Latest / The Curve / Low Maintenance Investing with Bryce & Alec from Equity Mates (from the archives).

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Low Maintenance Investing with Bryce & Alec from Equity Mates (from the archives). · The Curve

• 0:00
  Welcome to Raisin the Curve, a podcast designed to teach you everything that you need to know to be better with your money.
• 0:06
  Come and learn alongside me, Sophie Hallwright, a total beginner from the finance expert Victoria Harris.
• 0:12
  So I've asked all of the questions you wish you could so that finance, investing and growing your wealth actually makes sense.
• 0:18
  Yes, it's expert education, but with promise will not be boring. And in the wise words of sheer...
• 0:22
  My mom said to me, you know sweetheart, one day you should settle down and marry a rich man.
• 0:28
  My mom, I am a rich man. Come and talk and learn and laugh with us because together we really can raise the curve.
• 0:34
  Okay, we don't often get guys on the podcast. It's no secret that this podcast is basically by woman for learn, but you know what?
• 0:44
  There's actually quite a few guys starting to listen, which is kind of fun to be honest.
• 0:48
  And this is a conversation we had two years ago. They were the first guys to ever speak on this podcast.
• 0:56
  I'm pretty sure at the start of this episode I might have tried to flirt with one of them, but he was getting married, is now married.
• 1:08
  And this is completely irrelevant to the entire podcast conversation, but I would just like to excuse the awkwardness at the start of this.
• 1:14
  It was a really awesome episode, particularly if you're a beginner.
• 1:18
  If you are in your 20s and you're thinking, I need to be investing, but I don't really know how and I want tangible, easy takeaways.
• 1:28
  Both of these guys share how and what they invest in, which actually predominantly is things like indexes and ETFs, which if you don't know what that is, don't stress because they explain it.
• 1:39
  The main thing they speak about is your 20s is your golden years. This is your chance to invest while you don't have kids, while you don't have a house, while you don't have loans and all the scary things.
• 1:51
  So actually, if you are thinking maybe you're a uni student and you're like, even if I just put a little bit aside, that might be quite good.
• 1:58
  This is a really good episode.
• 2:00
  The other thing is if you started this year thinking, this is my year, I'm going to be so good at investing.
• 2:05
  I'm going to just, you came out of the gate, it's like, I was going to say a bull on heat, but that's not a phrase I don't think.
• 2:12
  If you came out of the gate, it's real strong and you're falling off the bandwagon.
• 2:16
  This is going to motivate you to get back on track.
• 2:19
  So we hope you enjoy. This is Alec and Bryce from Equity Mates and it is one from the Archives.
• 2:27
  Now obviously you're our two first male guests.
• 2:33
  We've got a very female dominated audience and we just need to know love life.
• 2:38
  Either of you single anyone on the market, we just need to get that out of the way before we get going until your finance chat.
• 2:44
  I'm liking this episode.
• 2:47
  I am married. I got married in October last year.
• 2:52
  That's one down.
• 2:55
  Oh gosh.
• 2:57
  I'm not married.
• 2:59
  Alec is single.
• 3:01
  No, I'm not single. I've been dating my partner for about two years.
• 3:05
  That's all serious.
• 3:06
  The international voice is telling me it's a no for everyone listening.
• 3:10
  We're going to interview some more males on the podcast.
• 3:13
  And the podcast is done. Thanks so much for joining us.
• 3:18
  No, in all seriousness we are really excited to talk to you.
• 3:21
  So we've been really loving your content.
• 3:23
  I think one particular thing that I saw you speaking about recently was like the lifestyle creep.
• 3:28
  And I was kind of interested in hearing about this from like a more holistic standpoint in terms of how you speak to your audience about that.
• 3:36
  Because I loved the term lifestyle creeping.
• 3:39
  And for anyone that doesn't know, they're basically referring to the idea of you getting more money,
• 3:44
  like not investing any more of that.
• 3:47
  And I'd love to hear your explanation and maybe what you tell your audience in terms of how they can avoid doing that.
• 3:54
  So for me, lifestyle creep, I mean, Ren and I talk a lot on the show about the power of getting as much money into the market as early as possible
• 4:01
  and letting the beauty of compounding do its thing.
• 4:04
  Speaking my language.
