WEBINAR – Sam Wakefield
While everyone wants to build enough wealth to fund a secure retirement, unfortunately, many don’t know how to go about doing that.
Sam Wakefield of Optimal Life Financial Services joined Tim Graham of Hotspotting to talk about some of the strategies that can be used to create retirement income.
He says the first step in planning to live an optimal life is to build a financial plan which clearly defines what your future looks like and sets out clear and understandable steps that you can take.
Wakefield says:
Know what your goals are
Small actions can deliver big results
Investing doesn’t require a lot of money
You can invest in property without buying property
Salary sacrifice now for big returns later
KNOW WHAT YOUR GOALS ARE
It’s essential to set goals and make smart money choices.
While that sounds simple, Wakefield says for many it is difficult because they only look at the financial side of the equation and don’t consider what sort of lifestyle they want to maintain.
Without a clear vision, it is impossible to devise a plan to deliver what you need, according to Wakefield.
The most important step after setting those goals is actually putting it all into action.
SMALL ACTIONS CAN DELIVER BIG RESULTS
Wakefield says there are small things that property owners can do which will reduce debt significantly and free up equity for future investment.
“Increasing your home loan repayment by $200 per month could reduce your loan term by four years and three months saving up to $77,000 in interest costs over the life of the loan,” he says.
He says combining this with having savings (for e.g., $50,000) in an offset account, could reduce the term even more and save an additional $142,180 in interest costs.
“You can start small, a simple change to your strategy can result in a really big end difference,” Wakefield says.
“Simply utilizing structures and features like an offset account can also help to reduce a big chunk of your loan.”
INVESTING DOESN’T REQUIRE A LOT OF MONEY
Wakefield says investors can start out small, for example, $5,000 in a diversified share portfolio with ongoing contributions of $300 per month could be worth just under $200,000 in 20 years.
“If you were in a position to increase monthly contributions to $1000 per month, your portfolio could be worth just over $500,000.”
“It’s a common misconception that we hear that you need (a lot of) money to invest or make money. It’s actually not the case.”
YOU CAN INVEST IN PROPERTY WITHOUT BUYING PROPERTY
Wakefield is a big believer in investing in real estate but he says investors don’t actually need to have the money to buy an entire property to do so.
He says investing in an EFT is a simple and straightforward way to do that.
An ETF is an exchange-traded fund, a type of pooled investment security that operates like a mutual fund.
“You can buy an ETF that actually consists of the underlying property. So, you don’t have to invest large chunks of capital, you won’t need to borrow $800,000 or $900,000 to buy the asset.”
SALARY SACRIFICE NOW FOR BIG RETURNS LATER
Wakefield says many people have no idea of how much is in their superannuation fund, whether it is balanced or high risk, what it is invested in, and what it is costing them.
He says salary sacrificing into superannuation is a good way to build wealth and reduce your current taxable income.
With salary sacrifice, contributions are taken out of your before-tax pay, which means your pay is taxed at a lower rate.
“This helps with growing our wealth just through another mechanism that may not be the personal property or personal investment.”
“A small amount can build and grow to a large amount in the future. If you were to salary sacrifice $200 per month over a 20-year period, you could increase your super by about $80,000.
“You could also save $900 in tax each year and if you multiply that over a 20-year period that’s a decent amount of tax saved.
“If we increased it to $5,000 per annum (about $416 a month), that could result in an additional super balance at about $170,000 at retirement and a further tax saving of about $1900 a year.
“If the average person had an extra $170,000 in super at retirement, probably add about an extra two to three years for their retirement income.”
If you want to watch the video, here’s the Webinar Link
