

Investopoly
Stuart Wemyss
Each episode is packed with concise tips, strategies, research, methodologies, case studies, and ideas to help you safely and effectively grow your wealth. Stuart Wemyss, a qualified financial advisor, accountant, tax agent, and licensed mortgage broker, delivers holistic advice. With four authored books, including "Investopoly" and "Rules of the Lending Game," Stuart shares his insights through a weekly blog, which is replicated on this podcast.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 22, 2022 • 18min
Why I think property prices have bottomed
CoreLogic data indicates that property prices in the 5 largest capital cities have fallen by 7.1% since May, when the RBA started hiking interest rates. Sydney has seen the largest price fall – down by around 10%, and Melbourne has fallen by 6.7%. But it’s not all bad news. House prices in Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth are still materially higher than they were a year ago. I wrote a blog in March in response to fund manager, Christopher Joye’s prediction that property prices would fall 15% to 25% within 2 years if the RBA hiked rates by at least 1%. At the time, it was my view that prices would fall 5% to 7%. This has happened now, and I don’t think we’ll see any more (material) falls for the reasons set out below. Supply and demand are more balanced One of the reasons that prices have fallen this year is that it’s no longer necessary to overpay to buy a property. Last year, I wrote that the only way to successfully buy a property in 2021 was to overpay. That’s because potential buyers outnumbered potential sellers. Buyer demand has fallen (probably due to higher rates, share market volatility and talk of a possible recession) but so has supply i.e., the number of new listings – they are 18% below the 5 year average. As such, the market is relatively balanced (between buyers and sellers) which means there is no need to overpay anymore. Good quality, investment-grade property is still attracting strong buyer demand and is typically selling for fair value. Of course, some geographic markets might experience different conditions, such as regional towns and beachside locations. It is possible that some locations may experience larger declines in demand and as such, prices may continue to fall. Most borrowers have factored in higher rates Most borrowers realised that interest rates would not stay at 2% p.a. forever. Of course, if they were listening to (and believing) theDo you have a question? Email: questions@investopoly.com.au or for a faster response, post a comment on the episode's video over on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@investopolypodcast/podcasts If you're interested in working with my team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/prospective-client/If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform. Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://www.prosolution.com.au/stay-connected/ Buy a one of Stuart's books for ONLY $20 including delivery. Use the discount code blog: https://prosolution.com.au/books/DOWNLOAD our 97-point financial health checklist here: https://prosolution.com.au/download-checklist/IMPORTANT: This podcast provides general information about finance, taxes, and credit. This means that the content does not consider your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is crucial for you to assess whether the information is suitable for your circumstances before taking any actions based on it. If you find yourself uncertain about the relevance or your specific needs, it is advisable to seek advice from a licensed and trustworthy professional.

Nov 15, 2022 • 19min
Governments vested interest in maintaining property price growth
There are many large and powerful institutions that have a vested interest in rising property prices. But all levels of government (i.e., federal, state and local) probably have the most to gain, as I’ll explain in this blog. This leads to two important observations. Firstly, the government is the main contributor to housing affordability pressures i.e., making housing less affordable. Secondly, government tax revenues are dependent upon rising prices and demand for property. I don’t want to debate whether this is right or wrong. I’m merely interested in highlighting economic and financial reality, as I think it’s helpful to inform personal investment decisions. The federal government revenueThe negative gearing tax break afforded to property investors has been widely debated since it was introduced in 1985. You will recall that Bill Shorten proposed to remove negative gearing in his unsuccessful federal election campaign in 2019. But its only half of the tax story. Using ATO data for the 2019/20 tax year, it appears that property investors claimed circa $728.5 million dollars of negative gearing income losses. But this is dwarfed by the taxable capital gains that taxpayers declared in the same year of over $20 billion. Of course these gains come from many sources (not just property investments) including share investments, sale of businesses, and so on. But property is a lumpy asset, so it tends to give rise to large CGT liabilities. Unfortunately, more granular information was unavailable. I’ve said in this blog many times, the most efficient way to build wealth is to invest in properties that have the attributes to drive strong capital growth over the long run, even if they produce a negative cash flow (because the rental yields are low). The wealth accumulating power of compounding capital growth will eventually dwarf any negative cash flow. The same is true when it comes to federal government tax revenue. The government generates a lot of (CGT) taxation revenue from rising property prices. State government tax revenue is highly dependent on property Australian states and territories generate two main taxation revenue streams from property, being stamp duty (i.e., transfer dutDo you have a question? Email: questions@investopoly.com.au or for a faster response, post a comment on the episode's video over on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@investopolypodcast/podcasts If you're interested in working with my team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/prospective-client/If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform. Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://www.prosolution.com.au/stay-connected/ Buy a one of Stuart's books for ONLY $20 including delivery. Use the discount code blog: https://prosolution.com.au/books/DOWNLOAD our 97-point financial health checklist here: https://prosolution.com.au/download-checklist/IMPORTANT: This podcast provides general information about finance, taxes, and credit. This means that the content does not consider your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is crucial for you to assess whether the information is suitable for your circumstances before taking any actions based on it. If you find yourself uncertain about the relevance or your specific needs, it is advisable to seek advice from a licensed and trustworthy professional.

