5 finance apps you can't live without

It's time to transform your finances. Ben Ford drops by to share 5 money hacks and 5 smartphone apps you can use to achieve them. Host Dan dusts off the crystal ball and makes a prediction about what Buy Now Pay Later will be like in 2026.

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The following is a transcript taken from episode 26 of the We Talk Cents podcast. The transcript is created by AI software so it might not be perfect - please forgive any imperfections or grammatical errors.

Blaize Pengilly  00:09

Personal Finance budgeting cash flow and investing don't have to be scary words. The We Talk Cents podcast is here to help you learn more about money and take control of your personal finances.

Blaize Pengilly  00:26

We Talk Cents podcast is not a financial advisor. This podcast is made for entertainment and educational purposes only. All information shared is of a general nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate for your needs and where appropriate seek professional advice from a financial advisor.

Dan Jovevski  00:45

For more information, please check out wemoney.com.au/disclaimer. Hello, and thank you for joining us in Episode 26 of We Talk Cents This podcast is produced by wire money a smart money app that helps you put your personal finances on autopilot. I'm Dan, your resident finance expert.

Blaize Pengilly  01:03

And I am Blaize as always a millennial that's pretty clueless about money. How are you going today Dan,

Dan Jovevski  01:09

are doing fabulous. Wise, how about you?

Blaize Pengilly  01:11

I'm pretty good. I have some before we get into the actual news actually have some personal money nice v. Guess what I did the other day? I used Credi.

Dan Jovevski  01:19

Really?

Blaize Pengilly  01:21

Yep. Yep. I yeah, I was lending some money to a friend and I thought you know what, let's use this platform from when we had our guests from when we had clarity on and yeah, it was really cool setting up a relate like a peer to peer loan I suppose it was relationship lending and went through the process set up alone and yeah, now I've got an officially bank Blaze is what I would like to go be called from now for from now.

Dan Jovevski  01:49

That's absolutely incredible. I was just about to say that. Thank you. Blaize. It's got a ring to it. And yeah, it especially with you involved plays. I'm curious to say how it all sort of works out but amazing. How was the process

Blaize Pengilly  02:03

that the process? Okay, so the process was actually quite simple. It is it's a bit more formal than I was expecting. But I suppose it is alone. It is it is a contract. Yeah, it was it was really simple. And I think that what blew me away the most was that this is the first time in my life I've ever had enough money to actually lend someone money. That is a personal win for me. So yeah,

Dan Jovevski  02:26

I'm pretty, pretty stoked about that. That's incredible. wasn't so good to hear. And I'm glad the process went for you. But it's amazing, right? Like the power of people. The fact that you can help somebody else and you'll never get through a bank. total total as a as the pundit say disintermediation, where we're moving to this direction of people becoming banks. It's, it's pretty nice. Yeah.

Blaize Pengilly  02:48

Yeah, it's pretty exciting. So speaking of Credi, which is an online platform, we're actually talking today to Ben Ford, who is a bit of a FinTech guru, about five hacks that you can do to really transform your finances. And these are really simple hacks. But also, as well with the hacks Ben, because he's a FinTech head, he's got five apps that can help you achieve these easy money hacks. So it's five hacks and five apps to make your life easier and money easier to manage. But before we get to Ben den, what has been in the actual media capture capturing your attention this week,

Dan Jovevski  03:28

I think the one that we can't avoid is this massive rise of Coinbase. So Coinbase, for those who didn't follow the news, recently listed on the US exchanges, and add an eye watering 100 billion dollar valuation, and put that into context. You know, some of the major banks like Goldman Sachs, in the United States is only worth about $80 billion. That's about five or six years old, that has, you know, they call themselves the will that location for cryptocurrencies, and they're insanely profitable according to their recent filings. But I think the thing that may be even more interesting about Coinbase, which for those who don't know, is just simply a way that you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, very easily connect your account like your master debit card, you can buy away it's a pretty straightforward proposition. But the thing that really caught my eye is the founding story of how Bryan Armstrong started Coinbase in order to get people interested in Coinbase what he did was give them free money. So he would send out said that

Blaize Pengilly  04:40

So interesting.

