Latest / TFS WealthCast / Staying Financially Strong During Uncertain Times

Transcript

Staying Financially Strong During Uncertain Times · TFS WealthCast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: This is the TFS Podcast where money talk gets real and financial freedom is more than just a goal.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: Without further ado, let's dive in.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_03: Hi guys, and welcome to another episode of the TFS Wealthcast podcast.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_03: And given that the RBA just had a recent rate announcement and they increased the rate, we thought we'll speak to Sonali and give you guys some tips for how you guys can stay financially strong during these uncertain times.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: Which is why the title of this episode is Staying Financially Strong During Uncertain Times.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: So let's let's jump straight into it.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh hi Sonali, thank you for joining me on this episode today.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hi Richie.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: So Sonali, let's um now with with the recent rate rise, right?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: So so what's what's really happening in the in the market?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, as you may have heard, uh the RBA increased the cash rate by another 25 basis points, which means that all of the um people who own variable rates um would have had their rates go up by 25 basis points.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So um I think this is a third rate hike in the last couple of months.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of households are feeling the pinch right now, especially because added to that, we've got issues with you know fuel prices going up and anyway, groceries and things like that have gone up over the last year uh or two significantly as well.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So um I think households are feeling the pressure from all fronts um because the income levels hasn't gone up that um, you know, proportionately.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's a it's a tough time for a lot of people.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like you mentioned, you know, so some of the main things showing up are the rising repayments and bills squeezing cash flow, right?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: People feeling overwhelmed and unsure about what to do next.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: Stress and anxieties through the roof around money becoming common.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: So some people are reacting emotionally and making quick decisions, Sonali.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: And that's out of fear, right?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: And others are doing nothing at all because they feel stuck and don't know where to start.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: So without going too broad, how can we, you know, what what advice can we give customers?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, because you're a financial planner yourself, so you're the one who's best to give uh this kind of advice.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Again, every time I say this in all podcasts, this is general advice only.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, however, some of the, you know, you can do your basics essentially, right?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, um, people sometimes there are two types of people.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: One would just stick their head in the sand and not do anything about it.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: They won't open their, you know, letters or bills or whatever, and they think it'll go away.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: But then that is a recipe for disaster because if you just ignore your bills, they will, you know, send you reminders and invariably put you to the credit bureau, and then you'll get um yourself in dire stress with your credit as well, and then that has a long-term impact.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So um that's really not the way to go.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: There are others who would panic and make knee-jerk reactions and um end up sometimes say even selling their property at the wrong time, or you know, not really looking at options and thinking, you know, it's be all um like all or nothing, right?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: So they might be like, okay, we can't afford this, so we're just gonna sell without even seeing uh whether there are any options available.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: So so to ask you a bit on that, right?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: So to anyone considering selling a property during this time, do you think it's a good idea to sell or should they hold?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: It depends really on their personal situation, right?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: So um, like you wouldn't want to sell just because a rate rise happened.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: You have to see whether there are other things you can do in your budget that you can maybe afford.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Can you restructure your debts?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Can you, you know, maybe, I don't know, consolidate some of your other debts into your mortgage.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of things, so there's no one answer whether or not they should sell.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: It is really dependent on the person's individual circumstances.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's a hard one to answer.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: And and with that now, with the rate going up, now there's a lot more speculation on oh, the property market is gonna crash.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: What is your view on this?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: I have always said, like, you know, there's always going to be people who will say it'll crash.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: There'll be another set of people who who will say there's opportunity in that, right?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't really listen to the whole market as such.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for me, it's about the personal situation.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's about how much income comes in, what are my expenses.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: That is what you should be really looking at, right?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um there's so many things that are going on around the world that is out of our control.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think you should just control what you can control and really do that well.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, so that's essentially my two cents on that.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: So so now let's uh okay, let's let's bring this uh down to something practical, right?