Nov 8, 2022 • 16min
Retirement might not be as enjoyable as you expect unless...
I recently appeared as a guest on The Australian newspaper’s Money Café podcast, where we discussed the FIRE moment. The acronym stands for Financially Independent, Retire Early, which involves living as frugally as possible, investing as much as possible so that you can afford to retire as soon as possible. A listener that works in the mental health sector wrote into the show to say that she would actively discourage people from retiring early. Instead, perhaps work less, she suggested. She believed that working was beneficial to a person’s wellbeing and mental health. A UK study from 2013 found that retirement increased the probability of suffering from clinic depression by circa 40% and a physical health conditions by 60%. Retirement might not be as enjoyable as you expectImagine having the whole day to do whatever you want. No deadlines. No emails. No meetings. No obligations. Sounds appealing, right? The problem is that for many people, the retirement honeymoon wears off quickly. It is not uncommon for people to deal with a variety of feelings: § Loss of self-worth. For many of us, our occupation contributes a lot towards how we define ourselves and our self-worth. Once we have retired, we no longer see ourselves as “a lawyer, a surgeon, a CEO…”, which can lead to a loss of identity which is often connected to ones self-worth. § Miss daily routine. The daily routine of travelling to work, meetings, deadlines and so on adds structure to our day. Without this structure, people can start to feel bored, aimless, and isolated.§ Hobbies and interests aren’t enough. Hobbies and interests can be great pastimes whilst we are working, as they allow us time to relax and socialise. However, once we stop working, we might find we need activities that offer more than just relaxation. § Expectations are different to your spouses. If your spouse wants completely different things from retirement this could create conflict. I think most people are underprepared for retirement.There are two important needs that work satisfies Speaker and coach, Tony Robbins has adapted Maslow's hierarchy of needs to derive Do you have a question? Email: questions@investopoly.com.au or for a faster response, post a comment on the episode's video over on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@investopolypodcast/podcasts If you're interested in working with my team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/prospective-client/If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform. Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://www.prosolution.com.au/stay-connected/ Buy a one of Stuart's books for ONLY $20 including delivery. Use the discount code blog: https://prosolution.com.au/books/DOWNLOAD our 97-point financial health checklist here: https://prosolution.com.au/download-checklist/IMPORTANT: This podcast provides general information about finance, taxes, and credit. This means that the content does not consider your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is crucial for you to assess whether the information is suitable for your circumstances before taking any actions based on it. If you find yourself uncertain about the relevance or your specific needs, it is advisable to seek advice from a licensed and trustworthy professional.

Nov 1, 2022 • 18min
How much should you invest in property, shares and super?
