about me. I run a podcast called my millennial money . I'm a millennial so the language I use on the podcast is ‘millennial’. However, I believe the basic laws of money and investing don't discriminate and we can all learn about them and apply them to our lives and goals. This book is not for any specific age group, but I do use millennial talk a bit, so you'll come across terms such as TL;DR (too long; didn't read). The TL;DR section at the beginning of each chapter is for those of you who, like me, just want a list of points about what's in the chapter. In addition to my podcast, I also have a website called ‘Sort Your Money Out’. The website is home to the Glen James Spending Plan online course, which I mention in this book. It's a place where Australian podcast listeners and blog readers can go to be connected to trusted professionals (financial advisers, mortgage brokers, accountants and lawyers) when they need help. I also run a Facebook group called ‘my millennial money’ that you'd be welcome to join; it's a great community of like-minded people. Lastly, this book is not a textbook. Rather, it's a collection of my thoughts, and methods of doing things that I have seen over the years and have used myself. It's impossible to serve up individual financial advice about your own circumstances in a book or a podcast — that's why I am pro professional help for people at key moments in their life. I'm just here to encourage you and if that’s all you take from this book, I believe I've done my job. Over to you. Enjoy the read,

6 introduction Life On Own Terms (LOOT: my version of FIRE)

7 let's get this party started! 1 debt and how to get out of it Debt consolidation: a cautionary tale Good debt, bad debt and ‘life debt’ Car loans Your home mortgage My 5 steps to get out of debt HECS/HELP debt The truth about credit scores in Australia BNPL: Afterpay, Zip Pay, etc. Loans from family and friends Debt and mental health 2 get rich and make it rain: mindset and money The answer is not a lotto ticket So how do you get rich? Money mindset, habits and making them work together Business and leadership Maximise human capital and transfer it

8 can we fix it? yes, we can! 3 a sound financial house How did the sound financial house come about? Building your sound financial house Your emergency fund (cashed up) Wills and estate planning 4 budgets suck: setting up your spending plan Spender vs saver Budget types Lifestyle inflation Couples and money Singles and money Low-income earners My money hierarchy The Glen James Spending Plan Banks and bank accounts

9 getting invested 5 learn how to be the wolf of your own street Mindset of an investor: how to be great at investing Asset allocation and diversification Growth asset classes Defensive asset classes Cryptocurrency Risk it to get the biscuit Risk profiles 6 move over Warren Buffett, I'll take it from here Passive (index) vs active investment styles Building your portfolio: why diversification matters ‘Buying shares is just like gambling’ Mechanics of share investing Before you start investing Understanding fees and costs Start investing Basic taxation and dividend reinvesting Ethical investing Investing overseas Investment bonds (and investing for kids) Financial advisers and professional help Note 7 property and mortgages: how to pass go with a plan Key stakeholders Learning from other people's mistakes 8 steps for buying your first property Mortgages and lending Finding a mortgage broker

10 looking at important topics 8 superannuation: your first-ever investment account A tax-effective environment Investment options inside superannuation When should I add more money to superannuation? Superannuation investment options and fees Compare your own fund What investment option should you choose? How to get money out of superannuation Self-Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSF) 9 sex, drugs and insurance Life insurance Personal insurance General insurance

11 where to from here? Stay motivated Slow down and help others along the way Get personal help for your situation

12 money myths, hacks, luxury items and digital assets Money myths Money hacks Cryptocurrency, NFTs and digital real estate

13 disclosures

14 index

15 End User License Agreement

1 Chapter 4Table 4.1: the weekly spend accountTable 4.2: the cash hub accountTable 4.3: the GCHC accountTable 4.4: your incomeTable 4.5: setting up automatic transfers from your cash hub

2 Chapter 5Table 5.1: types of assetsTable 5.2: examples of risk profilesTable 5.3: balanced fund comparisons

3 Chapter 6Table 6.1: Vanguard product comparisonTable 6.2: international indexesTable 6.3: top 10 shares in the ASX 200Table 6.4: examples of index fundsTable 6.5: examples of active fundsTable 6.6: share price exampleTable 6.7: fees and what they meanTable 6.8: real fee exampleTable 6.9: Perpetual scoring methodologyTable 6.10: Perpetual Ethical SRI fund vs BetaShares Australian Sustainabili...

4 Chapter 8Table 8.1: salary sacrificingTable 8.2: comparison of super fundsTable 8.3: Hostplus comparison

1 Chapter 4Figure 4.1: Maslow's hierarchy of needsFigure 4.2: my money hierarchyFigure 4.3: my money hierarchy with examplesFigure 4.4: the Glen James Spending Plan bank structure

2 Chapter 5Figure 5.1: example of asset allocation returnFigure 5.2: a modern portfolio in actionFigure 5.3: annual return and asset allocation. If some is good, more isn't ...