Afleveringen
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In this episode, Stuart revisits Golden Rule 4 and admits that half of it has changed. In Investopoly, the advice was to build your asset base, then tilt toward income as retirement approached. Wealth by Design confirms the first half but overturns the second. Here's why.
Stuart makes the case that the real objective isn't income at all; it's after-tax total return and liquidity. He explains why the conventional glide path into conservative, income-heavy assets as you near retirement can quietly backfire, amplifying two risks retirees underestimate: inflation eroding your purchasing power, and longevity outlasting your money. The instinct that feels "safe" may actually be the riskier choice over a multi-decade retirement.
The alternative is what he calls a perpetual portfolio: one structured to keep compounding even as it funds your lifestyle, so you're drawing an income without dismantling the engine that generates it. Stuart walks through the total-return decision filters he uses to judge whether an asset earns its place, and how to think about funding spending without reaching reflexively for yield.
He closes with one simple action you can take this week to start reframing your own strategy.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
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With the government's changes to established residential property now looking likely to become law, the investment case has fundamentally shifted, and those who try to ignore it will be exposed. In this episode, we unpack why quarantining negative gearing losses hits investors so hard: the asset costs materially more to hold each year, yet capital growth potential hasn't budged. We walk through the numbers, showing how an investment-grade property's after-tax internal rate of return could fall from around 11% to just 8.4% a return you might match through superannuation, minus the debt, concentration risk and hassle.
We also explore "livevesting", channelling your capacity into a better-quality home that compounds tax-free, and explain why Melbourne may now offer compelling relative value. Along the way, we sound a warning on the "obvious alternatives": commercial property and new-build packages that are often overpriced, structurally inferior, or both.
Finally, drawing on the 1980s Hawke-Keating reversal and New Zealand's recent backflip, we ask whether these changes will even last—and why the smartest move now is preserving optionality rather than reacting. Tax matters, but a good investment must still stand on its own merits.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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In this mailbag episode, we tackle five listener questions spanning some of the trickiest decisions in personal finance. A Brisbane couple in their mid-forties, with strong super balances and a plan to knock down and rebuild, ask whether to ease off super contributions to kill debt faster or keep compounding inside the lower-tax environment and whether debt recycling is their smartest long-term play.
We unpack a thorny capital gains question on the six-year absence rule: can you settle a new home first, then sell the old one, without triggering a double-PPR problem? A high-income Melbourne couple wonder whether $6,800 a year in ongoing financial advice is still worth it, how to untangle from wrap platforms, and whether a coastal second property stacks up given their age and timeline.
A father in St Ives asks whether tipping $2,000 a year into a 20-year-old's super is a gift worth making. And a Perth listener eyeing his neighbour's block wants the unbiased truth on double blocks and subdivisions.
Practical, numbers-driven answers to real situations and the principles behind them.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Pre-order Wealth By Design Here
Episode three of Eight Rules Revisited continues the Thursday series comparing the eight golden rules from Investopoly with the updated versions in Wealth by Design, released 28 July.
Rule 3 — spend less than you earn and invest the difference- is one of the most straightforward principles in personal finance. It is also one of the most reliably ignored. The rule itself hasn't changed since Investopoly. What has changed is how Stuart frames the implementation, moving decisively away from tracking, measurement, and willpower toward an automated banking system that removes the need for daily discipline by making saving the structural default.
The episode examines the behavioural forces that work against consistent saving, the immediate pull of spending versus the distant reward of investing, the social normalisation of lifestyle upgrades, and the way income growth tends to fund consumption rather than wealth accumulation when there is no system in place to redirect it first.
Lifestyle creep receives particular attention. It is not a dramatic failure but a gradual one, the slow expansion of spending that keeps pace with rising income and quietly prevents wealth from compounding the way it should.