A common question I receive is how much should I invest in property? That is, how do you know when you have enough, and should you start investing in other assets? It’s a good question because it invites people to consider their goals and develop a long-term strategy to achieve them. I set out some of the factors that you should consider below. But ultimately, it really depends on personal circumstances. Rule of thumb is you need 20 to 25 times income The first consideration is the value of the investment assets you have today compared to what you need by the time you want to retire. As a rule of thumb, you need to accumulate investment assets equal to 20 to 25 times the annual income you require to fund retirement. For example, if you aim to spend $100k p.a. when you are retired, you need to accumulate $2 to $2.5 million of net investment assets by the time you retire. These assets could include equity in investment properties (i.e., net sales proceeds less CGT and outstanding loans), shares and superannuation. Lifecycle of an investor If you are a long way from achieving your net asset goal, then it is likely that your investment strategy will need to be more aggressive e.g., borrowing to invest. However, if you are close to achieving this goal, then your focus should be on ensuring the mix of assets are correct. This video sets out the typical lifecycle of an investor e.g., why it’s best to start with property, then invest in super and shares. What is the right mix? Longevity risk is the risk that you will live longer than your financial resources will allow i.e., you’ll run out of money. To protect yourself against longevity, your investments must generate a combination of capital growth and income. Income will help you fund living expenses and capital growth will protect your asset base against the impact of inflation. For example, if you have $2.5 million of investment assets, your average return might consist of 3.5% income and 3.5% growth. This will provide you with approximately $88k p.a. of income. If some of this income is franked (imputation credits) or from super, you probably won’t pay any tax. In addition to income, the value of your investments will appreciate by $88k, of which you’ll need to spend $12k to top-up living expenses (i.e., to give you $100k p.a.). The remaining $76k will be reinvested and compound. This should ensure your inveDo you have a question? Email: questions@investopoly.com.au or for a faster response, post a comment on the episode's video over on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@investopolypodcast/podcasts If you're interested in working with my team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/prospective-client/If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform. Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://www.prosolution.com.au/stay-connected/ Buy a one of Stuart's books for ONLY $20 including delivery. Use the discount code blog: https://prosolution.com.au/books/DOWNLOAD our 97-point financial health checklist here: https://prosolution.com.au/download-checklist/IMPORTANT: This podcast provides general information about finance, taxes, and credit. This means that the content does not consider your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is crucial for you to assess whether the information is suitable for your circumstances before taking any actions based on it. If you find yourself uncertain about the relevance or your specific needs, it is advisable to seek advice from a licensed and trustworthy professional.

Oct 25, 2022 • 17min
What’s going on with share markets!
Calendar year to date, the stock and bond markets have produced some of the worst returns on record, which is unusual because bonds and stocks are typically negatively correlated. In fact, this has only happened two times over the past 96 years, as illustrated in this chart. Even gold, commodities and property have lost value this year. It’s really been a horrible market for investment returns. I discuss the key risks that have driven markets lower below, as well as highlighting the investment opportunities that exist as a result. How high will interest rates rise and for how long? I think the biggest factor that is creating the most uncertainty is what the terminal cash rate may be i.e., how high will central banks have to raise rates to reduce inflation. I don’t think the market will begin any sustainable recovery until the terminal cash rate becomes clear and ascertainable.If the terminal cash rate turns out to be lower than what the market has priced in, then it is possible that markets could rebound strongly. In Australia, the market has priced in a terminal cash rate of 4.0%, so it’s entirely possible that the market has over-sold, since no economists expect the RBA to raise rates by another 1.40%. For example, the big 4 banks forecast the terminal cash rate to be 3.1-3.6% which is an increase by another 0.5% to 1.0% over the coming 6 to 9 months. In the US, its equivalent cash rate is currently set at 3.00-3.25% and the market is expecting a terminal rate of between 4.5-5.0%, so it seems the US Fed Reserve has a lot more work to do than the RBA does in Australia. My point is that until we see successive data that confirms inflation has begun returning to normal levels, the market cannot accurately price in an accurate terminal cash rate. Will there be a recession? If so, how deep? In response to rising inflation, central banks have hiked interest rates faster that anytime in history. Normally, when a central bank wants to tighten monetary policy, it does so less aggressively so that it can measure the impact that higher rates is having on the economy. This more measured approach allows central bankers to adjust their approach to ensure it doesn’t raise rates too far and cause a recession i.e., slow economic growth too much. Given most economic data lags by two to three montDo you have a question? Email: questions@investopoly.com.au or for a faster response, post a comment on the episode's video over on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@investopolypodcast/podcasts If you're interested in working with my team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/prospective-client/If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform. Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://www.prosolution.com.au/stay-connected/ Buy a one of Stuart's books for ONLY $20 including delivery. Use the discount code blog: https://prosolution.com.au/books/DOWNLOAD our 97-point financial health checklist here: https://prosolution.com.au/download-checklist/IMPORTANT: This podcast provides general information about finance, taxes, and credit. This means that the content does not consider your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is crucial for you to assess whether the information is suitable for your circumstances before taking any actions based on it. If you find yourself uncertain about the relevance or your specific needs, it is advisable to seek advice from a licensed and trustworthy professional.