• 4:06
  Sorry.
• 4:08
  There are ways that you can get more money in the market and one of those is to earn more income.
• 4:13
  But we've seen from experience through friends and it's a lesson that was kind of drilled into me for my parents as well is that it's very easy to spend more as you earn more.
• 4:24
  And for us, the message is very much if you're getting a pay rise, if you're getting a bonus, there is huge advantage in being able to maintain a lifestyle that is comfortable to you
• 4:37
  and investing all of that incremental amount as much and as early as possible.
• 4:42
  I think it's a really important message. It's very hard to do because if you're, I think particularly out of uni for me, it was as well.
• 4:48
  Like we're living on very low income.
• 4:51
  So when you get that paycheck and the pay rise, it's hard not to kind of increase your spending.
• 4:57
  But I think as you get older, you can, I guess, learn to budget a little bit more.
• 5:02
  Yeah, for us, it's all about getting money in early, getting as much as possible and trying to avoid the feeling of getting a pay rise and then spending that pay rise.
• 5:12
  Oh, I can, you know, afford to have more pay more rent. Oh, I can afford to get an extra subscription. Oh, I can afford to go out dinner twice a week rather than once a week.
• 5:23
  All of that is obviously possible because you probably can afford it. You should be thinking about it from, oh, I can not afford this and in 40 years, I'm going to be loaded.
• 5:32
  I think the other thing to keep in mind is, you know, we, so I'm 30 prices 31 and you mid to late 20s is this perfect time in your life when you're working and you're earning a full time salary.
• 5:46
  You don't have any of the costs that are coming. Most of us don't have a mortgage. Most of us don't have kids.
• 5:53
  And so you've got this golden window where you can really spend less than you earn and start investing.
• 6:01
  And we're going to lose that opportunity very quickly. Kids are expensive, housing is expensive. Life is expensive.
• 6:07
  And avoiding lifestyle creep when you're young means you can take advantage of that opportunity and get started because I imagine I don't have kids yet, but I imagine it's going to be a lot harder to spend less than I earn once I have kids as well.
• 6:21
  So speaking of age, you said 30 and 31. Have you both been investing for a long time? How did equity mates actually start? Did you guys will you both like uni friends and, you know, started investing really early would love to kind of hear how you came up with the idea and when you sell it investing.
• 6:39
  So Bryson, I have the complete opposite investing stories. Bryson is the textbook version of what you should do and if there are any parents out there, how you should take your kids.
• 6:50
  Well, see like a five-year-old investing at Betty Wilde.
• 6:55
  He looks like he looks like.
• 6:59
  Well, yeah, so at five.
• 7:02
  Holy shit, you damn it.
• 7:05
  Damn, I thought I was good. Damn it.
• 7:08
  I was in markets at five, but I started learning the lesson. My parents sat me down and said, we're going to give you $1.50 a week, I think, or a month or something like that.
• 7:20
  And that dollar 50 needs to be split three ways 50 cents into spending 50 cents into saving 50 cents into investing.
• 7:28
  Of course, I had no idea about the investing all of that stuff, but that 50 cents was saved until I got the $500 required to buy your first packet of shares, which to be fair was when I was like in year seven because it took me ages to save 50 cents a week.
• 7:49
  But the point was that I was putting a money away every paycheck to invest.
• 7:54
  And then I hit 500 and we bought a listed investment company and that really formed how I think about money and think about investing.
• 8:03
  The habit of putting money away every time you paid regardless of the amount 50 cents, $500 was what was the lesson that was instilled in me.
• 8:15
  That was my journey of starting to invest. I didn't know what I was investing in. Dad kind of did that and then he instilled in me the idea of a world-versified portfolio of stocks, which was why we did a listed investment company.
• 8:28
  That's amazing.
• 8:29
  Price was so disciplined with money.
• 8:32
  So that's the investing bucket. Then there was the saving bucket and you wanted a drunk it and you literally worked at the local KFC until you had the exact amount you needed to buy the drunk it to the bottom.
• 8:44
  Oh my god, I love that little price. How cute was he?
• 8:47
  Like the money lessons that Bryce learnt as a kid are the money lessons that you should teach your kid. Me on the other hand, I grew up with family where my parents never learnt about investing in the stock market.