Stuart closes with a single practical action: one automatic transfer worth setting up this week that begins shifting savings from intention to habit. The full system and worked examples appear in chapter three of Wealth by Design.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Read Full Blog Here
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Both Houses have passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026. Royal Assent is pending but considered a formality. For investors, property owners, business owners, and superannuation members, the changes are substantial, and the details matter enormously.
This blog provides a clear, technical breakdown of what the legislation actually does. Negative gearing losses on established residential property purchased after Budget night will be quarantined from 1 July 2027, with existing properties grandfathered under previous rules. The 50% CGT discount is replaced by cost base indexation and a new minimum 30% tax on capital gains, a change that, for long-term investors in assets growing at 7% per annum, lifts the effective tax rate from roughly 20–23% to around 30–35%. SMSFs lose the ability to borrow for residential property, with a commencement date of approximately mid-August 2026. Trust capital gains rules are also changing, though the legislation has not yet been released.
Stuart addresses the government's framing directly: the claim that these changes improve housing affordability is not supported by the Treasury's own modelling, nor by the historical record in Australia, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom. These are tax revenue measures.
The blog also covers the new $250 worker tax offset, the $1,000 instant work-related deduction, important transition rules for existing assets, and why low-income taxpayers with unrealised gains should consider crystallising them before 1 July 2027.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Pre-order Wealth By Design Here
This episode brings together six listener questions that each involve a meaningful financial decision and, in several cases, significant personal uncertainty alongside significant financial capacity.
The first comes from a couple in their late thirties who received a substantial inheritance, now holding $3.6m in cash alongside a share portfolio and three properties. They have developed a dual-trust structure with a corporate beneficiary and are seeking a sense-check on whether the approach is sound and whether property still deserves a place in the plan.
The second involves a newly migrated retiree with no Australian income, substantial overseas cash, and five possible approaches to buying property, each with different stamp duty, CGT, and inheritance implications for her two adult daughters.
The third is a series of practical questions about transition to retirement arrangements, when they make sense, what super balance is needed for a modest 25-year retirement, and the tax implications of transferring an investment property to children.
The fourth comes from a 37-year-old in WA with a fully paid-off home, a first child arriving, and a strong savings rate, asking how to prioritise between investment property, shares, and super contributions from here.
The fifth involves a 35-year-old FIFO worker with $536k in savings and investments, strong borrowing capacity, and genuine uncertainty about whether to buy a Perth home alone, jointly with a partner, or through a leapfrog strategy given where the relationship currently sits.
The sixth is a 45-year-old couple with a $300k inheritance, a nearly paid-off Sydney home, three recently purchased investment properties, and a simple question: is paying off the home loan and topping up super really the best use of the windfall?
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Pre-order Wealth by Design Here
Episode two of Eight Rules Revisited continues the Thursday series comparing the eight golden rules from Stuart's 2018 book Investopoly with the updated versions in his new book, Wealth by Design, released on 28 July.
Rule 2 states that you must know how much income you need and by when. That principle hasn't moved. What has tightened considerably is everything surrounding it. The two goals now have proper names, the freedom number and the freedom date, and the underlying framework has shifted from a single retirement cliff to three distinct phases of working life, reflecting that most people today want to ease off gradually rather than stop abruptly.
Stuart explains why holding too little outside superannuation can quietly lock people into the all-or-nothing retirement they were trying to avoid, and why planning for at least 30 years of post-work life means growth assets need to remain part of the strategy well into retirement. He also breaks down why a $100,000 income target implying $5 million in assets is far less daunting once it's understood there are three separate levers available to pull, not just one.
The episode closes with a one-page exercise listeners can complete this week to produce a first version of their own freedom number and freedom date. The full worksheet and modelling method appear in chapter two of Wealth by Design.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Read Full Blog Here
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Most people assume building wealth requires making hundreds of good financial decisions. In reality, a small number of choices do almost all of the heavy lifting, and this episode identifies exactly which ones.