Oct 18, 2022 • 17min
To what extent does rental yield affect your borrowing capacity?
The very first article that I wrote for a magazine was published 19 years ago! No wonder I feel old. The article was called ‘Unlimited finance…’. My thesis was that investing in high yield properties, doesn’t magically extend ones borrowing capacity allowing them to invest a lot more. Some investors believe targeting high rental yielding investment properties will allow them to borrow a lot more and therefore buy more properties. And the more property they hold, the more wealth they accumulate, or so their theory goes. However, the truth is that borrowing capacity isn’t that sensitive to rental yields. How much does rental yield affect borrowing capacity I wrote a blog last week highlighting that borrowing capacity is probably the tightest that it’s been in 20 years. The reason is that lenders must add a benchmark interest rate of 3% on top of the actual rate you will pay to ensure you can afford a loan, should interest rates rise further. Banks will also base their affordability on principal and interest repayments over a 25-year loan term. As such, the benchmark repayments for a $1 million investment loan will be $93,000. Consequently, for an investment property to be borrowing capacity neutral, it must generate a gross rental yield of over 13%, as most lenders shave off 20-30% of rental income to allow for expenses. Obviously, there aren’t a lot of residential properties yielding more than 13%. As such, even higher yielding investments (e.g., 4-6% p.a.) eat into an investors borrowing capacity. Lower yielding properties reduce your borrowing capacity by 25% I spoke to an investor recently that had invested in 3 properties. The aggregate value of these properties was $1.2 million, and the portfolio had $1 million of debt. The gross rental yield across the portfolio was around 5.2% p.a. This investor thought targeting high yielding properties would allow him to borrow more and buy more properties. It is true that higher yielding properties do increase your borrowing capacity. Let’s look at an example. I assumed each spouse earns $100k p.a. gross, an outstanding home loan of $350k, spend $5,500 per month on living expenses and have a credit card with a $5k limit. Based on these assumptions, I calculated their borrowing capacity as follows: If they achieve a gross rental yield of 5.5%, they can invDo you have a question? Email: questions@investopoly.com.au or for a faster response, post a comment on the episode's video over on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@investopolypodcast/podcasts If you're interested in working with my team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/prospective-client/If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform. Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://www.prosolution.com.au/stay-connected/ Buy a one of Stuart's books for ONLY $20 including delivery. Use the discount code blog: https://prosolution.com.au/books/DOWNLOAD our 97-point financial health checklist here: https://prosolution.com.au/download-checklist/IMPORTANT: This podcast provides general information about finance, taxes, and credit. This means that the content does not consider your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is crucial for you to assess whether the information is suitable for your circumstances before taking any actions based on it. If you find yourself uncertain about the relevance or your specific needs, it is advisable to seek advice from a licensed and trustworthy professional.

