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Read Full Blog Here Have full cover while you’re young and it’s cheap, then cut it back as your assets grow. Income protection matters most, trauma the least. In this episode I explain how we calculate life, TPD and income protection cover, and why the final step is weighing the premium against what that money could earn if you invested it instead. I also cover: Why we always use stepped premiums rather than level premiumsWhy life and TPD belong inside super and income protection outside itChoosing waiting periods and policy definitions for income protectionWhen to review your cover, and why yearly reviews can lull you into keeping too muchThe insurance calculator worksheet is free to download from the new resource site at investopoly.com.au. 00:00 Introduction and the new Investopoly resource site  03:57 Insurance as a necessary evil  04:58 Why most advice recommends too much cover  05:55 The four types: life, TPD, income protection and trauma  08:36 TPD insurance: own occupation vs any occupation  10:22 The tension between paying for cover and investing  11:19 Cutting cover back as your asset base grows  13:34 How your insurance needs change across life stages  15:21 Stepped vs level premiums  18:21 How to calculate life and TPD cover  20:42 Weighing affordability against cost  22:33 How much income protection you need  23:26 How premiums and benefits are taxed  25:33 Where to hold life and TPD cover  26:50 Income protection waiting periods  27:55 Policy quality and the three-tier definition  29:01 Why thorough underwriting is worth the hassle  30:06 Trauma insurance: the most optional cover  32:24 When to review your insurance  34:34 Next week: bonds Related episodes: How much you need to retire (October 2026). Referenced at 00:18, and the cut-back-as-assets-grow argument relies on the same are-you-on-track thinking.The super report episode (July 2026). Related because it covers choosing a super fund, and this episode covers which funds have competitively priced life and TPD cover inside super.Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

An 8.4% return isn’t the problem; what drove it is. I’d struggle to justify active funds and a 0.76% fee over a diversified ETF. In this listener Q&A, I explain how to judge short-term returns, why active fund outperformance rarely lasts, and why Jack probably doesn’t need to pay an adviser to run around $420,000 across super and his trust. I’d keep his family trust and gradually move his direct shares across when the price suits. I’d also keep his property as an investment under the six-year rule and switch the loan to interest-only.  Max asks if he can wind down at 44 with about $5.4 million invested. Spending around $180,000 a year is roughly 3.3% of that, so the bigger job is putting his cash to work. Tom is retiring in his early 60s with property inside and outside his SMSF. I’d lean towards keeping the SMSF property for the pension phase, selling one or two personal properties, and investing for growth rather than income. Josh asks whether a family trust still makes sense after the budget and how fast to deploy $450,000 of borrowing capacity. My answer is still the trust, with a bucket company added later, and a steady monthly amount that steps up if markets fall. 00:35 Jack: Is 8.4% too low for a 28-year-old?  02:43 Why active fund outperformance rarely persists  03:38 What drove the return matters more than the number  07:52 Why value-aware portfolios can lag early on  08:50 Wrap platforms, EX20 and Australian shares at 28  10:05 Do you need an adviser for $420,000?  11:40 Shares in your own name and keeping the family trust  12:59 Rent or buy? Using the six-year rule  15:02 Switching the investment loan to interest-only  15:34 Max: winding down at 44 with $5.4 million  16:53 The missing number: how much you spend  17:27 Earning 6.5% after tax, and trimming gold  17:47 Putting $900,000 of cash to work  19:10 Tom: moving from work into retirement  20:47 Get as much as you can into super  21:29 Why property needs a flexible exit plan  22:27 Keeping SMSF property for pension phase  23:23 Selling one or two properties and investing for growth  24:19 Why I’d be careful with VHY  25:52 Josh: family trust and bucket company after the budget  27:37 The rollover election and the minimum 30% tax  28:18 Lump sum vs drip-feeding $450,000  30:00 Kids’ money: family trust over investment bonds  30:57 Coming up: how much insurance you need Related episodes:  Ep 430: Is financial advice worth it? What rules can’t fix.  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19923707-ep-430-is-financial-advice-worth-it-what-rules-can-t-fix Ep 427: How to assess whether property and share markets are attractively priced  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19832497-ep-427-how-to-assess-whether-property-and-share-markets-are-attractively-priced Q&A - Untangling a messy structure, cutting losses, and low-income investing  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19720854-q-a-untangling-a-messy-structure-cutting-losses-and-low-income-investing Ep 429: How much do you need to retire & are you on track? Work it out here.  