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: Cash flow, one of your favorite topics.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_03: So you love cash flow and budgeting and doing accounting work as well sometimes here and there.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, love is a stretch, but okay.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: So everyone talks about budgeting, but realistically, things are expensive right now.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: So, what does a working budget actually look like in this environment?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_03: Not a perfect one, just something that actually works.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think with budgeting, a lot of the time people make the mistake they budget for what they think they should be doing.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: They don't actually budget for their actual lifestyle, right?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: So they would have heard about you know, people start with budgeting thinking, okay, now I need to, you know, get my finances in order.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: They sit down and they go, okay, I should be spending this much on in this category.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's not how you should budget, right?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: How you should budget essentially is first you should obviously decide on what budgeting tool to use.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the main ones that I usually use for my clients is the Money Smart website, has a very easy budget.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So um maybe put the link in the podcast.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um Money Smart website.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'll give you the link, you can put that in for the listeners.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's a very easy one.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so get that, but also get uh download on an Excel sheet.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Your most banking apps allow you to do it.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: The last two to three months worth of your actual living expenses that you have done, right?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: You have a good budget, should start looking back, right, to see what you have actually spent on.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, personally, if I look at say Pramu's bank account, there have been lots of Uber.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: Boss Yes.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like you don't even realize Uber eats.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uber eats, right?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: So um so he doesn't eat the meal you prepare for him?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: With all the different things morning every day.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you don't understand how these things add up.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: So at the time you make the spending decision, it might be like$10.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: But over time, if you look at it for a month, how much you end up spending in a certain category, it might surprise you.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: So then looking back is the first step, and then seeing what you're actually spending on, then categorizing it and then saying which areas, and then then you can look forward and see, okay, what are the areas that I can cut back on, right?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: It budgeting is like I said, a lot of people just put ideal numbers in the budget and they don't stick to it.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And after that, you get demotivated and the whole thing goes out the window.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: That is not how you should go about it.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: So find a budgeting tool, have a look at your last three months' expenses, and then see what your lifestyle actually is.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then you'll also find things you've forgotten about, like I don't know, subscription.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: So at one point of in time, we had Netflix, we had Disney, we had KO, we had uh Binge, we had Stan.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we were paying for all of that and Foxdale.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: I never watched any of well, maybe Netflix.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, but we were paying like for about six subscriptions, but like you know, at various points we would have signed up for them and forgotten about them, and they were getting direct debit, and we didn't know.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: So now we've cancelled a lot of them, and I think we just have two now.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um so things like that.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's like a lot of people have gym memberships and they never go to the gym.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have I'm guilty of that.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have a gym membership that I always keep meaning to go to.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sometimes they offer suspension periods.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: So at least if you don't want to cancel it, just suspend it for a while, right?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um so just to just to add to uh the you know that using that website like Money Smart to track the expenses, right?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: Another thing that they can use is, you know, like if you have Combank from the app, you can download your last three months or six months bank statements.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, put that into Chat GPT and then ask ChatGPT what are my recurring expenses every month, and it'll give you a breakdown of I'm not a huge fan of putting personal stuff on ChatGPT.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I just use it for like you know, refining emails and stuff like that.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: But it's up to you.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, if you also this Money Smart website is it's like it's it's it's something you download.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's an ex it's like an Excel sheet or like a budget tracker that you download.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not online.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: People are lazy, so now you think they're gonna go through each transaction?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, it's look, you this is my Excel talking.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: You would just you know download your Excel sheet, sort it according to the narration, then you can see, right?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it'll be that you just total it up, and then you know, Coles or whatever, you just total it up, right?