Oct 11, 2022 • 16min
Important changes to your borrowing capacity
Borrowing capacity has probably never been tighter in the 20 years since I started ProSolution! This is delaying investment plans for some clients. However, my expectation is that this is temporary and an easing in borrowing capacity might not be too far away. How borrowing capacity rules have changed over recent years In 2019, the banking regulator, APRA told banks to include a ‘serviceability buffer’ of at least 2.5% above the actual interest rate to test borrowing capacity. In October 2021, it increased this to a minimum of 3%, when actual interest rates were circa 2% p.a. Therefore, if you are applying for a home loan today, your repayments will be tested at a rate of around 7.55% p.a. P&I over 30 years. Interest-only investment loan applications are tested at an interest rate of circa 8.35% p.a. on a P&I basis over 25 years. This means benchmark repayments for a $1 million home loan would be $84k p.a. (compared to $61k p.a. for actual repayments), and almost $95k p.a. for an interest-only investment loan (compared to $54k p.a. for actual repayments). Therefore, benchmark repayments are now over 80% higher than actual repayments for interest-only investment loans. To give you some context, benchmark interest rates over the past 20 years have typically ranged between 6% and 7% p.a. It is probably unnecessary for benchmark interest rates to exceed circa 7% p.a. on a permanent basis. Rising interest rates reduces your borrowing capacity The issue is that the RBA has hiked rates so quickly i.e., 2.50% over the past 6 months and the banking regulator hasn’t adjusted its benchmark interest rate guidance accordingly. The 3% p.a. buffer was prudent when the cash rate was only 0.10% p.a. but arguably excessive now. For example, a borrower needs to demonstrate they have over $62,000 of surplus income to qualify for a $1 million investment loan to buy an investment property: · Rental income @ 3% of property’s value shaded by 70% to allow for expenses = $20,000· Less P&I repayments on $1m @ 8.35% over 25 years = $95,450· Add back negative gearing tax benefit = $13,000· Cash surplus required = $62,450 (which equates to an income surplus of $100k p.a. before tax)The RBA would like to see lending volumes fall It is noteworthy that new home loan volumes have been unsustainably high over the past two years, as illustrated in the chart below. New investment home loan volumes have been above average too, but not to the saDo you have a question? Email: questions@investopoly.com.au or for a faster response, post a comment on the episode's video over on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@investopolypodcast/podcasts If you're interested in working with my team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/prospective-client/If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform. Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://www.prosolution.com.au/stay-connected/ Buy a one of Stuart's books for ONLY $20 including delivery. Use the discount code blog: https://prosolution.com.au/books/DOWNLOAD our 97-point financial health checklist here: https://prosolution.com.au/download-checklist/IMPORTANT: This podcast provides general information about finance, taxes, and credit. This means that the content does not consider your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is crucial for you to assess whether the information is suitable for your circumstances before taking any actions based on it. If you find yourself uncertain about the relevance or your specific needs, it is advisable to seek advice from a licensed and trustworthy professional.

Oct 4, 2022 • 17min
5 property investing mistakes I've seen over 20 years, and how to avoid them
One of the most interesting things I do is meet many investors every week (i.e., prospective clients). It is something that I have been doing regularly for almost 20 years, so I’ve literally spoken to thousands of investors. It is interesting because it provides me with the opportunity to reflect on peoples past investment decisions with the benefit of hindsight. There are some common themes. People tend to make one of a handful of mistakes. I think past mistakes provide very valuable learnings. Mistakes are predictable from the outsetI believe that all financial “mistakes” are completely avoidable. Virtually no financial mistakes (i.e., losses or underperformance) occur because of random bad luck. They are avoidable if you follow an evidence-based approach. For example, if your share investing methodology involves buying highly speculative stocks, then you only have yourself to blame if you don’t make any money after several years, because the evidence shows that speculation has a very low probability of generating reasonable returns over the long run. Therefore, based on my 20 years of experience, if you commit one of the mistakes below, there’s a very high probability that you’ll end up with a dud investment. Conversely, if you avoid all these mistakes, you maximise your chances of success. I must remind readers that I am completely independent. We do not buy property on behalf of clients, so I have no vested interest in you following the below advice. I am merely sharing what I have observed over the past two decades. (1) Buyers’ agents buying outside of their domicile State It is becoming more common for buyers’ agents to buy property interstate for clients. For example, a Sydney-based buyers’ agent might buy property in Brisbane. In my view, this is a no-no. One of the most important things I hope to benefit from when engaging the services of a buyers’ agent is their experience. I know that selecting the right property is part-art and part-science. The science part incudes all the objective considerations such as past growth, location, land size, land value, zoning/restrictions and so on. The objective assessment is driven mostly by data and a lot of this data is now available for a small cost online. I probably don’t need to pay a professional to collate such data. However, the art part of selecting a property is obsoletely critical. It requires loDo you have a question? Email: questions@investopoly.com.au or for a faster response, post a comment on the episode's video over on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@investopolypodcast/podcasts If you're interested in working with my team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/prospective-client/If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform. Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://www.prosolution.com.au/stay-connected/ Buy a one of Stuart's books for ONLY $20 including delivery. Use the discount code blog: https://prosolution.com.au/books/DOWNLOAD our 97-point financial health checklist here: https://prosolution.com.au/download-checklist/IMPORTANT: This podcast provides general information about finance, taxes, and credit. This means that the content does not consider your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is crucial for you to assess whether the information is suitable for your circumstances before taking any actions based on it. If you find yourself uncertain about the relevance or your specific needs, it is advisable to seek advice from a licensed and trustworthy professional.