The first is the choice of partner, arguably the most important financial decision a person will make. Alignment on spending, saving, and investing dramatically simplifies wealth building, while misalignment creates the stop-start behaviour that derails even well-designed strategies. Divorce, by contrast, is one of the most financially destructive events that can occur, often setting people back further than they can ever fully recover from.
The second is career choice, where lifetime earnings compound dramatically based on income level, and genuine enjoyment of work tends to drive higher earnings over time rather than the reverse. The third is a spending-saving philosophy, not a budget, but a guiding approach that avoids both extremes of overspending and joyless deprivation.
The fourth category covers the tactical decisions that compound over decades: the first property purchased, where the family home is located, how superannuation is invested, the methodology used for investing outside super, and whether to seek professional advice at key decision points.
Notably absent from the list are the decisions the financial media obsesses over: stock picking, market timing, finding the next big winner. The real insight is liberating: get a handful of decisions right, and the rest mostly takes care of itself.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Pre-order Wealth by Design Here
This episode brings together four listener scenarios united by a common theme: significant financial capacity, but genuine uncertainty about which move to make next and in what order.
The first comes from a Sydney couple earning $540k who feel house-poor despite their income carrying a $1.9m mortgage on a home bought partly for its duplex potential, with a medium landslide risk and an $800k–$1m overseas inheritance on the way. The questions span inheritance allocation, debt recycling, cash flow management through private school fees, and how to restructure once the husband's income shifts to lumpy partner distributions.
The second involves a Brisbane couple with a $7.8m property portfolio, strong equity, and a clear land-value-focused investment philosophy, now weighing whether to knock down and rebuild their current home, sell and buy in a premium riverside suburb, or hold a vacant subdivided lot for future development ahead of the Olympics.
The third scenario is a Bondi couple renting in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, earning up to $440k in a good year, with $630k in combined assets and a first child on the horizon, deciding whether to stretch for a $2–3m home now or continue building an investment portfolio through rentvesting.
The fourth comes from a 49-year-old with a $12m property portfolio, $6.3m in equity, and a 15-year horizon to reach $25–30m in net worth, asking whether to stay the course with leveraged property, recycle equity into ETFs and super, or begin deleveraging for higher passive income.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Pre-order Wealth by Design Here
This episode is the first in Eight Rules Revisited, a Thursday series running alongside the regular podcast. Each week, I take one of the eight golden rules from my 2018 book Investopoly and compare it with the version in my new book, Wealth by Design, out on 28 July. Some rules have changed, some have tightened, and some have simply been confirmed by eight more years of evidence and client experience. I'll tell you which is which, plainly, each week.
We start with Rule 1: think in decades, not days. The rule itself hasn't moved. What has changed is how I think about risk and volatility. In 2018, I told readers to ignore short-term market movements. That was true, but incomplete. I now define risk as the probability of failing to reach your goals, not the chance of watching prices fall. Seen that way, holding too much cash is risky, and refusing to invest in growth assets because they wobble is risky too. Volatility is simply the price of admission for long-term returns, and I put some numbers on how bumpy you should expect the ride to be.
I also share the four-question filter I now apply to every major financial decision, and a short exercise you can do this week on your next three big decisions.
If you find this useful, the full frameworks and worked examples are in chapter one of Wealth by Design. Pre-order before 28 July and you'll also receive the Investopoly Research Assistant, an AI tool trained on a decade of my writing.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Read Full Blog Here
Pre-order Wealth by Design Here
Financial advisers often manage their own money quite differently from the clients they advise. After more than two decades of observing both groups up close, those differences have become a reliable indicator of what genuinely good financial decision-making looks like in practice.
In this episode, Stuart shares nine observations drawn from that experience. Most financial advisers hold their superannuation entirely in growth assets, understanding that short-term volatility inside super is largely irrelevant when the money cannot be accessed for decades. They welcome falling markets rather than fear them. They use debt deliberately, neither avoiding it entirely nor using it recklessly, and they invest consistently from surplus cash flow rather than waiting for the right moment that rarely arrives.