• 8:58
  So I never learnt growing up for them and for so many of our parents and for people our age, you build wealth by saving, getting a down payment, buying a house, paying off that mortgage over 30 years and hoping that the New Zealand and the Australian property market continues to do its thing.
• 9:14
  And so I met Bryce at uni and he really opened my eyes to the stock market, but we were dumb uni students and we thought we were so overconfident.
• 9:26
  We thought reading a couple of pages of the Australian financial review was all you needed to do.
• 9:31
  I saved up my first $1,000 working part time jobs at uni and invested it all in one company, Slater and Gordon, which promptly went to zero.
• 9:42
  Even I know that's a bad idea.
• 9:45
  And I lost so much money that I couldn't even sell the shares because they wouldn't cover the brokerage cost of selling them.
• 9:53
  I think I had $12 left and Consec at the time was charging $19.95 in brokerage. So Slater and Gordon sat in my brokerage account for years as a reminder that I'm not very good at this.
• 10:06
  Quite amazing that you are still investing. That would have put off so many people and they would have been like, no, I've had my time for sure.
• 10:14
  I think being a naively overconfident uni student is a double-edged sword. It was the reason that I lost all that money to begin with.
• 10:23
  But it was also the reason that I thought, no, I can figure this out still and had another crack and had a crack after that.
• 10:29
  How much did you put a net company?
• 10:31
  $1,000.
• 10:32
  Oh, which at the time would have been a lot.
• 10:34
  It was one of the top companies in the fund that I managed as well.
• 10:38
  And we doubled down with it. Yes, Slater and Gordon. And we doubled down as well.
• 10:43
  Can I have some context? Who has this company?
• 10:45
  So I've got it.
• 10:46
  It's a law firm.
• 10:47
  And they bought another law firm which was like multiples of size in the UK.
• 10:51
  And it's kind of like a small company eating a big company and like should hit the fan, shed it out and it was no good.
• 10:56
  It was like always other things and they do a whole bunch of work.
• 11:03
  But a lot of law firms are like, no, no way, no fee.
• 11:07
  And Slater and Gordon were booking the work that they were doing as revenue.
• 11:11
  Even if they didn't win, they wouldn't get any money.
• 11:14
  And so then that all came out.
• 11:15
  Could be a good podcast.
• 11:17
  And so where did equity mates come about?
• 11:21
  Did you like help me? I need to not do that again.
• 11:24
  Let's do a podcast. You know how did it all sort of happen?
• 11:27
  We wanted to start a business while we're at uni.
• 11:30
  We were in Canberra, which gets phrasing cold at night.
• 11:33
  All of the restaurants and cafes closed at six at the end of the night.
• 11:38
  But the libraries were open until midnight.
• 11:41
  And so we had this idea that in the depths of winter we would cook soup and sell it outside the library.
• 11:48
  We would at least eat a whole bunch of previous.
• 11:51
  What flight is it going for?
• 11:53
  We did. We cooked a pumpkin.
• 11:55
  We cooked a pumpkin soup.
• 11:57
  We ate it.
• 11:59
  Throughout that time, we were learning about investing and talking about companies and reading all the books.
• 12:06
  And we wanted to find some way to learn more, hold ourselves accountable.
• 12:11
  And I guess keep going on this journey together.
• 12:14
  But prices like, well, why don't we do a podcast?
• 12:17
  And that was really where it all started.
• 12:20
  Yeah, it was a massive flick to be where we are today.
• 12:23
  Like the intention was never to do what we're doing.
• 12:26
  We set it up.
• 12:27
  Set up a microphone just to record ourselves.
• 12:29
  I think the first episode was us trying to explain value investing or something that we had no right to try and explain.
• 12:36
  Yeah, I think we were.
• 12:38
  I just remember before we recorded we were still trying to figure out the difference between an ETF and an LIC.
• 12:43
  And then I think we got on the behind the mic and then tried to explain.
• 12:48
  I know.
• 12:49
  What right do we have?
• 12:51
  But we use it as an excuse to just go on talk to fund managers.
• 12:55
  We told them we'd have a podcast just to be better investors ourselves.
• 12:58
  Like that was it was a selfish endeavor.
• 13:00
  And we did it for three years as a side hustle every week.
• 13:04
  Did a podcast then did two a week and just played with format.