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: So on that notes, are you are you a Kohl's fan or a woolly?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Coles all the way.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um now I actually and well, I probably shouldn't be saying this, but I've been buying Costco on DoorDash.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So oh really?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's been going well.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm actually doing an experiment right now to see if buying from Costco works for me.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and if it's cheaper than buying every week from Coles.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: So let's see.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um Jury's still out on that.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um so back to what I was saying.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's those are the little, little things that you could change.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, then there'll be insurances that you would have forgotten about or set up about three, four years ago that might no longer um serve you, right?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you could maybe change the excess on that.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe call your insurance provider and see whether they can give you a better deal or move, or you know, your the car might have depreciated, so maybe can be changed to agreed value or market value or whatever it is to have the premium cheaper.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: So do things like that, which might take about half an hour of your time, but it's just money, otherwise, you're spending unnecessary.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Unnecessary.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of people say, Oh, I I leave paycheck to paycheck.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have you know room to do anything, but actually there are things you can do.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_03: So, what are some what are some tips you can give to people like that?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is what you should be doing.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: We will so guys, if you're like that, rewind and go back to the last three minutes of what I said.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the other major ones is obviously a lot of people spend um quite a bit on their mortgage and will be spending quite a bit given the rate rights have happened as well.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you haven't looked at your mortgage, you definitely absolutely should look at it.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you especially if you haven't looked at it like in about two, three years, obviously your circumstances, income, everything has changed, the rates have changed.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely that's something you should be doing because that's a huge chunk of your so given the way that the market is heading at the moment, right?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_03: With inflation and everything, do you think it's a smart idea for some individuals to look at their mortgage and go, oh hey, look, maybe a fixed rate might help me?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, prepare for the next couple of years so I can, you know, get my Yeah, the way I look at fixed versus variable, I don't think of it as fixed variable, I think of it as certainty versus flexibility.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if your budget is really stretched and you would like your household would like to have certainty over your repayments for a fixed period of time while you get back on track or while you really get disciplined, by all means fix, right?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you are someone who's thinking, okay, I might sell my property in a year or two, or you know, if you have very healthy buffers and you want to kind of see where the rate uh journey goes, then be on variable, right?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a question of trying to um predict what the markets are doing or what the banks are doing.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: So this, I mean, it ties in with what I said previously.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't generally look at the whole market as a whole, I just look at what the client's situation is or my situation and see what works for me, right?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, you might pay a little bit of a premium on a fixed rate for a period of time.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: However, that gives you peace of mind that your mortgage repayment is X amount of dollars for the next two years, let's say.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that makes it easier to budget, right?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes some of these things, it's not the mathematically smart thing to do, but you're working with people, it's about the mindset as well.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when you know this is all I have to spend on the mortgage for two years, regardless of what happens in America or Iran or whatever, and in the market here, then that gives you a sense of you know, um comfort almost, right?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: As long as I can maintain that payment, I'm good.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have to budget for other variables if it goes through the roof or whatever.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you might miss out if it goes down, but you know, chances are it might stay stable for a while, or maybe even one more day, like who knows, right?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: So do what is right for your budget.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that is your mortgage, right?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: So um I I if you really can't pick, I would just say split.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: So do portion of your mortgage as a fixed and a portion variable.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: That way you have the best of both worlds, right?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: But definitely if you So how does how does that work?