Their household finances follow a clear structural discipline: invest first, then spend what remains. They track their net worth regularly and understand what the numbers actually mean. They treat superannuation as a serious wealth-building vehicle from early in their careers, often choosing wrap platforms or SMSFs for the control and transparency they provide. And they largely ignore the daily noise of market movements, checking their own portfolios far less frequently than most people would expect.
Some of these patterns sit at odds with conventional industry practice. That tension is worth examining, both for investors choosing how to manage their own money and for those deciding whether their adviser truly practises what they preach.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Pre-order Wealth by Design Here
This episode brings together four listener questions united by a common challenge: knowing which lever to pull next when the financial position is solid but the path forward feels unclear.
The first comes from a retiree who connected with a recent episode on underspending in retirement, but raises a dimension that wasn't covered how to factor substantial debt-free property wealth, including a principal residence and a beach house, into retirement income planning. The question is whether to sell, rent, or consider a reverse mortgage to unlock equity before those assets simply pass to the next generation.
The second involves a 60-year-old about to access a $2.1 million superannuation pension, with a part-time working wife five years from her own preservation age. The question is whether additional contributions to her fund over the next two years represent the highest-value use of surplus cash flow.
The third is a detailed scenario from a 43-year-old with a $2.65 million home, a Geelong investment property, $200k in shares, and two children in private school asking how to prioritise debt reduction, renovations, asset allocation, and ownership structure across a 20-year runway to retirement at 60.
The fourth involves an SMSF holding a Townsville investment property with a $375k LRBA loan, and the strategic tension between building liquidity inside the fund versus aggressively paying down debt alongside a broader question about whether downsizing the family home should factor into the plan.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Read Full Blog Here
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Commercial property is being actively promoted as a compelling alternative to residential investment, particularly as higher interest rates reduce borrowing capacity and tighter tenancy laws make residential property less attractive. On the surface, the pitch is appealing: higher rental yields, tenants paying most outgoings, and the potential for capital growth. But in Stuart's assessment, current valuations make the risk hard to justify.
This episode examines commercial property through a valuation lens, explaining how cap rates work, why current pricing looks stretched relative to historical norms, and how the spread between commercial yields and the 10-year government bond rate has compressed to levels last seen before the GFC. At recent auction prices, some properties are selling on cap rates below the risk-free rate, meaning investors are accepting less income than a government bond while taking on substantially more risk.
The analysis models what happens to investor equity if cap rates revert toward their long-term average of 3.5% to 4.5% above the bond rate. The results are stark: at 70% leverage, a reversion to historical norms could wipe out most or all of an investor's equity.
Stuart also explores why cap rates have stayed compressed despite rising bond yields, and why the structural forces holding valuations up may not last. Commercial property can be an excellent investment, but only at the right price.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Pre-Order Wealth by Design Here
This episode brings together three listener scenarios that each involve genuinely complex financial positions, multiple moving parts, significant income, and decisions where getting the sequencing right matters enormously.
The first comes from a 34-year-old specialist trainee doctor in Sydney, engaged, planning a family, and facing a highly unusual income trajectory, moving from $250k now to as low as $130k during a London fellowship, before returning to Perth as a consultant earning potentially $600k or more. The central question is whether to buy a stepping-stone property in Perth's middle-ring suburbs before income rises, renovate it during an 18-month stay, then rent it out while overseas, or wait, save, and buy a better asset closer to his forever suburbs once borrowing capacity is fully established.
The second involves a 49-year-old earning $475k with seven Melbourne investment properties worth $6.77 million, net debt of just $330k, and $920k in super, but almost no share exposure. She is three years from being able to retire on rental income, but is questioning whether her heavily concentrated, all-property strategy leaves too much on the table in terms of tax efficiency, liquidity, and long-term portfolio resilience.
