Blog
Welcome to our Personal Finance Blog
Money bewilders most of us. How to spend it, save it, invest it, and how to best protect the person who makes it.
These questions we all face daily — a puzzle we all attempt to understand and solve just about every day. Yet despite money's centrality to our lives and businesses, it's something we all grapple with, and mostly in private.
- Money is the 'Lord Voldemort' of topics — feared by most and mentioned by a few. It's oddly uncomfortable to discuss socially and rarely even with our partners, parents, and children.
Perhaps that's because managing our money and life's risks inevitably involves the fusion of both the emotional and practical aspects of our decision-making processes. The most difficult of questions are those with both economic and emotional answers.
At Sapience, we're all about The How.
Our educational Personal Finance Blog is for people who want to grow and remain wealthy. And while the journey toward wealth is clearly marked, you still have to be looking in the right direction.
One day you’ll be ready to retire (whatever that may look like)
The idea is then you can slow down (or stop) working and spend more time doing the things you enjoy. But what are your options when it comes time to access your super?
How will you be using your superannuation balance? Lump-sum or regular income stream - or a combination of both?
Until then, many of us are also taking an active interest in our elderly parent's financial position in their retirement. Many of us are either the paperwork or financial backup, so it pays to have an idea of what they’re working with too.
Investing in turbulent times seems to be a constant feature of investing - and perhaps this is part of the new normal
The last few months have proven a tough time for many investors and super fund members as share market volatility continues to wreak havoc on the expected performance of many investment portfolios.
In light of this, we thought it a helpful idea to take a look at four behavioural mindsets that can paralyse investor's thinking when they need to be the most level-headed.
The risks and responsibilities of a small business company director
The frustration for many small business owners is nobody tells you everything you need to know.
The education journey of a small business owner can be a steep one.
A key part of going into business seems to be an acceptance of ‘always needing to learn something more' and to remember you're usually both the technician and the director of the company - a juggling act that carries more responsibility than many people initially appreciated.
It's enough to make you want to wash your mind out
What a mess.
Well the Banking Royal Commission (aka Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry) closed in early 2019 and 76 recommendations were made spanning the Banking, Superannuation and Insurance industry and the government’s regulators a plenty.
So what is the final outcome of the Banking Royal Commission?
We’ve tried to distill the main themes down to 4 simple points below.
All the depressing and reprehensible details you can read yourself, here .
The changing face of work and how it will affect us all
Over the last decades, the world of work has changed dramatically. While the traditional career model of a job for life is fading, self-employment and ‘gig’ working is becoming more commonplace.
The hard reality is while the emerging gig economy promises flexibility, our banking and superannuation systems have not kept up with the changes and now only adds to the new stressors our community of casual workers is facing.
Have you ever thought about running a small business on the side while working your full-time job?
Perhaps you're already part of the new gig-economy and providing work-on-demand services back to your past employer.
For many people, working a side hustle is becoming more and more important in our growing world of temporary contracts and flexible working hours.
While providing flexibility (and promising better work-life harmony), growing a side business also requires a new business owner to learn new skills and new habits, before success arrives.
Here are some common financial mistakes time-poor new business owners can avoid.
- Are you feeling like your life and business have been Kidnapped by the Covid-19 Virus?
- Under 25 and have less than $6,000 in your super?
- Friends, Flatmates or Defactos and how to tell them apart
- Coronavirus, Life Insurance, Income Protection and You
- Standing with you through COVID-19
- Special Alert: End of Agreed Value Income Protection
- Creating wealth and prosperity is extra hard work