• 13:09
  For no reason then just scratching our own edge and managed to build an audience along the way.
• 13:14
  That's so amazing.
• 13:15
  Yeah.
• 13:16
  It's kind of you.
• 13:17
  You were like, oh, we've got to do a podcast.
• 13:19
  And I was like, I was like, nobody listens to podcasts.
• 13:21
  So true.
• 13:22
  I was like, but I need to know.
• 13:24
  It was actually genuinely a selfish thing.
• 13:27
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 13:28
  So all of me had no idea.
• 13:30
  I was like, okay, I guess I'll come along for the ride.
• 13:32
  But honestly, like the commitment to doing a podcast or two podcasts a week, it's a lot of work.
• 13:36
  I think a lot of people listen to them and have no context.
• 13:39
  So to be doing that as purely a side hustle for three years is pretty impressive.
• 13:43
  And so it's a huge company now, right?
• 13:45
  Like they've got quite a few different podcasts and online tools working for you.
• 13:50
  Yeah, we've got eight shows in our network.
• 13:52
  The idea was that we would.
• 13:54
  So Ron and I quit our jobs in mid-COVID and we had two shows up and running.
• 13:59
  And we wanted to expand the network so that we could have different shows talking to different parts of the.
• 14:06
  Sort of finance investing community.
• 14:08
  So we've built that.
• 14:09
  And along the way we wrote a book and we've grown the grocery channels.
• 14:14
  And now we have eight, eight and a half people working for us.
• 14:18
  Wow.
• 14:19
  Congrats.
• 14:20
  It's so epic.
• 14:21
  And so what are your approaches to investing?
• 14:23
  I mean, you were saying that you've got quite different like upbringing in the way that you introduced to investing in money.
• 14:29
  How about now?
• 14:30
  Are you in a similar trajectory in terms of like what you're investing in?
• 14:34
  All the kinds of companies you're interested in would love to hear.
• 14:37
  You're both like kind of individual investing style.
• 14:40
  And who's better?
• 14:41
  Yeah.
• 14:42
  Right.
• 14:43
  But he's got longer to practice.
• 14:46
  Yeah.
• 14:47
  I think at our core, we both have a pretty similar approach.
• 14:50
  You know, we speak a lot on the show about you don't need to go out there and pick stocks and try and beat the market.
• 14:57
  It's a very, very hard thing to do.
• 14:59
  And there is nothing wrong with just building a very solid core portfolio of world diversified global ETFs and just taking that average eight 10% return year on year on year for the next 40 years.
• 15:13
  And then being very content with what that does for your lifestyle.
• 15:17
  Like if that means you don't have to rely on a full time check or if it means that you can retire completely before you need to access super great.
• 15:24
  So we kind of embody that approach.
• 15:26
  And I think, you know, we put most of our money into just a core diversified portfolio.
• 15:32
  We've then the caveat that we speak to many experts multiple times a week who then throw enticing individual small cap stock picks at us that ran particularly has trouble not by.
• 15:44
  So we then take sort of 20% or, you know, some small percentage of what we're investing on a fortnightly basis and put it aside for things that really just interest and excite us and where comfortable if it if it doesn't go anywhere or we lose money on it and maybe it does 10 bag.
• 16:02
  Great, but but at the end of the day there is nothing there is nothing wrong and there is great merit in just taking a consistent market return.
• 16:12
  And the maths is there that the theory is there to show that it works and it's a stress free way of doing things as well.
• 16:20
  We don't we don't have the time to sit down and and dedicate.
• 16:24
  You know, researched the same level that institutions do so, you know, there's not a lot of point point in us trying to feel like we need to beat the market.
• 16:33
  That that concept of enough and what is enough is something that you don't really see spoken a lot about in finance and in the world of professional funds management and, you know, high net wealth investors.
• 16:45
  It's it's not a concept that is super relevant because they're just trying to beat the benchmark and they're trying to outperform their rivals or they're trying to grow their wealth.
• 16:55
  For everyday investors, people like us and people listening to the podcast that that concept of enough is really important like what is me doing enough today.
• 17:06
  So I will have enough when I need it when I retire or you know when I want to afford my kids private schools or whatever crazy expenses you want to incur in your life.
• 17:16
  And I don't think we speak enough about that.
