Money Over 50

266 Do you prefer possessions or experiences?

If you had a choice between going out for a nice dinner once a week and having a new car every three years, which would you choose? What about if you had to choose between going on a three-month holiday around the world and getting a full renovation on your house, including brand new furniture?
In this episode, Dallas and Michael discuss how you can use your money as a medium to buy possessions or experiences. You’re in the driver’s seat. Which would you choose?

265 Money is a medium

You may earn a ton of cash and still be broke in retirement. How is that possible? Well, your retirement wealth depends not just on the money you make, but on how you transfer those hard-earned bucks into experiences and possessions.
 
People have different ways of viewing money. But money is simply a “medium for transferring work and enterprise into possessions and experiences”. In this episode, Michael and Dallas discuss why your income isn’t the only thing dictating how wealthy you will be in retirement.

264 Fridges with ice makers

When you were a kid, do you remember visiting friends’ fancy houses and comparing them to your own? For Dallas, the epitome of a fancy house was one that had an ice maker. If one of his friends had a house that featured one of these, in his eyes, they had really “made it” in life. 
As an adult, Dallas is now contemplating becoming one of these people. Yes, he wants a fridge with an ice maker, because – well, they’re pretty cool. So should he spend the money on it, and when? And is it really worthwhile?
This episode is not about fancy fridges or rich friends – it’s about making thoughtful financial decisions. Dallas and Michael discuss what and when to spend your money on (and when to hold onto it, instead). Spoiler alert: when it comes to your money, financial advisers are not always as frugal as you may think!

263 It’s all one bucket

If you are married or in a long-term relationship, then your money is all in ‘one bucket’. According to family law (and Centrelink), you and your partner don’t have separate money – regardless of who earns more.
 
However, there are ways that you can benefit from paying less tax based on how you treat certain assets and whose super you put more money into. Don’t worry – it’s all legal! In this episode, Dallas and Michael explore how to keep as much of your taxable income as possible, and why your money is really all in one bucket.

262 Foreign currency transfers

Need to send money overseas? Or going travelling? Are you prepared to lose thousands in currency conversion fees, and happy to keep the big banks in business, who – for far too long – have controlled international transfers?
As you can see by our excessive use of questions, we’ve been looking for a cheaper way to deal with overseas money transfers for a very long time. In this episode, Dallas and Michael discuss who to use and why (we’ll show you how to save thousands, literally). For more information, please visit www.mo50.com.au 
 

261 A new thing won’t make you a certain type of person

Do you keep your car neat, clean and polished? Or do your kids, pets and habits stop it from keeping its new car smell and appearance beyond its first week?
Don’t worry – we understand. Surely, if you bought a brand new car, you’d look after it better. Right?
Well, actually, you probably wouldn’t! In this episode, Dallas and Michael discuss how possessions affect us as people, and us as decision-makers – and how advertising fuels us to make purchases that won’t necessarily fulfil our needs.
 
For more information please visit www.mo50.com.au

260 All projections are wrong but some are useful

Predictions and projections we make about money are always wrong. In fact, they are wrong from the minute they’re produced. So why do financial advisers use them, if they’re never right? In this episode, Michael and Dallas look at why projections are important, and how to use them even when we know they will be incorrect.
For more information please visit www.mo50.com.au

259 The percentage of podcasts we dedicate to not panicking

On average, we see a drop in company prices of about 30% every 5 years. If you’ve listened to us for a while, you’ll know we often talk about not panicking when this happens. But why is this important, and exactly how important is it? In this episode we discuss how not preparing for a drop in the share market is like not listening to the lifeboat drill on a cruise ship. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t end well.