Dan Jovevski  04:43

He would give very famous to credible people, especially investors, to say here is $50 worth of Bitcoin and that $50 I think somebody did the math today is like worth somewhere like $50,000 Basically, Brian actually gave that money out. So not only did he give the investors the chance to invest in Coinbase, but he also gave them the ability to give him free Bitcoin at the time when it was like something ridiculous like $20 for a full Bitcoin, it's a lot of people made a lot of money, you by Brian's generosity in the very early years. I wish there was even a blaze back in 20 2015. But we can only

Blaize Pengilly  05:26

I've got couple 100 followers on Instagram. Come on, Brian.

Dan Jovevski  05:31

I was thinking. Yeah, that's that. That's, that's pretty good news. I think it's getting to the mainstream now, with our last two episodes on intro to crypto. A lot more people talking about it's becoming more mainstream. What else is in the news stabilise?

Blaize Pengilly  05:45

Well, slightly steering a little bit away from crypto and straight to Sesame Street. Not necessarily one of these, but this blew my mind. Do you hear what you heard about how big bird got kidnapped from South Australia last week?

Dan Jovevski  05:59

not didn't tell me more.

Blaize Pengilly  06:01

What Okay, so big bad got big, bad, Big Bird, I should say got kidnapped in Adelaide last week. And he was returned with an apology note. But what blew my mind about this story was that the big black costume is worth $160,000 for a costume. Isn't that

Dan Jovevski  06:22

Amazing? But it's pretty big. And it's its feathers to very elegantly graced our screens, and you will thought probably a little over 160 grand. That's a lot of feathers.

Blaize Pengilly  06:33

That's, that's more than a house deposit for the median house price in Australia. That's crazy. But some actual news that caught my attention was that JB hi fi has launched Afterpay zip and latitude pay on their online store, which sort of surprised me, because I would have assumed that it would they would have had that earlier. And just goes to show you know, we've been talking about it quite a bit. All these buy now pay later services are just rapidly rapidly growing in popularity. And to see a massive chain like JB hi fi. Take them on. Yeah, it's it's a very interesting sign of the times of how things are changing and how you know, Millennials really do seem to be steering away from credit cards and relying more so on this. What's that you call it pseudo? pseudo? credit.

Dan Jovevski  07:22

Here's a prediction. I think that by 2025, Afterpay and I will we can the predominance payment platform in the next five years. When it comes to people buying and selling items. It's the credit card is dying. And people entering that space in such a large clip. It's one of those things we can't put the genie back in the bottle. And I think JB hi fi was that last big massive commerce e commerce company that didn't have this payment platform ready. And because it's such a loved Australian franchise, I think they should sort of tell you that buying arpoador is not going away. He's here to stay.

Blaize Pengilly  08:02

Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Well, it's 2021. Now, so in, you said five years, was it done in 2026? Well, I'll be checking back in with you and seeing if your prediction comes true.

Dan Jovevski  08:16

I'm gonna make another prediction.

Blaize Pengilly  08:18

All right. What is it?

Dan Jovevski  08:20

I think 10% of Australian consumers will have Afterpay as their primary bank.

Blaize Pengilly  08:32

So you think after you think by now pay later will be the predominant form of how people buy in the next five years? And 10% will have Afterpay as their product their primary bank within the next five years as well?

Dan Jovevski  08:45

Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. I think I think what the what they've done here is captured the imagination of a younger consumer that has offered a value proposition that is 10 times better than what the existing incumbents have to offer, and losses plenty of issues around bipolar that we've discussed previous on this podcast. I also think that it's unescapable that the brand and loyalty that has been built up with this younger cohort, that if I do decide to move into a place of banking services that Australian consumers will give it a go. I mean, Afterpay is a loved brand, whether we like them or we don't. It is something that consumers do flock to and have part of their everyday vernacular. So yeah, timestamp.

Blaize Pengilly  09:28

Alright, 2026, we'll check back in. Let's get into the episode four, five finance easy money hacks to make your managing your money easier, and five apps you can achieve them with? Let's chat to Ben.

Dan Jovevski  09:40

Let's do it Blaize

Blaize Pengilly  09:43

Here to share his top five apps to hack your finances is a Sydney based FinTech and fitness master. He's the head of growth at frollo a business to business finance app. He's studied business economics, finance and marketing and undertook a Leadership Program at Harvard Business School executive education, very, very fancy. He loves talking about FinTech and also fitness. Today he has actually completed 10 marathons and five ultra marathons if he's Instagram is to be believed, which is mind blowing for me. He works in the finance industry and has his own blog on fitness and finance on the slide. Some people refer to him as the super fit dad. Others in the industry refer to him as FinTech forward. He joins us now via video link from Sydney. Welcome, Ben. Forward. How you going, Ben?