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh, you know, if you can elaborate a bit more on how split split loan would work to anyone listening who would Yeah, so you get let's say you have a home mortgage of 500,000.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, depending on what you want to do, you can fix if you want to go split down the middle, 250 of that mortgage, you can put it as a fixed rate and then have certainty over that portion of it.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then you can play the you know rate game with the variable portion of it and have 250 as variable, yeah, or whatever split you want.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, obviously subject to the bank split minimum amounts.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you could have like 400 in fixed and 100 in variable, things like that.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you're using offset redraw, those sorts of things, you have to be mindful.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Fixed sometimes doesn't allow you to make use of those things.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: So then those clients should be looking at a split loan where you can make use of those offset accounts with the variable portion of it.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, like it's very dependent on the customer situation.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: So each strategy depends on the customer's individual circumstances.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: There are all these strategies out there, but it has to fit in with what your circumstances are.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: So with that being said, guys, look, if anyone is listening to this and you're thinking, Oh, I want to do this for myself, but I don't know where to start.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you can talk to uh you can talk to TFS, you know, our team will speak to you, they will go through your numbers, they will assess your individual situation, and then they will give recommend some financial strategies that would work for you, that we think would work for you.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: And then it's all it's all up to you.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you you can decide, okay, do I want to go ahead or not?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not gonna cost you anything, nothing, it's just a quick, friendly chat, and we call it a financial health check.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's but yeah, so if you guys want a financial health check for yourself to see if you want to stay with a variable rate or if you want if you're considering a fixed rate or a split or any other kind of financial structure, uh talk to TFS.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_03: Anyways, coming back to the podcast.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Plugins in all these podcasts.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, so uh look at your mortgage repayments.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing you can look at is um, so let's say you have uh your mortgage, then you have your have a car loan, you have a personal loan, you have credit cards or other debts.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can look at a debt consolidation strategy, yeah.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you have to be very, very careful with this.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: We I have seen clients who would consolidate their credit cards into the mortgage, they won't close their credit cards, they'll go and rack up further debt on those credit cards, and you know, year down the track, you would be in a far worse off position than when you started by doing it.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to be very careful with all of these things.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: There has to absolutely be a mindset shift, right?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you're planning on continuing the same, you know, way that you've been doing, don't do debt consolidation because you you probably will end up in a far worse off position.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: So um the the other thing to remember is I always say this when we talk about debt consolidation, mortgages are you know longer-term loans with the uh 25 to 30 year loan terms with your other unsecured debt like credit cards or car loans or personal loans, they're usually about five to seven years with personal loans and you know, car loans, right?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: So when you consolidate debt and put that amount into your mortgage, you're extending the loan term.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: So when you think about it, you're actually going to pay, if you carry it on for 30 years, far more in interest than if you had had it in the like in the original loan, right?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to be very careful and to be very disciplined to pay that portion off.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: So for some clients, when we do debt consolidation, we do a separate split so that they can easily identify, and their sole purpose in life essentially needs to be to pay that off, right?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Within the original term of the original debt, right?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because otherwise, you won't get any benefit out of it.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: You would end up just stretching it out for 30 years and paying extra, and really it's not the way to go, right?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've I've told customers who do debt consolidation on their credit cards to cut it up or put the credit card in the freezer or whatever, right?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because some of them do end up going and spending more on it, and then you're like, that's not what we wanted to get out of this.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: Some people lose track of how much they spend when they have a credit card.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_03: But then there are all there are also like I have to I have to mention, there's also uh a certain demographic of individuals who use credit cards for their points, and and and they maintain, they make sure they pay the credit card off on by all means.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I have booked a number of tickets using credit card points, I love it, right?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so even recently I used like well mostly I use promos points, which he gets pissed off about.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: I use my one for my shopping and then for the travel, I use his points.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_03: I mean all the boss boss.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um so big box, but as long as you can maintain the card in such a way that you don't end up paying unnecessary interest to the banks, right?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, by all means, use the points if you can.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_03: So in that way, the credit card can also be an asset to these individuals who have a very limited number of people.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be amazed at how many get carried away because it's just you just tap your card, right?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you then then you forget.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: You always you mean well, like even myself personally, I'm going to put their money back into that, right?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: But then you forget, yeah, right?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, and then it racks up, and then you're like, Oh, I need to do that, right?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it happens even like all the time.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: It asked.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_03: All right, I'm gonna ask you a small controversial, potentially controversial question.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, from your experience, Tonali, from the clients that you've seen uh who don't have limits when it comes to using the credit card, have majority been men or women?
