Investopoly

If you need financial advice, how much should you expect to pay for it? Of course, the cost is what you pay, but value is what you receive. The value needs to exceed the cost for it to be worthwhile. So, how do you assess the value of financial advice?Whilst the answers to these questions can vary significantly, we must take into account that value assessments can be subjective, and I wanted to share my insights to help people with this analysis.Financial advice fees create tensionOn one hand, the lower the financial advisory fee you pay, the more money you save to invest and that has to translate to a higher likelihood of achieving your financial goals.On the other hand, in many respects, you get what you pay for. The cheapest financial advice is not always the best.Your willingness to pay more for financial advice may create some valuable consequences:§ It is likely that you will attract an advisor with more experience. An advisor with 20 years of experience isn’t going to work for $20 per hour – a graduate with zero experience might;§ It will allow that person to spend more time thinking about (analysing) the advice they give you. However, if profit margins are very thin, it inevitably creates pressure to cut corners – and certainly no scope to provide proactive advice; and§ The more human and economic resources a firm has, the more it can invest in their people and systems to continually improve the value they provide you. Better research, more analysis and more thinking time creates value in the long run.The truth is, because of the tension advisory fees create, a balance must be found. The fees you pay must be as low as possible. But not too low that it risks the value of the advice you receive.How much does it cost to give financial advice?The cost of giving financial advice can typically be categorised into four components.(1) StaffingThe cost of employing the right people can be significant. The quality of the people determines the quality of advice and service that you can expect to receive.Of course, the knowledge and experience of the advisor is paramount. Someone with very vast knowledge and many decades of experience will usually command a higher salary.For example, I’ve spent years honing my craft, learning, investing in myseDo 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.

Most people acknowledge that a will is an important document to create, but we all hope there’s no urgency to prepare it. As such, many people rarely ‘get around’ to it.One of the reasons for this is they don’t know enough about it and how to get started. This blog answers commonly asked questions and matters that should be considered when drafting estate planning documents.Rules are State basedThe laws that govern the administration of wills and intestacy (if you die without a will) is the State’s jurisdiction. This means rules may vary from state to state.Generally, if you die without a will, it is referred to as dying intestate. There are many adverse consequences of this including your assets being distributed in a way that you would not otherwise agree with. In addition, it creates unnecessary work and complexity for surviving family members to arrange probate.Simple circumstances requires a simple willIf your situation is simple, you only need a simple will. Simple means that you do not have significant assets, you do not have any specific beneficiaries or financial dependents. In this situation, typically, a template will should be satisfactory. You can purchase these online for approximately $200. Make sure your will is witnessed correctly.However, the more assets you have (in terms of value), the greater the need for personalised legal advice. Like in many situations, often it’s what you don’t know that could cause problems.Kids complicate mattersIf you have children (or are contemplating having children), you should engage a lawyer to draft your will. Not only do you need to ensure that all financial dependents will be looked after, but you must address guardianship of your children. In the event that you and your spouse1 pass away, who will be the legal guardian of your children? This is an important decision which must be included in your will.I would typically advise people with children to insert a testamentary trust into their will. A testamentary trust is a special discretionary trust that is created upon death. The will maker can permit the executor to transfer the estate assets into the testamentary trust. Testamentary trust’s proDo 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.

