Personal Finance - Educating Yourself

dmb0312 on 12/07/2020 - 09:53

Hi all,

I'm at a point where I have a lump some of savings I have accumulated over the last few years where I can put down a deposit on a home and/or invest.

I'm hoping you can provide some suggestions on some beginners books or online courses I can work through to help with my understanding of how to manage my money and make it work for me. I'm also in market to buy my first home / investment property so anything to help with that would be great too.

I spoke to a financial advisor yesterday and I think with a bit of study, i can do quite a bit of it myself. I may use an advisor to get going for now but very keen to learn more so I can either do it myself long term or simply have a better understanding of what the advisor is doing for me.

The advisor did mention the super plan I'm with isn't great i.e. high fees and missing some insurance so if i can figure out which plan he would have suggested for me, I can easily swap that myself!

thanks!

Financial

Comments

  • workhappens on 12/07/2020 - 10:03
    +5

    I have not read it but "The Barefoot Investor" comes highly recommended all around OzB/Whirlpool/Reddit.

    • dmb0312 on 12/07/2020 - 10:08

      Thanks! Yeah figured that might be a good place to start and only $19 at OW.

      • coco1458 on 12/07/2020 - 10:10
        +3

        Or borrow it from your local library $0

        • dmb0312 on 12/07/2020 - 10:15

          Didn't even cross my mind this time. Great idea!

  • Trying2SaveABuck on 12/07/2020 - 10:10
    +1

    Barefoot investor is a pretty good (basic) place to start

  • [Deactivated] on 12/07/2020 - 10:33

    Crypto

    • Baysew on 12/07/2020 - 11:10
      +8

      is best avoided.

      • dmb0312 on 12/07/2020 - 12:49

        Yep not even on my radar!

    • brendanm on 12/07/2020 - 12:34
      +3

      Basically the same as playing Roulette at the casino. It's a gamble, not an investment, as there is no actual "thing" you are investing in.

      • whooah1979 on 12/07/2020 - 13:09

        All markets are basically speculating either long or short.

        Defi adoption is inevitable. Major financial institutions are turning to blockchains for cheaper and faster transactions while countries like the PRC is coming out with digital yuan.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcvrzouhKTs

        • brendanm on 12/07/2020 - 13:49

          Most cryptos are literally nothing, that someone has started in their backyard. The currency has no intrinsic value, apart from pure speculation. Yuan is an actual currency that has actual value.

          I'm not even saying not to buy cryptos, I've made some money with them, but I was under no illusion that it was an "investment". It was literally a gamble, hoping that other people would be stupid enough to pay more than I did.

          • whooah1979 on 12/07/2020 - 14:05

            @brendanm:

            The currency has no intrinsic value, apart from pure speculation.

            That's the textbook establishment line. Anything that threatens the greenback's dominance or the central banks control over currency is bad.
            https://youtu.be/vPu4kn5GN5M?t=441

            • brendanm on 12/07/2020 - 14:13

              @whooah1979: No, it's simply a fact. It has no backing, it is literally just something someone made up.

  • mskeggs on 12/07/2020 - 10:59

    Money Magazine is good for presenting mainstream ideas and covers a wide breadth.

  • Tasmaniac on 12/07/2020 - 18:30

    Google free financial planning textbook and start reading. That's basically all you do in uni anyways.

  • tinmancactus on 15/07/2020 - 16:34
    +1

    Passive Investing Australia should educate you on a lot of the investing related topics. Start with a passive portfolio and move onto higher risk investments later if that's your thing.

    For financial products, I tend to use Canstar's website to compare products (E.g. Home loans, super, savings accounts)
    I recommend choosing an industry super fund rather than a commerical one. I think they usually outperform the commercial funds but I haven't checked in a while. My understanding is that they usually have greater returns because they don't need to turn a profit like commercial funds do.

    If you're interested in saving as well as investing, I find FIRE (Financial Independence / Retire Early) related sites are good for this. Books like The Millionaire Next Door or Your Money or Your Life are also worthwhile reads. The more you save, the more you can invest, the sooner you'll have financial independence.

    There are some good subreddits too:
    r/AusFinance
    r/fiaustralia

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