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Women.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: Women.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_03: You can't argue with this, that's the financial planner right there, guys.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, we can get carried away sometimes.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um detail therapy, you know, that's what be called.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, bottom line is be very careful when you're doing debt consolidation.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so done well, it can be a really powerful tool.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: So done badly, it can really mess you up financially and set you back years.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so so when when when someone is considering debt consolidation, right?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh what are some key aspects that they should pay attention to?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: The main one is if you feel like it's all gonna get lost in the whole loan, have a separate split so that you can identify what you put into um the your mortgage, and then you can concentrate on paying that split off as soon as possible, right?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing is obviously close the cards or whatever if you consolidate it.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you don't go racking up debts again.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely do that.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: So the obviously the third thing is um, yes, you're saving money monthly by consolidating.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure you use that monthly saving towards paying off flat um rather than putting it towards extra expense.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, retail therapy.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the point is sometimes we do need consolidation because uh the budget is stretched, right?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, of course, sometimes it has to go to other areas of the budget, but definitely not retail therapy.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, look, there has if you do your budget well, yeah, you should have a portion for retail therapy, yeah, right?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what's the point of just saving and investing and not having any fun?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: But then having a budget and doing it right means.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: That when you actually do retail therapy, there's no guilt associated with it.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's no debts that are racking up in the background, right?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it gives you freedom to actually enjoy your purchases rather than just having a short period of time where you know you have a good like you know kit, and then you're like, oh shit, now it's not like instant gratification and then you know pay for it.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: So um a good budget will give you the ability to enjoy life as well.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it's supposed to do.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: But then you also need to spend within your means.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: So some of the clients that I have seen um who do really well, so it's not the people who are on the highest incomes.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's not necessarily what it is, right?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: A medium income earner can also be in a good financial spot because they spend within their limits, they know their limits, they know what's coming in, what they're spending on, and they've got a good budget that they actually stick to.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't, it's not really about how much money you earn, it's about how well you manage it.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because the higher your income goes up, you improve your lifestyle standards, the lifestyle creeps in, and then you're like, oh yeah, what yeah.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_03: So, anyways, guys, look, if anyone is uh listening to this episode and you're stressing out because you've got credit card debt, you've got your car loan, your personal loans, you've got all these loans to worry about, and you just want it all compiled into one loan repayment, uh consider debt consolidation.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_03: And if you want to if you're CSC considering debt consolidation, you need to talk to DFS, of course, or any other broker, but speak to us, we'll do it properly.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_03: So now we spoke about you know whether debt consolidation is a bad idea, or if somebody is considering it, how they should go about doing it.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: So apart from that Sunali, now when people refinance, right?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: Some most clients are just hunting rates.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: What are some other things they should also look at instead of just the lowest, like the lowest rate?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: They should look at the structure, right?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: So um if you think that you're going to be using, like I said, offset or variable, um also if you're going to be going on a variable loan, check if there's an offset and whether you can park your money there, um, or even a redraw is fine.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but mainly you have to also, if you're refinancing, look at the loan term, right?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say I think I spoke about it before as well.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you have it had a 30-year loan term and you've paid it down for 25 years, when you refinance, you might end up stretching it back again to 30 years.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you had to be very mindful of that.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you do that, then you have to be very disciplined to start putting extra money into the loan so that otherwise you'll end up being with about 35-year loan term overall when you look at it.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that is something not a lot of people understand, right?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of not a lot of brokers or bankers will tell the clients that as well, right?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's just something that's given as an industry thing that, yeah, we stretch it back to 30 years.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you have to be very careful when you do that.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: We that's not to say not to do it, but if you're doing it, you have to make sure that the savings you get with that or extra money you come into, or say tax refunds, or whatever it is, that you pop that in lump sums or whatever it is to make sure you don't sort of go beyond your overall 30-year mark.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it's very um, it's one of those things that people just set and forget, and then they're like, oh, this is doesn't seem to be, you know, making a dent in it.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm paying and paying and paying, but you know, the mortgage doesn't seem to be going down.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, be very careful when you're refinancing about the term.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: So let's let's talk about uh the opportunity mindset, Sonari.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_03: I wanna I want to touch your motivational guru side of it, like like Prabhu.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's pro not me.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: Because there's a lot of negativity out there, cost of living, interest rates, and then the scary headlines like we discussed.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: But are there actually opportunities right now, especially for people who are proactive?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, for sure, right?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I mean this is what I say in all aspects of life, you need to have clarity.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's the most important thing.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people get stressed or panicked or whatever because they have a vague idea of what's happening, but they don't really, you know, know how to fix it or whatever, right?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: So the first thing to do is get clarity.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: How do you get clarity by well that's for your you know personal uh lives, not the financial stuff?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: How to get clarity in your finances is to obviously look at what you spent money on and what you're planning on spending money on and figure out a plan how to spend money, basically, right?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so uh that can like they need to build financial discipline, basically.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, and good habits, right?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: So just because you've always had bad habits with finances doesn't mean that's how you should continue to be for the rest of it.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's up to you, right?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's your choice.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can just draw a line in the sand and be like, okay, from here on in, I'm gonna try and get myself in order.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: At least do small things, not major, you know, life-changing stuff.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just look at your accounts and maybe cancel a couple of subscriptions you're not using.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just uh maybe next week talk to insurance companies and try and reduce you know the premiums that you're paying.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the week after, or maybe this is what you should do first.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Look at your mortgage.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's the biggest chunk of it, right?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then see whether because what I see, like some clients don't know what the rates are out there.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: So now we had a 25 basis points increase, right?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: What if you can get a lender that has a rate that was 25 basis points lower, you know, then it's almost like you didn't have a rate increase if you can refinance to that lender.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: To a lower rate, to a lower rate, right?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: So there are certainly opportunities like that.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, um, so look at things like that.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe do one thing per week.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then in about two months, at least you would have saved 200 bucks a month, and that can go towards paying off debt or even your emergency buffer or something.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because and one of the nicest things I've seen with clients is when you get onto the right track and you have small wins, you're motivated to stay the course and then you would do more things, yeah, and then it all adds up.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: Small steps create a compounding effect, right?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: So they say that for you know fitness and everything in life, right?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's just small steps, but done consistently over time, it adds up.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Same with finances, right?