It is my observation that investment-grade apartments in Melbourne have under-performed (from a capital growth perspective) compared to houses over the past 8 to 10 years.That is, apartments have generated very little capital growth (sometimes none), whereas houses have grown in value by between 5% and 8% p.a. over the same period.I have prepared a detailed report investigating the factors that have contributed towards this capital growth performance gap. Whilst I have focused my analysis on the Melbourne market, many of the factors identified and discussed have had an impact in Melbourne and to a lesser extent, Sydney.I provide a brief executive summary below. I invite you to download a copy of the full report (link is at the bottom of this page).We know that property growth tends to occur in cyclesThe chart below sets out the distribution growth in the median price of apartments in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane over the past 40 years.It is clear that growth cycles tend to last between 5 and 10 years (although Brisbane between 1980 and 2002 is the main exception). This is constant with what I have observed for houses, as previously charted here.Chart 1We need growth of circa 9% p.a. to make up for the under-performanceIf you purchased an apartment 7 years ago for $600,000 in Melbourne, it may be worth $650,000 today. Most people would (and should) be disappointed with receiving only $50,000 of capital growth over 7 years. Applying the change in land values (as implied by the actual change in house prices) to apartments, one could argue that the intrinsic value of this apartment may be closer to $900,000. This intrinsic valuation is illustrated by the blue dotted line in the chart below.I calculated that this apartment would need to generate an average capital growth rate of 9.2% p.a. over the next 10 years to “make up” for its past under-performance (i.e. to grow from value A to value B).That is, the value of the apartment would need to increase from $650,000 to $1.55 million over the next 10 years. Whilst that might seem unrealistic, we note that apartments have delivered growth above 9.2% p.a. in the past, as illustrated in the chart above.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.

Investment update: How to navigate current uncertaintiesThere is never a perfect time to invest. The stars never align. In reality, there will always be reasons why investing now feels risky. The solution is to learn to dance with uncertainty.Generally, most people can achieve this by doing two things. Firstly, focus only on generating quality investment returns in the long run. Ignore any short-term outcomes, as they are rarely relevant. Stick to proven investment fundamentals. Only adopt evidence-based strategies. Playing the long game often inspires higher levels of confidence.Secondly, embrace the fact that uncertainty is your friend. Potential investment profits are greatly improved during times of higher uncertainty. Early April is a good example. We helped many clients invest in the share market during April and subsequent months. Whilst we are fixated on maximising long term investment returns, our clients have generated very good returns in the short run.With this in mind, I thought it would be useful to share my thoughts on a number of risks (read: opportunities) that present themselves at the moment, and how I think you best navigate these.The US electionThe first thing to realise is that markets focus on policies, not personalities. From a pure market/economics perspective, a Trump victory is probably more attractive, at least in the shorter term. The reason for that is Trump’s agenda is to continue reducing taxes, whereas Biden wants to wind back some of Trump’s previous cuts. It is questionable whether now is the right time to raise taxes, especially since the US economy needs all the help that it can get at the moment. That will be ‘the markets’ primary concern.There is also some divergence in energy policies. It is fair to say the Biden’s energy policy generally favours environmental protection (Biden plans to impose a ‘carbon adjustment’ fee).Of course, whether a President can implement their policy agenda depends on whether they control the House of Representatives and Senate. The Democrats already have a majority in the House of Representatives, so it needs to win the Senate in next month’s election to control all three arms of government. If they don’t, the Republicans can block legislation unless the Democrats can get rid of the filibuster, which you can read 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.

Have you ever had a strong opinion (prediction) about investment markets which was subsequently proven to be incorrect? A recent example was when many people predicted borrowers would be forced to sell their properties due to the Covid lockdowns and the market would crash. This outcome now seems unlikely.It is my view that a humble mindset is the best way to avoid being blindsided by unexpected investment risk, whilst at the same time spotting all opportunities. Let me explain.Predicting the end of the world isn’t a risky endeavourRobert Glazer wrote about the concept of cognitive dissonance in his recent blog:“… the authors examined the followers of cult leaders who predicted that the world was going to end on a specific date, and told everyone to prepare. When that day passed without a fiery inferno, you may have expected these cult leaders to have lost all credibility with their followers. Instead, the exact opposite happened. The leaders simply declared their prediction was incorrect and declared a new date. Like clockwork, their followers doubled-down and began preparing for the next apocalypse. Why would they do this? According to Tavris and Aronson, it was likely too painful for the cultists to admit they had fallen for a fraudulent prophecy. It was easier to avoid interrogating their own judgment, and to instead dig a deeper hole of delusion for themselves.”This shows the danger of holding strong opinions and leaving no room for the possibility that you could be wrong, particularly when you are investing money.Perpetual property bears seem to ignore the evidenceThere are two prominent commentators that have been perpetually bearish about the Australian property market since I started ProSolution in 2002.They are Martin North from Digital Financial Analytics and economist Dr Steve Keen, who is now working in London. Of course, there are others but these two stand out in my mind.They have both been outspoken and incorrectly predicted property price crashes on a number of occasions. In fact, I recall watching Dr Keen on the TV program, Sixty Minutes in 2008 telling all Australian’sDo 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.