Ben Ford  10:31

I am well, thanks, Blaize. Wow, what an introduction. That is phenomenal. Really enjoyed hearing that most of its true. All of its true, the marathon's is true. And yeah, glad to be here with you guys to talk about FinTech a topic that's very dear to my heart,

Blaize Pengilly  10:45

then I know you've come to talk about finance. But seriously, I almost ran out of breath in that intro. How else do you do five ultra marathons and how ultra ultra is like a marathon itself? Sounds like too painful for me. an ultra marathon? Surely that's longer than a regular one, right? 100%. So

Ben Ford  11:03

An ultra marathon is any distance over a regular marathon, a regular marathon is 42.2 kilometres. So ultra marathon could be 43 kilometres, it could be 50 kilometres could be 100 kilometres. I've done a few over various distances. And yeah, I don't quite know what I was thinking of all the time when I signed up to these races. But look, it's a really good experience. It challenges you on a number of different levels. And you come out on the other side with a new self respect for yourself and for other people doing these kinds of things. And you feel like you've really overcome a massive challenge and a massive hurdle carries on into other areas of your life as well. Hopefully,

Dan Jovevski  11:40

Ben you put you're putting me to shame and I think I'm going to take the other side of that I think you might be able to call me the super unfit dad. There's no excuses of having kids revalue healthy lifestyle, like you do and your Instagram is absolutely amazing. Looking forward to today's session. Thanks, Dan.

Ben Ford  11:55

Appreciate it.

Blaize Pengilly  11:56

I think if I finished a marathon, I wouldn't be coming out the end feeling proud about myself. I'd be coming out the end going Am I still say my still the same person? Anyway, Ben, you are a huge fan of hacks that make your life easier. I'm sure you had some when you were training for the marathons. But as someone who's been in the FinTech space for a long time, and is super passionate about finances, what are your go to hacks for hacking your personal finance making it better? And what are the apps that you use to say? Thanks, guys?

Ben Ford  12:25

Yeah, let's let's dive into it. So Hack number one that I think is really important is to become an owner and not a consumer. So what do we mean by that? And where did Where did this sort of thesis or this idea come from? I picked up on this reading the book money master the game by Tony Robbins, which is a fairly dense 600 page, financial Encyclopedia of Tony Robbins sharing things he's picked up from various financial gurus over the years. So it's a really transformative book for me. And what he was talking about with this idea of becoming an owner and not a consumer, is the idea that you can build a much better financial life for yourself and financially healthy life for yourself by resisting instant gratification, and not necessarily purchasing consumer items that will bring you joy immediately. But by potentially buying, buying or investing into those companies that can serve you longer term. So a great example would be to not necessarily always feel the need to buy the latest Apple gadget, the iPad, the airport's whatever it may be the new iPhone, but actually potentially invest in shares like apple or invest in companies like Apple, that will give you an appreciating asset, a growth asset, something that will potentially pay you an income rather than a depreciating asset, walk through a half in value, the minute you walk out of there, walk out of the store. So that's where the concept comes from. How can we use that philosophy or apply that philosophy in our daily lives? Well, there's there's apps at the moment like steak, which is an Australian share trading app that enables Australians to invest or get exposure to the US stock market in a way that was never easily applicable or easy to do for the average consumer before. So staking enables you to trade in US shares for free, you can get started with fairly modest amounts, you can actually buy fractional shares. So you can buy a portion of a share us shares tend to be quite expensive on a on a per dollar basis, or to buy in lump sum. So you can invest from as little as 50 or $100, get some exposure to us shares and start to build a portfolio of growth assets in the US over time.

Blaize Pengilly  14:28

So it sounds like self control is a really big element of this of of delaying that instant gratification, as you say and investing in something for the long term Stake Why is it important to be able to trade in US shares? And what makes steak better than other apps that offer the ability to trading shares?