The third comes from a couple in their early fifties with a nearly paid-off home, a modest investment property in a good school zone, $1.2 million in combined super, and $100k in underperforming shares, asking for honest clarity on whether early retirement is realistic and what the best path forward looks like across property, shares, and super contributions.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Pre-order Wealth by Design Here
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Superannuation's enforced long investment horizon is one of the most underused structural advantages available to Australian investors. This blog examines whether internally geared ETFs have a role to play within super, and backs the analysis with detailed financial modelling rather than theory alone.
The numbers are compelling. A 30-year-old with $200,000 in super, contributing $20,000 per year and investing in a geared diversified ETF via an SMSF, is projected to retire with a balance of approximately $4.3 million, more than 26% higher than an equivalent ungeared strategy in a low-cost industry fund. The benefit is most pronounced for younger investors with larger balances, longer timeframes, and higher contribution rates. As retirement approaches, the case for gearing weakens materially.
But the strategy carries real risks that deserve equal attention. Volatility is amplified; a 50% market fall in a 35% geared ETF produces a balance decline of around 77%. Sequence-of-returns risk can turn a strong strategy into a poor one, depending on when a major correction occurs. And the cost and compliance obligations of running an SMSF add a layer of responsibility that should not be taken lightly.
The blog also surveys the available geared ETF options in Australia, covering diversified and single-market products across a range of gearing levels. The conclusion is clear: gearing inside super can be genuinely attractive, but is best treated as a complement to ungeared strategies rather than an all-or-nothing decision.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Pre-Order Wealth by Design Here
This episode brings together four listener questions that each wrestle with a different dimension of long-term wealth building, from the early decisions that set the trajectory to the late-stage sequencing that determines how comfortably retirement unfolds.
The first comes from a 28-year-old physiotherapist two years into his career, carrying $1.1 million in mortgage debt and a $98k HECS liability, asking whether surplus savings should flow into ETFs or the offset account, and whether his wife's extra super contributions are optimally placed.
The second involves a couple aged 63 and 53 with three beachside properties, $780k in PPOR debt, and a combined income of $150k, working through four possible exit strategies to generate $150k per year in retirement income while preserving as much capital growth as possible for as long as practical.
The third is a thoughtful counter-perspective on Australia's proposed CGT changes, arguing that redirecting capital from residential property into shares could strengthen the nation's productive capacity and reduce its dependence on housing and mining wealth.
The fourth comes from a 44-year-old with three Brisbane investment properties, no shares, and 50% of his super sitting in cash since the GFC, waiting for the next major dip. He asks whether to buy a fourth property or begin tilting toward shares, and whether his cash-timing strategy inside super is sound.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Pre-Order Wealth by Design Here
Read Full Blog Here
Charlie Munger left investors with ten principles that are deceptively simple and take a lifetime to apply well. This blog translates each one into practical, grounded guidance for Australian investors, moving beyond abstract philosophy to the specific decisions, mistakes, and behaviours that shape long-term outcomes in local property and share markets.
The ten principles cover starting every evaluation with downside risk before upside potential; building genuine independence from the conflicted advice that is common in Australian investment markets; preparation as the only real edge available to most investors; intellectual humility as a competitive advantage rather than a weakness; and analytical rigour that insists on evidence over compelling narratives.
The blog also explores capital allocation as the investor's single most important decision, patience as a structural advantage in a media environment designed to provoke action, decisiveness when the setup is genuinely clear, adaptability in the face of unremovable complexity like tax changes and interest rate cycles, and simplicity as the ultimate discipline.
Underlying all ten rules are four behaviours: preparation, discipline, patience, and decisiveness. These are not just investing virtues, they are the foundation of any long-term wealth-building strategy that actually works.
The hard part is never the knowledge. It is doing it consistently while the world tries very hard to distract you.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Pre-Order Wealth by Design Here
This episode brings together five listener scenarios that span the full arc of wealth building, from a 24-year-old taking his first steps to couples approaching retirement with complex, multi-property portfolios and competing priorities.