Sep 27, 2022 • 13min
Focusing on rental income could cost you $1m in lost wealth
An investment property’s total investment return will consist of rental income plus capital growth. I have written about the importance of maximising capital growth many times. However, often investors are tempted to focus attention on income (when selecting an investment property) too, as they seek to minimise the cash flow cost of holding the investment property. I propose that this is a mistake with a high opportunity cost. The reason investors make this mistake could be due to (1) not fully appreciating the consequences of their decision, (2) need to adjust their target property attributes or (3) need to reduce their investment budget. Focusing on income means you must spend more on the building value The value of a property consists of two components being the land plus any improvements i.e., the dwelling. Generally, land appreciates in value whereas buildings depreciate over time due to wear and tear, which I have written about Do you have a question? Email: questions@investopoly.com.au or for a faster response, post a comment on the episode's video over on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@investopolypodcast/podcasts If you're interested in working with my team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/prospective-client/If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform. Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://www.prosolution.com.au/stay-connected/ Buy a one of Stuart's books for ONLY $20 including delivery. Use the discount code blog: https://prosolution.com.au/books/DOWNLOAD our 97-point financial health checklist here: https://prosolution.com.au/download-checklist/IMPORTANT: This podcast provides general information about finance, taxes, and credit. This means that the content does not consider your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is crucial for you to assess whether the information is suitable for your circumstances before taking any actions based on it. If you find yourself uncertain about the relevance or your specific needs, it is advisable to seek advice from a licensed and trustworthy professional.

Sep 20, 2022 • 16min
How should you invest your cash savings?
Often people wonder whether they should be doing more with their cash savings other than leaving them in a savings account. This blog discusses some options and highlights some considerations with each option. Of course, the information contained in this blog is not personalised advice as it cannot consider your unique situation and goals. As such, you should always consider obtaining personal independent financial advice before making any financial decisions. Maintain a buffer equal to 6 to 12 months of living expensesI typically counsel my clients to hold between 6 and 12 months of living expenses in cash savings in case of emergencies. If your income or expenses can be volatile, you should probably hold 12 (or more) months. Therefore, the options discussed below apply to any cash savings you may hold in excess of this buffer amount. Contribute into superYou can contribute savings into super either through making concessional (up to an annual cap of $27,500 per person) and/or non-concessional (annual cap is $110,000) contributions. The benefits of moving savings inside super are twofold. Firstly, it’s a low-tax environment where investment earnings are taxed at a flat rate of 15% and capital gains at only 10%. If you are a high-income earner, it will save tax. Secondly, it will be automatically invested for you in line with your selected investment option e.g., balanced, growth, etc., so it’s a very simple, hands-off way to invest your savings. The downside to contributing money into super is that you cannot access it until you are older than 60[1] and retired (or 65 if you are still working). Whether this is a potential problem depends on (1) how close you are to being able to access super if you need it and (2) the likelihood of needing to access these monies e.g., if you have plenty of financial resources outside of super, then the likelihood is probably low. If you are going to move your savings into super, please make sure that your super fund is performing well. Invest in hybrid securities A hybrid security is a type of investment that combines bond and share (equity) characteristics. It usually pays a monthly income, like a bond (via a dividend payment). These dividends typicDo you have a question? Email: questions@investopoly.com.au or for a faster response, post a comment on the episode's video over on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@investopolypodcast/podcasts If you're interested in working with my team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/prospective-client/If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform. Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://www.prosolution.com.au/stay-connected/ Buy a one of Stuart's books for ONLY $20 including delivery. Use the discount code blog: https://prosolution.com.au/books/DOWNLOAD our 97-point financial health checklist here: https://prosolution.com.au/download-checklist/IMPORTANT: This podcast provides general information about finance, taxes, and credit. This means that the content does not consider your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is crucial for you to assess whether the information is suitable for your circumstances before taking any actions based on it. If you find yourself uncertain about the relevance or your specific needs, it is advisable to seek advice from a licensed and trustworthy professional.