Ben Ford  14:49

Sure. Well, I mean, picking a particular market is entirely down to individual preference, but I think in building an overall balanced portfolio, no financial advisor this isn't financial Advice. But generally, most best practices would suggest that you have some exposure to the US us share market. steak is one of the early movers in Australia, certainly in giving Australian consumers access to the US market in a way that wasn't previously available. It's got some great tools within the app. So you can actually delve into particular companies, you can see various data points about them, you can see their market cap, you can see the performance, as you'd expect, you can also build up a watch list of companies that you're particularly interested in. It also helps with financial literacy if you've got children or younger people around the place. And they can sort of get a real visual picture as to why an apple share might be a good investment, rather than a new iPad for their birthday. Anyone who's been involved in that kind of negotiation themselves will know that that's extremely tricky if you're negotiating against a six or seven year old child when it comes to Apple, Apple consumables. And also, it's free to use, I should clarify that and say it's free to trade, there is a small cost of foreign exchange rate when you're transferring your dollars from Australian dollars into US dollars. But it works out around naught point seven 3%, which is a relatively affordable rate to enable you to get that exposure to the market, in relatively small doses, like I say, in a way that wasn't readily available before.

Dan Jovevski  16:18

It's super interesting, Ben and I just had a look at to find out what's the comparative size, the Australian Stock Exchange versus the US one. And so the Australian Stock Exchange is about $2 trillion, whereas the US about 15 $16 trillion. So just the sheer size of companies and the asset class that you can invest in the US is, you know, it's monumental.

Ben Ford  16:39

Absolutely, completely agree. And also the interest in those companies as well as household names that we're, we're extremely well versed with, we interact with on a daily basis, like Google, like Amazon, like apple, white, Nike, Lululemon, whatever your personal preference is, you can actually get some meaningful interaction and start to take a small amount of exposure, or at least to start with in those organisations. And like I say, become an owner of those companies, rather than simply a consumer of those companies.

Blaize Pengilly  17:07

I have a confession, I did just have to Google what a trillion was because I know it's a lot but I wasn't sure exactly how much a trillion is a million dollars multiplied by a million, that is so many opportunities to invest in that market that is mind blowing. And when it comes to using an app like steak, do you need to provide any like identification? Is it regulated? But is there anything else you need to consider when you're signing up? Or is it simply put your email in make up a password state? 123? Whatever it is, and then you're done? How does it how does it work practically, when you're using an app like that,

Ben Ford  17:41

it's extremely intuitive and easy to use it and get set up, you do have to provide certain details to verify your identity and fulfil certain criteria's. There's certain forms and administration that needs to be part of this process, as well as take a really good in fulfilling a lot of that for you as well just to take care of any any tax implications. And certainly recommend downloading the app having having a look at it. And going through that process, asking for advice, if there's any elements to it that you're not comfortable with, or that you feel could be potentially risky for your particular profile of investing. But certainly, I think they do a great job in making this accessible or relatively straightforward to get up and running and get involved in the markets.

Blaize Pengilly  18:22

Awesome. So hack one, become an owner, not a consumer, then what's your next finance hack?

Ben Ford  18:30

Hack two is invest 10% of your take home pay, or your take home income sounds really, really easy, not necessarily easy to do to maintain that level of discipline. But I think there's various calculators that you can use for this to extrapolate this out over time or over the course of someone's career. But I think it's fair to say that if you were to do this over a 10, or 20, or 30 year period, or whatever working period you wish to apply this to, you will end up with a really meaningful pot of money at the end of that period, which you can use for whatever purpose you like. And I think it's worth pointing out that when we're talking about this kind of investment, we're talking about not investing it or not putting it straight into a savings account earning whatever the deposit rate is 1% interest or one or half percent interest, or maybe even less at the moment, we're talking about using this money over a long term horizon to invest again into the stock market, but perhaps in a more generic sort of way than perhaps a individual stock picking, like we just spoke about estate. So for something like this kind of approach, I would suggest using a robo advisor or a robo financial advisor. And the app that I recommend is stock spot, which is an Australian robo advisor that invest in a broad portfolio of ETFs or exchange traded funds in a really simple and low cost way makes it easy to get up and running and start building that nest egg.

Blaize Pengilly  19:52

What exactly is a robo advisor?

Ben Ford  19:55

Great question. So a robo advisor essentially performs the following action of a traditional financial planner or a traditional financial advisor, it offers much of the same kind of advice, but with far less of the costs. So it's done on a automated basis, it works on the process that the majority of people have certain demographics or within many demographics have relatively similar or relatively identical investment leads or investment profiles, and therefore they don't necessarily lead need bespoke financial advice, which can end up being quite expensive. What this basically means is the cost base of investing using a robo advisor would tend to be potentially half or bit more than half of using a traditional financial planner. What that ultimately means is over a period of 1020 or 30 years, and those kinds of investment horizons that we're talking about, the cost deduction, or the lower cost can make a massive amount to the pot that you've got at the end of that period.