• 17:19
  And I think that's where financial advice can probably play a really valuable role.
• 17:22
  But in Australia, I'm not sure what it's like in New Zealand, but in Australia, financial advice is very difficult and very expensive to access.
• 17:30
  But yeah, to prices point, dollar cost averaging into a globally diversified group of market tracking index funds.
• 17:38
  And I know there was a lot of jargon in that sentence, but that is enough.
• 17:42
  Yeah, I love that concept of enough because you know, when you hear stories about friends that have made 80% on Tesla or you know, and it's hard to be like, oh, you know, but I'm just an ETF that's doing 8 to 10 or like, you know, but it's it's so the slow and steady kind of wins the race.
• 17:58
  It's not the one that's gone up 80 and then down 50 and then up.
• 18:03
  You know, like that for me, I'm like, oh my gosh, that is such a headache.
• 18:07
  I'm going to get so many gray hairs from investing in that kind of thing.
• 18:10
  So she's already booked a diet to get that done.
• 18:13
  So they can't afford anymore.
• 18:15
  Yeah.
• 18:16
  Oh, look at me.
• 18:17
  I lost all my hair.
• 18:18
  Yeah.
• 18:19
  Maybe I should do that.
• 18:20
  Don't just shave my hair.
• 18:21
  Better be better.
• 18:22
  They're making investing the high-risk things.
• 18:24
  Yeah.
• 18:25
  So how do you have a whole podcast then?
• 18:27
  I feel like you're basically just encouraging me to do it.
• 18:30
  Like how do you feel?
• 18:31
  How do you feel content?
• 18:32
  Because it's pretty straightforward.
• 18:34
  Like, okay, invest an ETF team.
• 18:36
  You know, like how do people keep coming back to listen for more?
• 18:38
  I'm kind of curious to know from a content perspective.
• 18:41
  You know, we do like to dabble in individual stocks and we enjoy hearing from fund managers.
• 18:48
  And I think even if you're not going to invest a large proportion of your portfolio in individual stocks,
• 18:54
  the thought process of being an investor, it helps you sort of approach the world of business.
• 19:00
  And maybe the world more broadly in a more curious way.
• 19:04
  Like people often think that investing is about finance.
• 19:07
  But you can invest in any industry and all of the most exciting and innovative new technology
• 19:15
  is coming through the stock market or if it's smaller companies through venture capital markets,
• 19:20
  all of the biggest companies in the world, all of the best entrepreneurs
• 19:24
  are commercializing their ideas through the stock market.
• 19:27
  It's just like it's this window into the world.
• 19:30
  And even if you're not investing in individual stocks, it's fascinating to see what everyone is doing.
• 19:35
  And so Warren Buffett has this quote that I'm a better investor because I'm a businessman.
• 19:42
  I'm a better businessman because I'm an investor.
• 19:45
  And I think that's that's really true.
• 19:48
  I think I, you know, I'm not working a day job anymore.
• 19:52
  But when I was working a day job, I was certainly better at it because I was investing on the side and being curious and learning on the side.
• 20:00
  And I think, you know, however you invest, being interested and being curious is really valuable.
• 20:06
  Have you found that so far as we've been doing this for a couple of years, you know?
• 20:11
  Having me, have I got more intelligence in general?
• 20:14
  So have you got more?
• 20:16
  Well, that, well, that.
• 20:17
  No, but do you even have you noticed yourself just like being more interested in what's going on in the world
• 20:21
  and interested in investing?
• 20:24
  I think it's interesting because I for so long it felt like the conversation of business and money and finance and everything in between
• 20:32
  was so confusing and out of depth and just like not a place for me that I was, I'm always been really curious.
• 20:42
  I love asking questions, but I think because I felt so disconnected from what any of it meant,
• 20:49
  yeah, I wouldn't look at news and be like, oh, that's so interesting to hear about this or that.
• 20:53
  I wouldn't, I just couldn't connect the dots even listening to watching movies.
• 20:56
  People would make jokes about stocks or businesses and they'd fly off my head, you know?
• 21:00
  Whereas now I definitely feel, yeah, I feel excited about learning about business, even if I'm not planning on investing.
• 21:08
  It's definitely, it's kind of becomes a hobby, I think.