The first question comes from a 24-year-old earning $80k with $75k across shares and savings, limited borrowing capacity, and a genuine desire to start building wealth deliberately. The question is simple but important: shares or property first?
The second involves a Perth couple in their late forties, accidental investors who now hold four investment properties across Perth, regional NSW, and WA, asking whether their current asset base is enough to deliver $100k in passive income by age 60 and what strategy adjustments might be needed to get there.
The third scenario involves a high-income Sydney couple with a $3.5 million family home and two investment properties, weighing whether to sell a Box Hill property they no longer consider investment-grade to fund a $750k renovation, or hold it and carry a larger debt into their early fifties.
The fourth comes from a couple planning to retire at 55 and live in Asia on $110k per year, with a plan to sell two investment properties and shift proceeds into index funds while renting out their home.
The fifth involves a rural GP with three properties, strong income growth ahead, and a clear plan to purchase in Brisbane, looking for a sense check on sequencing, asset selection, and whether the strategy holds up as family life approaches.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. -
Read Full Blog Here
With 30 June approaching, now is the time to review your superannuation contribution options before the annual window closes. Most of the levers available inside super operate within a tight 12-month period, and several are use-it-or-lose-it; miss the deadline, and the opportunity is gone.
This blog walks through 10 strategies worth considering before the end of the financial year. Concessional contributions remain the most tax-effective way to grow super for most Australians, with the tax saving sharpening significantly at higher income levels. Catch-up contributions deserve particular attention this year: 2025/26 is the final opportunity to use any unused cap from 2020/21, and once that year's unused amount expires, it cannot be carried forward.
Other strategies covered include contribution splitting to equalise balances between spouses, increasingly important in the context of Division 296, non-concessional contributions and the bring-forward rule, government co-contributions for lower-income earners, downsizer contributions for those aged 55 and over, spousal contributions, small business CGT cap contributions, the First Home Super Saver Scheme, and transfer balance cap planning for those approaching or already in retirement.
The blog also covers contribution reserving for SMSF members and includes a practical checklist of steps to complete before 30 June. Contributions must be received and allocated by your fund before the deadline, not simply sent. Acting by 20 June is strongly recommended.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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 episode brings together five listener scenarios united by a common thread: making sound financial decisions under competing pressures: income goals, asset quality, tax reform, and the desire for more time and freedom.
The first comes from a couple, both aged 40, with three investment properties and a growing ETF portfolio, asking what it will take to reach $200k in net annual income and reduce their working days as early as possible.
The second raises a technical but important question: under Division 296, are franking credits effectively taxed twice for those whose super balances exceed $3 million before they can access them?
The third involves a 50-year-old with an underperforming St Kilda East apartment that has delivered modest capital growth, ongoing negative cash flow, and rising body corporate costs, and whether selling and redirecting proceeds into super or a diversified ETF portfolio makes more sense than holding on.
The fourth scenario comes from a high-income couple in their mid-fifties with four investment properties and a fully offset home loan, questioning whether selling their northern Melbourne property could eliminate the need for ongoing contributions and create space to reduce working hours.
The fifth is one of the most complex scenarios the show has received — a self-funded retiree with a $4 million SMSF, a $2.8 million margin loan, and a carefully constructed strategy to reduce super below the Division 296 threshold before the tax takes effect.
My new book is available for pre-order now: Pre-ordering the book will help me get it into bookstores. So please do me a favour - please consider pre-ordering now - links and pre-order bonus are available here: https://prosolution.com.au/book-preorder-bonus
Do you have a question for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].
If you're interested in working with our team and me, discover how we can work together here: https://prosolution.com.au/family-office-services
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a rating on your favourite podcast platform.
Subscribe to my weekly blog: https://prosolution.com.au/stay-connected
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. - Laat meer zien