This year’s budget was definitely aimed at business rather than individuals, and it needed to be. The main goal of the federal budget is to create jobs to repair the damage that Covid has done to the economy and Australian community.Therefore, if you already have a job, there’s not much good news for you in the budget. However, there is plenty of good news for the Australian economy which will probably enhance the share market and property investment returns.What’s in it for individuals?The major benefit contained in the budget for individuals was income tax cuts. These tax cuts are backdated to begin on 1 July 2020. The table below sets out the tax savings (second column from the right) that you may enjoy.The budget also included some other miscellaneous benefits, which are listed below.Improving the super industry and performanceThe government will direct employers to pay super into existing accounts (as advised by the ATO) to avoid opening a new account with a new super fund when you start a new job. This will avoid workers unknowingly accumulating multiple super accounts.The government will also take measures to improve the accountability and transparency of super funds, which is a problem I have written about previously. This includes building a MySuper website which will allow people to rank investment returns and fees. Any improvements in this space are long overdue.Interestingly, the government did not announce that it would postpone the increase to the compulsory super contribution rate from 9.5% to 10% p.a. At this stage, this is still set to begin on 1 July 2021.Granny flat arrangementsGranny flats will now be exempt from CGT where a formal written agreement is in place.Relaxing the paid parental leave qualification criteriaParents will qualify for parental leave payments if they have worked in 10 of the last 20 months, instead of 10 of the last 13 months, preceding the birth or adoption of a child. This is to accommodate the impact of Covid.Additional government grantees for first home buyersThe government will make available an additional 10,000 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.

The government made an important announcement last week. This change could substantially increase your borrowing capacity in the next year. It is perhaps the most significant change that has occurred in the last decade and will further fuel property price growth.I also wanted to update you on interest rates, particularly in light of recent expectations that the RBA will soon cut rates again.A positive change for investors and the property marketIn 2009, the government re-wrote the laws governing the provision of loans. This required mortgage brokers and lenders to ensure that any new loans provided to borrowers were ‘not unsuitable’.The background is importantSince the introduction of this new legislation, the government (ASIC) has been gradually tightening the laws, particularly over the last 3 to 4 years. In October 2018, I compared the loan application process to a forensic investigation (see below). This was not an exaggeration.A few months ago, even the Governor of the RBA agreed that the tightening of credit rules had gone too far. There have been many examples of banks trawling through bank statements questioning small ($20) expenses. This pedantic approach added very little to the quality of the credit assessment.Your current spending tells me little about your ability to repayPerhaps the most significant recent event was Westpac’s success in defending an action initiated by ASIC regarding its alleged non-compliance with the credit laws. This case is now referred to as the 'Wagyu and shiraz' judgment. That is because Justice Perram said "I may eat Wagyu beef everyday washed down with the finest shiraz but, if I really want my new home, I can make do on much more modest fare…”.When faced with the decision of whether to go out to dinner or make a mortgage repayment, almost everyone will make the right decision. To some degree, a high level of discretionary spending is arguably strong evidence that you have surplus cash flow that you could otherwise divert towards loan repayments.The upshot is that 1Do 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.