• 21:11
  Yeah, definitely.
• 21:12
  It's taken up a lot of our time.
• 21:14
  Do you budget, firstly, do you have like a strict monthly thing in place?
• 21:19
  Like how is your budgeting planning working?
• 21:21
  So I do budget and it's changed over the years.
• 21:25
  I used to be very diligent with how I tracked my money, you know, every time I was paid, I'd go in and update myself in Excel.
• 21:33
  And now I've sort of become comfortable with what I need on a weekly basis.
• 21:39
  That the biggest hack for that is every time I'm paid, I get trans, automatic transfers from my pay account into various different accounts.
• 21:49
  So I just do not see it.
• 21:51
  And so I get a transfer X amount into my investing account.
• 21:55
  And then from my investing account, everything is automated.
• 21:58
  I don't make any physical investment decisions at the moment, other than the individual stocks.
• 22:04
  I've got money going into cash savings, everything's automated so that whatever's left in my transaction account, I know is a play money for the fortnight.
• 22:13
  That's that's how I budget, but it did take me a bit of chewing and throwing and transferring and overdrafts and credit cards and bits and pieces to get to that point.
• 22:23
  So I'm similar.
• 22:25
  I was never one for incredibly itemized budgets.
• 22:30
  You know, I'm not as organized or as disciplined as Bryce and it just didn't really work for me.
• 22:37
  But we've we've seen so many different spend trackers over the journey of equity mates.
• 22:42
  There's this great Instagram account and podcast money with Katie over in the US.
• 22:46
  And we bought her spend tracker to see what she was doing.
• 22:51
  And it was like 12 XL tabs worth of incredibly detailed and you know net worth tracking every every cent accounted for.
• 23:01
  And that's great if you want to do that, but that's not me.
• 23:04
  Bryce used to have the Google Sheets going with a number of formulas and one of our podcasts in our network.
• 23:10
  You're in good company.
• 23:11
  They've created a spend tracker as well.
• 23:14
  It's in their Facebook group.
• 23:15
  If you want to go and download it for free.
• 23:17
  Thank you for the last.
• 23:18
  Thank you.
• 23:19
  Oh.
• 23:20
  Nice.
• 23:21
  The way I do it is similar to Bryce.
• 23:23
  I have a money in account and a money out account.
• 23:27
  And we get paid every fortnight and I have automatic transfers set up from my money in account to my emergency fund.
• 23:35
  I'm traveling later this year.
• 23:36
  So I've got a travel savings account automatically transferred to my brokerage.
• 23:40
  And then it transfers some money to my money out account.
• 23:44
  And then like that's my spending money for the fortnight.
• 23:46
  And the game for me, the challenge for me is just spend less than that amount.
• 23:52
  And so the weekend before we get paid is always very cheap.
• 23:58
  Sounds very organized.
• 23:59
  Someone who's not organized.
• 24:01
  You know, like I'm pretty lazy when it comes to a lot of this stuff.
• 24:04
  Automating it is the key to success.
• 24:07
  So then you just don't have to think about it.
• 24:09
  Automating your dollar cost averaging into a core portfolio.
• 24:13
  Automating your spending.
• 24:15
  So your money's in the right place without having to think about it.
• 24:18
  It's never been easier.
• 24:19
  And so it's definitely worth spending the time to set it up.
• 24:22
  I do have an ongoing gripe with my bank Commonwealth Bank.
• 24:26
  I've called them out.
• 24:27
  I'm going to call them out.
• 24:28
  Tell us how you really feel when you're here.
• 24:30
  The spend trucking on their app sucks.
• 24:34
  And so I am looking for a better spend trucker because I'd love if there was an easier way to do it than how they set it up.
• 24:42
  We'd like these overly broad categories that don't actually give you any insight.
• 24:46
  But yeah, for me right now, what I'm doing works for me and until I find something better, that's what I'll do.
• 24:51
  That's the thing.
• 24:52
  There's so many different types of trackers out there.
• 24:54
  It's just finding what's right for you because I've definitely had a gold a few in the heaven really stuck.
• 24:59
  But our one has, I got a call on my holiday the other day from BNZ.
• 25:04
  And she was like, hello, it's Beverly here.
• 25:07
  Now I can say that if I've drawn your account again and I'm just like, you're off.