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19893951-ep-429-how-much-do-you-need-to-retire-are-you-on-track-work-it-out-here Q&A - Deploying an inheritance, selling an average property, and funding a long retirement  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19832494-q-a-deploying-an-inheritance-selling-an-average-property-and-funding-a-long-retirement Ep 403: Lump sum share market investing: risky or rational  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/18951456-ep-403-lump-sum-share-market-investing-risky-or-rational Ep 425: Family trust investing: Are trusts still worth it under proposed tax changes?  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19764156-ep-425-family-trust-investing-are-trusts-still-worth-it-under-proposed-tax-changes Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Read Full Blog Here Russell says advice adds 5.5% a year and Vanguard says 3%. A disciplined, rules-based approach captures much of that, but not all of it. I think these reports overstate things by assuming that without an adviser you'll panic, chase returns and keep changing strategy. In this episode I split the mistakes the reports cite into two groups: the ones a rules-based framework prevents, like concentrated portfolios, cash drag and return chasing, and the ones it can't, like ownership structures, how to allocate surplus cash flow, and super contribution strategy. I also cover why knowing the rules isn't the same as following them, the March 2020 test of your own discipline, and the portfolio size at which advice pays for itself. 00:00 The "advisor fee: $0" bill that prompted this episode  00:55 Revisiting episode 319 and the Russell and Vanguard reports  01:51 Why I'm sceptical of these estimates  02:31 What if you already follow a rules-based framework?  03:23 Breaking down Russell's 5.5%  04:53 Vanguard's Adviser's Alpha framework  06:07 The wealth equation and where mistakes cost real money  07:25 Separating the mistakes rules can and can't prevent  07:46 Portfolio design mistakes a rules-based approach fixes  10:20 Complexity and knowledge gaps rules can't fix  12:34 When the numbers make advice worthwhile  13:18 Why knowing what to do isn't enough  16:15 The best days in the market and why indexing works  17:48 The acid test: what did you do in March and April 2020?  20:19 Economies of scale: when advice pays for itself  22:12 Choosing an adviser as a decision that moves the dial  22:59 Using someone you trust as a sounding board  23:52 Summing up  25:26 Next week: how much insurance you actually need Related episodes: Episode 319 (2024): my earlier look at the value of financial advice, focused on portfolio size and complexity. Referenced at 00:55 and again at 20:19.Episode 414: the handful of life decisions that really move the dial. Referenced at 22:12.Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Selling your home needn’t undo debt recycling. I’d substitute the security with a term deposit or your next home to keep it deductible. In this listener Q&A I walk Dave through substitution of security and simultaneous settlements, and explain why I’d pay a little more for a flexible lender. I then answer Marcus on whether to offset an investment loan or use a high-interest savings account. On the top marginal rate the offset usually wins, unless a low-income spouse changes the maths. I also cover why I wouldn’t pay investment debt down to zero. For Michael, I explain why you shouldn’t keep an average property just for the negative gearing, and how much leverage a 30-year-old actually needs. Dominic asks about moving assets out of a family trust ahead of the proposed 30% minimum tax, and my answer is still to do nothing yet. Nathan asks who benefits from quarantined negative gearing, and what the UK’s experience tells us about housing affordability. 00:00 Nathan: who benefits from quarantined negative gearing?  01:19 Vested interests: new builds, commercial and offshore buyer’s agents  03:00 Why commercial property yields don’t stack up  04:34 Lessons from the UK’s property tax changes  08:32 Tax settings only move affordability at the margin  09:30 Dominic: moving assets out of a family trust  10:01 Two minimum 30% taxes, and why to do nothing yet  11:05 CGT rollover relief and the stamp duty problem  11:53 Will the trust tax be rescinded before the 2028 election?  13:49 What common-sense tax reform would look like  15:13 Business as usual for your discretionary trust  15:35 Michael: should I sell an average investment property?  18:00 Don’t hold an asset just for negative gearing  18:40 Property vs shares: the power of leverage  21:19 Never a bad time to sell a bad asset  23:07 Dave: debt recycling when you sell your home  24:21 Substitution of security using a term deposit  25:54 Simultaneous settlement from old home to new  26:27 If the bank repays your loan by mistake  27:16 Why lender flexibility beats a lower rate  29:01 Revaluations and using lenders in the right order  30:24 Marcus: offset an investment loan or use a savings account?  