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: So every 10, 20, 30 dollars here and there can add up.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: So and then 200 bucks saved a month is almost petrol, right?
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: So then you can stop complaining about the petrol prices, you know, almost.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's yeah.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean, people driving petrol vehicles can't really complain.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's the diesel owners that have to cry still.
• 28:54
  unknown: True.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then yeah, so uh whatever you do, it has to come, like I said, with a mindset shift.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Be deliberate about what you do.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you're restructuring debt, it absolutely has to come with the discipline um that is required after the fact.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: After you do the debt consolidation, make sure that you cut up your cards and close all the accounts and then you stay the course.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you do that for about a year, then you build good discipline around it, right?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: So at the moment we're doing quite a bit of debt consolidation um for a lot of our customers, but then we want to make sure afterwards they stay the course and not go out and get more debt because now we only have one mortgage and nothing else, right?
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've seen that happen as well.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because like most a lot of clients they don't realize this, but the moment they consolidate that debt, they have a substanti that they have a substantial saving amount of savings, right?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_03: Every month.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and then they're like, oh, that's more money I can spend.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, that's that's you were supposed to put that yeah.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: So um I mean it's hard for us to sort of keep tabs on everyone, but um yeah, it you kind of have to have the discipline yourself, basically.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, maybe that's like a new service we can start at EFS, you know.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a subscription-based we could, yeah, we could, it's almost like a fitness fitness coach, yeah, like a like a fitness financial fitness coach.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there you go.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Get ready for things to do that attract people and their spending, yeah.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so Lara, I think we touched on uh some of the main key areas for this podcast.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_03: Is there anything else that you would like to add to this?
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_03: No, I think my like the cherry on top.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Takeaways obviously just do something, right?
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: Don't just sit there and complain.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's one of my pet peeves.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what's the point?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: You either accept it or you make a change.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, with financials, you can't accept it.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: So make the change, right?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Do something to help yourself.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_03: All right, guys.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_03: And like Boss Lady said, gotta be disciplined, right?
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_03: So uh with that being said, thank you for tuning in to today's episode of the TFS Wealthcast podcast.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_03: Stay tuned for the next episode because we are gonna go on a deep dive into the TFS loyalty program.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a way to save money, yeah.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because um, why not, right?
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: I use fly buys points.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I love it when I can get$50 off my grocery bill.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is like that times 20 almost, right?
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Airline tickets to hotels and you know, holidays.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, just to give a little bit of context, so for when you refinance a home loan with TFS, you will get points on the balance of your loan and you will accumulate every month um points, which you can use towards um airline tickets, hotel stays.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're planning on going away to Sri Lanka um and you're thinking you have to pay for it, who knows?
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe TFS will pay for it.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: You've got enough points.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_03: And if you want to know more about how the TFS loyalty program works, like I said, you've got to tune into the next episode.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna dive deep into how it works, how you can redeem your points, and where you can redeem your points.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_03: So, with that being said, thank you and catch you guys on the next episode.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Vishy.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the TFS Podcast, where we turn knowledge into action and big goals into real results.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: Now, don't forget to like and subscribe and share this episode with someone working towards their next financial step.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_02: Now, with that being said, until next time, keep building.