• 25:13
  Oh, bloody hell, Beverly.
• 25:15
  Give a gallop right.
• 25:16
  But like, really, I just need to be not be such a child and all to make my stuff.
• 25:21
  Well, how about today when I, so I've sparring my car at the moment, I've got the Audi curve car.
• 25:27
  And I went outside and it's the car's my car is being clamped in the car.
• 25:33
  And I'm literally like walking past them like, excuse me.
• 25:36
  And he's like, your car's been clamped.
• 25:38
  I was like, oh, why?
• 25:39
  Oh, because you've got too many parking finds outstanding.
• 25:41
  And I was like, I was like, oh, dear God.
• 25:44
  I was like, don't worry, I'll pay them right now.
• 25:46
  I'll pay them right now.
• 25:47
  And yeah, I was like, walk back inside and stuff.
• 25:49
  Just like, so I just want to know what your best and besting tip is.
• 25:54
  I mean, it's the same every time.
• 25:56
  Yeah.
• 25:57
  We're going to sound a bit like a broken record.
• 25:59
  Or do it just a dollar cost averaging.
• 26:01
  Yeah, it kind of ties into all of that.
• 26:03
  I think the overall message is that it's never been easier to start investing
• 26:08
  with very, very small amounts of money.
• 26:11
  And the name of the game is getting in as soon as possible
• 26:14
  and understanding who you are as an investor.
• 26:17
  And you don't have to risk huge amounts of money to do that.
• 26:20
  And so the sooner that you can get in there and figure that out
• 26:23
  and figure out what works for you and how to do it, the better.
• 26:28
  I mean, there's a reason that literally every expert we talk to
• 26:31
  and the reason that we say the same, get in as soon as possible.
• 26:36
  We're not saying it as a joke.
• 26:38
  That is the best investing tip.
• 26:40
  And you can literally do it now with sense.
• 26:42
  So there almost is no excuse to start investing.
• 26:46
  There is no excuse.
• 26:47
  There is no excuse.
• 26:48
  I think my investing tip is not going to be too different.
• 26:52
  We started this conversation talking about how we started investing.
• 26:56
  And I saved up a thousand dollars and bought shares in an individual company
• 27:01
  and lost all my money.
• 27:03
  And my biggest learning from that.
• 27:05
  And my biggest tip is that you never have to invest in an individual company.
• 27:10
  You can invest for decades.
• 27:11
  You can build all the wealth you need to live a happy and stressed money,
• 27:16
  stress-free life without ever investing in an individual company.
• 27:20
  And the reason that stock market indexes or index ETFs
• 27:25
  perform so well over time is because they are constantly
• 27:31
  every quarter rebalancing for the best companies.
• 27:35
  And we have this thing that we say here at equity mates,
• 27:39
  which is that companies die but indexes are forever.
• 27:42
  And if we look at America's S&P 500,
• 27:46
  the 500 biggest companies in America has changed massively over time.
• 27:53
  In 1980, the biggest company in America was IBM.
• 27:58
  In 2000, the biggest company in America was GE General Electric.
• 28:02
  And in 2020, it was Apple.
• 28:05
  From 1980, IBM, its fortunes changed and other companies overtook it.
• 28:10
  In 2000, GE had a terrible 20 years from 2000 when it was the biggest company.
• 28:16
  And while it might be unimaginable now,
• 28:19
  at some point Apple will start to slide and other companies will overtake Apple.
• 28:22
  That's the nature of capitalism. That's the nature of technology.
• 28:25
  But the great thing about stock market indexes is that they're constantly rebalancing.
• 28:30
  So you're getting less of GE as it gets smaller and more of Apple as it gets bigger.
• 28:35
  And that's just, that's why indexes just keep driving upwards, keep perpetuating.
• 28:40
  And that's why companies die but indexes are forever.
• 28:43
  And so my biggest learning and my biggest lesson is
• 28:46
  you don't have to invest in an individual company to build all the wealth that you need.
• 28:51
  Oh, I actually would like to ask in terms of the indexes that are your favourites.
• 28:55
  I mean, I'm assuming it's not this in P500.
• 28:57
  Have you got any fun ones that you love?
• 28:59
  That is my favourite.
• 29:00
  Well, that's a part of the price.