31:16 Comparing before-tax and after-tax interest rates  32:39 When a non-working spouse changes the answer  34:14 Why not to pay investment debt down to zero  35:47 Coming up: do you really need a financial adviser? Related episodes:  Q&A: Upgrade or rentvest, home equity loans, and going non-resident  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19862011-q-a-upgrade-or-rentvest-home-equity-loans-and-going-non-resident Q&A - Choosing a pension account, topping up in retirement, and offset versus debt recycling  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19803896-q-a-choosing-a-pension-account-topping-up-in-retirement-and-offset-versus-debt-recycling Q&A - Deploying an inheritance, selling an average property, and funding a long retirement  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19832494-q-a-deploying-an-inheritance-selling-an-average-property-and-funding-a-long-retirement Q&A - Sequence of returns risk retiring early: bridging to super  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19885744-q-a-sequence-of-returns-risk-retiring-early-bridging-to-super Ep 425: Family trust investing: Are trusts still worth it under proposed tax changes?  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19764156-ep-425-family-trust-investing-are-trusts-still-worth-it-under-proposed-tax-changes Why common-sense tax reform is vital to Australia’s future  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/14044773 Optional:  Ep 426: The do not invest list: why good investors say no  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19748907-ep-426-the-do-not-invest-list-why-good-investors-say-no Ep 423: Negative gearing deferred - here's how to manage the cash flow gap  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19680010-ep-423-negative-gearing-deferred-heres-how-to-manage-the-cash-flow-gap Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Read Full Blog Here To spend $120k a year from age 60, you need about $3m to never touch your capital, or $2.1m if you plan to run it down to zero by 90. Most super calculators can't tell you whether you're on track, because they ignore investments held outside super, especially geared property, and they don't handle retiring before 60. In this episode, I walk through a set of tables you can use to add up your super, ETFs, and investment property and see where you'll land. I also cover how to choose between a perpetual and a depleting portfolio, why $1 contributed to super grows to nearly $47 compared with $21 outside it, and what to do if you're well behind or well ahead of your target. The tables and worked examples are on the blog, linked above. 00:00 Introduction and podcast ratings update  02:58 Why super calculators don't tell you if you're on track  04:12 The numbers: $2.1m depleting vs $3m perpetual  06:28 The early retirement problem: accessing super before 60  07:45 The wealth equation and why time matters most  08:07 Perpetual vs depleting portfolio: which to choose  11:31 Return assumptions and sequencing risk  12:30 Why life expectancy favours a perpetual portfolio  14:16 Modelling assumptions: returns, inflation and tax  17:14 Selling assets at retirement and the cost base assumption  19:30 How to use the tables  22:06 Investing inside vs outside super: $47 vs $21  23:07 Table 7: retiring before 60  24:58 Worked example: couple aged 40 with super and ETFs  26:04 Worked example: geared property investors aged 35  28:33 Table 8: spending more than $120,000 a year  29:49 What to do if you're materially behind target  32:19 What to do if you're materially ahead of target  33:57 Caveats and limitations of the modelling Related episodes: Episode 402 (March 2026): on spending more today, or in the healthy years of retirement, once you're well on track. Stuart references this episode directly at 32:19.The super report episode (July 2026): on choosing the right super fund. Stuart references this at 25:46.Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Sequence-of-returns risk in early retirement is manageable with a big enough cash buffer. What I'd test is how you'll feel spending it. In this listener Q&A, I work through Michael's plan to retire at 52 and use an ETF portfolio plus three years of living expenses in an offset to cover the eight to ten years until he can access super. I also explain why I like locking in an undrawn loan facility before you need it. Then I look at a 33-year-old couple's debt recycling bonus and RSU income into ETFs, and where ownership structure, tax drag, and internally geared ETFs fit in. I cover what the draft 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts means for passive investment trusts (short answer: do nothing yet). I finish with whether money above $250,000 in an offset account is at risk. 00:00 Michael's question: retiring at 52, before super access  02:39 Do the numbers stack up?  03:15 Building a valuation-aware ETF portfolio  04:43 The behavioural test: spending your cash buffer in a downturn  06:15 Should Michael gear any further?  