n May, I wrote a blog after CBA released its bearish ‘worst case’ forecast for the property market. It predicted a 32% drop in prices! I outlined in my blog why I thought that was rubbish and prices would not fall by more than 10%. To date, according to various data sources, property values have not slipped by much more than 2% to 3%, which is barely noteworthy.CBA revised its forecast on 9 September admitting they got it wrong.Now that the virus is under control in Melbourne (and also nationally), I thought it was an opportune time to share my forecast for next year. It is my view that prices in well-established, inner-city, blue chip suburbs will rebound strongly in 2021 and deliver double-digit growth.I set out the reasons for adopting this view below.Covid has hurt low-income earners and younger people the mostUnfortunately, lower-income earners have been more financially vulnerable to the impact of Covid. They tend to work in occupations that do not lend themselves to working from home. In addition, industries such has hospitality, travel and tourism have been severely impacted, especially in Melbourne. As such, Covid has disproportionately affected lower income earners to a much greater extent.A high proportion of middle and higher income earners are likely to either recover their income back to pre-Covid levels very quickly or haven’t been impacted at all.In fact, there is a large cohort of people that are in a stronger financial position today. That’s because their income has been unaffected, their discretionary spending has reduced e.g. less eating out and no holidays and interest rates are at all-time lows. As such, many people have either accelerated debt repayments or accumulated more savings.The best evidence of the financial strength of this cohort is reflected in the credit card spending data compiled by the banks. This data gives us a real-time indication of how much people are spending by category. Overall consumer spending is up 5% compared to last year. This demonstrates the unaffected cohort more than makes up for the people that have lost their jobs and income. This thematic is likely to translate to the property market too, especially in blue-chip suburbs.Low rates will inflate asset pricesIt is a generally accepted ecoDo 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.

The compulsory superannuation contribution rate is set to increase by 0.5% each year for the next six years (i.e. from 9.5% to 12%) beginning from 1 July 2021. It is understood that the Federal Government is considering postponing next year’s increase, due to concerns about whether the economy can afford these higher employment costs and at the same time as deal with the current economic challenges.A lot of the commentary about superannuation, including whether next year’s contribution increase should be postponed, is often motivated by political and vested interests. Therefore, I thought it would be useful to cut through this rhetoric and focus on the facts alone (i.e. maths).In particular, I wanted to focus on two questions; (1) how long will your super last after retirement, and (2) how important are higher contributions compared to investment returns and fees.How long your super will last depends on what you spendObviously, a key determinant of how long your super balance will last is how much you spend. The less you spend, the longer your money will last – no surprises there!The best way to assess how much money you will probably need in retirement (to maintain your current standard of living), is to base it on how much you spend today. Of course, it is likely that you will spend your money on different things, but the aggregate amount tends to be very similar (between when you are working to when you are retired).This table sets out what people tend to spend, based on my experience. The rule of thumb is that living expenses (see my definition of General Living Expenses here) tend to be in the range of 40% and 50% of your gross employment income (but typically not less than $50,000 or more than $150,000).Comparing annual contribution levels of 9.5%, 12% and 15%In my analysis, I measured the impact of a 30-year-old contributing a total of between 9.5% and 15% of their income each year for 30 years i.e. until they are aDo 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.

Investing well is important. However, investing well over long periods of time is most important.Everyone would agree that making a one-time 50% return on an investment is a wonderful outcome. But making a 7% return each year for 40 years is a far better outcome, as it multiplies your initial investment by a factor of 15!This is an important principal to remind ourselves of, especially at the moment when our lives (and, to some extent, markets) have been turned upside-down by Covid-19!Even moderate returns over long periods generate massive wealthThe chart below published by Vanguard (click to enlarge) calculates how much $10,000 invested in 1990 would be worth today.The Australian (ASX200) index is currently trading at 5,985. If it grows at 2% p.a., what will its value be in 50 years’ time?The answer: The ASX200 would be 16,100.If it grew by an average of 4% p.a., it would be worth 42,500. Now, imagine it if grows by 8% p.a. – which is still below the 8.9% p.a. growth rate over the past 30 years. That would push the ASX200 index above 280,000!!This simple example illustrates the beauty of playing the long game.But to successfully play the long game, you must resist the temptation to get sucked into the incessant short term ‘noise’, worry and predictions.I am usually sceptical when people tell me things have changed foreverThe world is full of forecasts. At the moment, many commentators are telling us that the work-from-home (WFH) movement will result in companies deserting commercial office space en masse. And increased WFH will also result in a permanent increase in demand for regional property – since we don’t need to travel into the CBD anymore.As Mr Buffett says, “forecasters will fill your ears but never your pockets”. You should be sceptical when anyone tells you that things have changed permanently overnight, because they rarely do.Let me use WFH as an exampleIt is my view that WFH will have some impact on demand for commercial office space and, to a lesser extent, residential property in regional locations. But the size of its impact has been grossly overstated.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.