• 29:03
  We know we're four finance podcasters.
• 29:06
  When the question is, what's your favourite stock market index?
• 29:09
  Yeah, right.
• 29:10
  But in FD50, I'm big on India.
• 29:12
  Yeah.
• 29:14
  FD50, largest 50 companies in India.
• 29:17
  It absolutely ripped last year.
• 29:19
  It had a phenomenal year.
• 29:20
  The domestic economy of India is incredibly strong.
• 29:23
  Was incredibly strong last year.
• 29:26
  Also retail investors are booming just like they are kind of here in the US.
• 29:30
  So fascinating to see how it's all playing out over there.
• 29:33
  I don't think it's going so well this year.
• 29:35
  But yeah, good to get out of the US and Australian buyers.
• 29:41
  Yeah, generally, generally.
• 29:43
  Oh, yeah.
• 29:44
  Oh, God.
• 29:45
  Don't sing us a Jail.
• 29:47
  I must want a Jail.
• 29:48
  I'm just trying to educate you.
• 29:50
  I don't know if I have a favourite.
• 29:52
  I think the thing for me, as Bryce just said,
• 29:55
  we are really repeating each other a lot, aren't we?
• 29:58
  It's true.
• 29:59
  It does Rooroke.
• 30:00
  It's like me and Vett kind of.
• 30:01
  I think the US has just been on absolute tear.
• 30:05
  And the 2010s was America's decade.
• 30:09
  But there's been a lot of stock market research done.
• 30:12
  And it is very rare that one market or one country backs it up decade after decade.
• 30:19
  There are times when Australia or New Zealand has had the best stock market.
• 30:24
  There's times when the UK, India, Japan, everyone has a time.
• 30:29
  But it's very rare that countries go back to back.
• 30:32
  If you've lived through the last 10 years and you've been investing through the last 10 years,
• 30:36
  you're likely to have a lot of American exposure.
• 30:39
  Because that's sort of what everyone's spoken about,
• 30:41
  all the bigger American tech names and the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100.
• 30:45
  But there's a whole world out there that you can access through the ASX or through the New Zealand stock market.
• 30:51
  And so look at Europe, look at Asia and build a globally diversified portfolio
• 30:57
  because who knows which country is going to win this decade.
• 31:01
  But you can invest in them all.
• 31:04
  We should have a bit and come back in 10 years time.
• 31:06
  Absolutely not.
• 31:07
  You always bang on about investing, not being betting.
• 31:09
  No, no, we're having a bit on and on and on.
• 31:12
  Which market is going to be the next decade winner?
• 31:15
  Hey guys, thank you so much for doing our podcast.
• 31:18
  How fun.
• 31:19
  Well, thank you for having it.
• 31:20
  It's been a lot of fun.
• 31:22
  Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.
• 31:23
  If either of you break up with your wives or girlfriends,
• 31:26
  be sure to let us know so we can tell our audience that you're now available.
• 31:29
  Okay, bye guys.
• 31:31
  Thank you.
• 31:32
  Bye.
• 31:33
  Thanks guys.
• 31:34
  Thank you so much for listening to Raisin the Curve.
• 31:36
  These conversations are designed to teach you everything you need to know to be better with your money,
• 31:40
  saving, to investing, to talking with your friends about your salaries or that stuff.
• 31:44
  And if you like what you heard, we would love that you could please hit subscribe
• 31:47
  wherever you're listening and leave a comment.
• 31:49
  Let us know what you thought about the episode.
• 31:51
  And it only takes one second and it would really make our week a month.
• 31:55
  They're here.
• 31:56
  Yeah, yeah.
• 31:57
  So please do it.
• 31:58
  Okay, love you.
• 31:59
  Bye.
• 32:00
  Okay, quickly, the curve was created to empower and educate you about investing,
• 32:03
  but we are not financial advisors.
• 32:05
  Our platform exists for educational purposes only,
• 32:08
  and it doesn't provide personalized investing advice for your individual needs
• 32:11
  and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
• 32:15
  And always remember to do your own research before making any investment or financial decision.
• 32:19
  We're here for any knowledge and support you need, but the final call is always yours.
• 32:23
  And thanks for being here.
• 32:25
  You got this.
• 32:26
  Yeah, we know you got this.