07:58 Locking in borrowing capacity: borrow when you don't need it  11:47 Listener two: debt recycling RSUs and bonuses into ETFs  12:54 Why RSUs matter for blue-chip property demand  15:59 Spouse super contributions, and a tax policy idea  18:20 Super contribution splitting  19:42 Ownership structure for a debt-recycled portfolio  23:03 ETF distributions and tax drag  24:24 Is a non-trading investment company worth it?  25:21 Internally geared ETFs: GHHF and GBGL  27:14 Justin's question: the proposed 30% minimum tax on trusts  28:26 Problems with the draft legislation  30:09 Options: gearing, CGT rollover, fixed elections  31:09 Why to wait: 1 July 2028 start and an election first  32:25 Craig's question: offsets above the $250,000 guarantee  34:15 Checking whether your lender is an ADI  34:31 Coming up: are you on track if your wealth is outside super? Related episodes:  Ep 427: How to assess whether property and share markets are attractively priced  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19832497-ep-427-how-to-assess-whether-property-and-share-markets-are-attractively-priced Ep 425: Family trust investing: Are trusts still worth it under proposed tax changes?  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19764156-ep-425-family-trust-investing-are-trusts-still-worth-it-under-proposed-tax-changes Q&A - Cash-heavy at 48, bridging to early retirement, and debt-free at 31  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19753485-q-a-cash-heavy-at-48-bridging-to-early-retirement-and-debt-free-at-31 Optional:  Q&A - Untangling a messy structure, cutting losses, and low-income investing  https://investopoly.buzzsprout.com/2005600/episodes/19720854-q-a-untangling-a-messy-structure-cutting-losses-and-low-income-investing Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Read Full Blog Here Back in 2023, Stuart argued that inflation and rates could stay higher for longer than most expected, drawing on 50 years of history showing that once inflation tops 8%, it typically takes a decade or more to settle. That call has aged well: after cutting through 2025, the RBA has already hiked three times in 2026, and underlying inflation has climbed back to 3.6% in a second wave the Bank's own models failed to anticipate. But revisiting the research has sharpened his thinking. Stuart walks through three forces keeping inflation elevated: a less aggressive RBA, government spending, and the AI data-centre boom competing for the same workers and materials, while weighing newer studies suggesting credible inflation targets may tame it faster than the grim 11-year median implies. His most important point has had too little attention: rate rises may simply bite less than they did 20 years ago. An ageing population, older households holding savings rather than debt, and mortgage offset balances up 49% since 2022 all mean a growing share of spending comes from people barely touched by higher rates. The uncomfortable corollary: cuts may not revive spending either. If your strategy relies on rate cuts, stress-test it. Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Four listeners think several moves ahead. Silvia, who arrived in Australia in 2025 with a high income but low super, lays out a detailed plan: switch to variable with an offset, interest-only to preserve deductibility, build a buffer while catching up on super, and asks the deeper question: does stretching for a $1.6M blue-chip upgrade in her 40s make the household too single-point sensitive, or is superior asset quality worth the serviceability risk? And if they move abroad in seven years, is one high-quality asset or two average ones the smarter play? Shadi, relocating to Sydney for family support, weighs selling his renovated Melbourne PPOR into a soft market versus keeping it as a now-grandfathered negatively geared rental and rentvesting, complicated by cross-collateralisation with a Kew unit. David asks a clean execution question: how to structure a fresh $100–200k equity release into ETFs alongside existing debt-recycled holdings. Finally, Adrienne, heading to Dubai for two to three years, wants to confirm how non-residency affects the six-year rule on her home and the tax treatment of her Melbourne investment apartment. Structure, sequencing, and post-Budget nuance throughout, with the usual reminder that these are general discussions, not personal advice. Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Read Full Blog Here Stuart calls his approach value-aware: buying high-quality assets when they're attractively priced. Quality decides whether something is worth owning; price decides when to invest and how much. In this episode, he explains why both matter: your return comes from two engines: growth in an asset's underlying value and the uplift (or drag) as its valuation mean-reverts toward trend. For property, the entry price is everything because it's lumpy, illiquid, and bought at a single point, and he explains why the final third of a multi-decade hold delivers more than half the growth, so selling during a flat patch can cost you the best phase. He walks through how to judge whether a market is undervalued: long-term price trends, rental yields, relative values between property types and cities, and replacement cost. For shares, where you invest progressively, he unpacks four metrics and how much weight each deserves: price-to-earnings (richest history, but interrogate the "E"), free cash flow (most honest, hardest to benchmark, and complicated by AI capex), price-to-book, and dividend yield as a cross-check. Using the FTSE 100 as a worked example, he shows why the strongest signal is several measures agreeing, never one ratio in isolation. Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Four listeners at very different scales. "James," 45, describes himself as not being great with money but ready to fix that with a $480k inheritance, a high income, and 15 years to run. His head is spinning: pay off the mortgage, debt recycle, go all-in on ETFs, start an SMSF, and is property still viable over a 14–15 year horizon versus shares? Stuart brings order to the questions. Alex, in his early 40s, asks a question many quietly avoid: when do you sell an underperforming or average investment property? Having bought in Perth after exceptional growth using a buyer's agent, he now doubts the fundamentals and wonders whether to redeploy toward ETFs. Finally, Dominic, turning 55 with an $8.8M property portfolio and a just-announced redundancy, wants to engineer a specific outcome: $160k a year for the first 15 years and $110k from 70 to 100, inflation-adjusted, while slowly selling down and bridging the gap to super. Sequencing, structure, and the hold-or-sell discipline throughout, with the usual reminder that these are general discussions, not personal advice. Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Read Full Blog Here Most investors think good investing means finding more things to say yes to: more opportunities, more asset classes, more products in the mix.  Stuart argues the opposite: the people who build the most wealth over a lifetime have the discipline to say no, repeatedly, to almost everything that crosses their desk.  Even the small urge to "switch up" your monthly ETF purchase, just because buying the same thing five times feels unsophisticated, quietly erodes results. He revisits the wealth equation: surplus times efficiency times time, and explains why efficiency is the one lever within your control that genuinely warrants obsession.  That means ranking three considerations in strict order: quality first, then price, then diversification, which is only a risk tool and should never be pursued for its own sake. He unpacks why a bad "yes" costs far more than a bad "no": the former ties up capital and steals years of compounding you can never recover. Most valuably, Stuart shares the firm's actual "do not invest" list: crypto, unlisted managed funds, LICs, private equity and credit, new-build property, and IPOs, and exactly which test each one fails.  The takeaway: a well-functioning filter should make saying no feel like discipline working, not opportunity missed. Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

This episode answers five detailed listener questions spanning retirement income, structure, and the offset-versus-invest decision.  A listener retiring at 60 with $1.3m compares the Vanguard SpendSmart allocated pension against his current fund on fees, and asks whether a growth or balanced diversified option suits an account that will be his sole income stream.  A couple in pension phase, about to max their transfer balance caps with a further $300k left over in accumulation, ask how to invest the excess for both income top-ups and a legacy for grandchildren, and whether international shares (hedged, unhedged or a mix) are too risky in their 60s.  A Melbourne couple in their late 40s ask whether a downsizer-style investment property still stacks up under the new negative gearing and CGT rules, and whether to unwind the ASX shares held in their SMSF.  A listener holding two REITs (industrial and retail) paying strong distributions but weak capital growth asks whether they deserve a place in a portfolio. And a Western Sydney couple with a new first home and $138k across three offset accounts asks whether to leave it offsetting a 6.26% (soon possibly 6.76%) loan or debt recycle into shares, and whether their fortnightly contributions to the wife's and kids' ETFs would be better redirected. Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Read the blog online here.  Two tax changes could materially alter how Australians own investments and use family trusts. The first is Division 119, which has already been legislated and will impose a minimum 30% tax on capital gains made after 1 July 2027. The second is a proposed minimum 30% tax on distributions from discretionary family trusts, including both income and capital gains, from 1 July 2028. The interaction between these measures creates a serious problem. Under the draft legislation, a capital gain distributed through a family trust could effectively be taxed twice. In the most extreme example, a beneficiary with no other taxable income could pay $6,000 of tax on a $10,000 capital gain—an effective tax rate of 60%. While this may be an unintended consequence, the government has not addressed it in the draft legislation. In this episode, I explain how the proposed rules work, why they reduce the tax benefits of distributing income to adult children or lower-income spouses, and whether family trusts remain worthwhile. The answer is that tax is only one consideration. Family trusts can also provide valuable flexibility, asset protection, estate-planning benefits and an effective structure for transferring wealth between generations. That flexibility becomes increasingly valuable as an investment portfolio compounds and life circumstances change. I also share a real client example where a portfolio established in a spouse’s personal name grew to $3 million within 10 years. With the benefit of hindsight, a family trust would have produced a better long-term outcome. It is a useful reminder that focusing too heavily on simplicity and short-term costs can sometimes work against you. If you already have a family trust, our default position is to do nothing for now. The proposed rules are not yet law, will not commence until July 2028 and could be redesigned, delayed or repealed before then. A proposed 3-year restructuring window may also allow assets to be moved into personal names, a company or a fixed trust without triggering capital gains tax, although stamp duty remains an important unresolved issue. For investors establishing a substantial portfolio - particularly one likely to exceed approximately $800,000 to $1 million - we remain inclined to use a family trust where that would otherwise have been the appropriate structure. If the rules eventually take effect, restructuring into a company may provide an attractive alternative. The central message is simple: don’t make permanent investment decisions in response to legislation that is neither final nor certain to survive. Preserve flexibility, take a long-term view and avoid jumping at shadows. Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Four listeners at genuine turning points. "Steve," 48, with a wife of 54 and a large cash holding, knows he's too conservative and wants to move into ETFs ahead of retirement at 57, while supporting a special-needs adult child and navigating his wife's super unlocking first. How should that shape the inside-versus-outside-super split? An anonymous couple on the Mornington Peninsula, 39 and 40, have built a four-property-plus-SMSF portfolio but zero borrowing capacity, and want to be work-optional by 50. Their question: how to convert growth assets into income to bridge the pre-retirement gap, build shares now, sell down resi into commercial, or buy a PPOR while Melbourne's affordable? And how worried should they be about sequencing risk? Nick, debt-free at 31 with three young kids, can't shake the feeling that sitting mortgage-free leaves money on the table; should he debt-recycle or draw equity into ETFs, despite disliking debt? Finally, "Paul," 35 and undeterred by the tax changes, asks the sharpest question of all: is this downturn just another one to ride out, or is it different when a government is actively trying to suppress house price growth? Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.

Read Full Blog Here If you're following the case for going underweight Australian shares and leaning into global developed markets, you inherit a new question: what do you do about currency risk? Every international investment has two return drivers: the underlying market, and movements in the Australian dollar, and this episode is a clear-eyed guide to whether you should neutralise the second. Stuart explains what hedging actually does, why it never removes 100% of currency risk, and the single most misunderstood aspect of it: interest rate differentials.  Because Australia's cash rate currently sits above the US, hedging US exposure earns a modest positive carry, but that relationship can just as easily work against you.  He weighs the real trade-offs: the Aussie dollar is a "risk currency" that falls in a crisis, so staying unhedged can act as a shock absorber when markets tumble, while hedging makes more sense when the currency trades well below fair value. He also covers a crucial and overlooked detail, the TOFA hedging election and its tax consequences, why bonds should almost always be hedged, and what the academic research says.  The upshot: their default is unhedged for shares, favouring hedging only as the dollar approaches US60 cents. Read Stuart's latest book? He's only got 19 reviews on Amazon so far, if Wealth by Design helped you, leaving one would mean a lot: https://www.amazon.com.au/review/create-review?asin=192318654X Run your own business?  Check out Business by Design, Stuart and Mena's show on starting, growing and exiting a business, at https://www.businessbydesignpodcast.com/ Our most popular free guides: Over the years we've written hundreds of articles. These three bring our best thinking together on the topics that matter most right now: choosing a super fund, debt recycling, and navigating the new tax changes. Download them here Got a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] Subscribe to my weekly blog: Stay connected here Important This podcast provides general information about finance, tax and credit. It doesn't take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs, so you need to assess whether it's relevant to your circumstances before acting on it. If you're not sure, speak to a licensed, trustworthy professional.