Dan Jovevski  20:51

Amazing, then, I now we're saving a 10%. We're doing that as we progress in our life in our careers. But what about the future? What about when we think about retirement? What are some other hacks for retiring, wealthier?

Ben Ford  21:05

Good question, then I think they This is an area that I think is really, really important to consider for almost every every Australian, I think there's a massive potential problem looming with the super gap, as they call it, as in the amount that people will retire with or their retirement pot, and the amount that they potentially will need at a certain age for for a comfortable required retirement, I should say. So I think at the moment, the average super balance for a 30 year old male is $27,000. I think for a 30 year 30 year old female, it's around about $23,000. Now, this is according to some accurate statistics from 2020. Now, as per astir, not to be confused with accurate so the Australian superannuation fund Association, the amount that you need at the age of 30 is $54,000. to fund or to grow into a comfortable retirement pot at the average retirement age, which, for the sake of argument, let's say you're 65. So there's already a gap at the age of 30 of $27,000. For men $31,000 for women, that potentially needs to be addressed if people are going to have the level of comfort in retirement that they want. Now the problem with superannuation is it's really, really not sexy. And also in Australia, many people are given a bit of a free kick because of compulsory employer superannuation. So in many respects, we're very lucky. And we get given this sort of free pot of money to retire on. But it perhaps doesn't necessarily shape the best behaviours or the best habits as we're going through as we're going through that process. So there's an app called longevity, that would be my third app that I'd recommend here. And that enables you to actually link a bank account to the app, and it will round up your regular spending or your day to day spending on top of your superannuation fund with those roundups, so you're making passive, steady, incremental increases or additions to your superannuation fund as you're going about your day to day spending. And I think that's absolutely almost essential for many, many Australians, if not all of us going forward.

Dan Jovevski  23:10

Amazing Ben looks like we've got a way to bring sexy back to superannuation. So that's an awesome hat.

Ben Ford  23:17

I think it's Look, it's a tough task. And if anyone can do it, these guys can, I think it's a great app, it works really nicely. There's a great interface, you can dial up and down how much you want to round up and top up your super with. And the great thing about it is they're not their own superannuation fund, you can plug it into your existing superannuation fund, so you don't need to pay additional fees or have multiple providers or anything like that.

Blaize Pengilly  23:42

That's cool. That was going to be my next question. If you could link it to your own existing super. So it's great that you can, then I'm assuming it works like the other roundup apps in the market. So there's, you know, raise or spaceship or even up thinking or some banks themselves do the round up on the everyday spend. So you buy a copy for for all 50 and then it rounds up to the nearest whole dollar. So that might be $5. And then 50 cents goes into your super Is that how it works is that that sort of traditional round up?

Ben Ford  24:12

Exactly right. It works as I the other roundups out there, it's just this one is pointing directly into your Superfund, topping it up as you go along. The one thing I would say there's a website that I'd recommend as well called Super guru.com.au quirky name, but there's a lot of good value on there. And there's actually a calculator on there that shows how consistent small savings can make big differences over time to your superannuation balance. And for anyone who's sort of on the fence for a bit skeptical about the power that roundups can have or small additions to a Superfund. I really recommend just having a look at this and it shows you the difference of additional contributions. But also, not necessarily saving on a coffee everyday saving on a dinner out and these small tweaks or change without impacting your lifestyle too much can have huge, huge differences to your super balance at the end of a period of time. Well worth a look,

Blaize Pengilly  25:09

I understand there's a limit on the number of voluntary contributions you can make to your super each year. What happens if you reach this via round ups as longevity? Just go well, okay, that's enough of the year. Does it put the money somewhere else? Does it warn you when you get to that limit? Is anyone rounding up enough to be reaching that limit? How does that part of it work?

Ben Ford  25:28

I would, I would guess I've certainly not hit that point yet, please. So I would guess that it's probably not come up too many times. I think we are talking relatively modest amounts, is something I would need to check up on.

Blaize Pengilly  25:42

Alright, no worries. Well, hopefully you're not spending is it 50 that 15,000 $30,000 a year and random roundups. But small bits do make a difference as as we've seen through the power of compounding, correct. So Ben, we've got become an owner, not a consumer, the passive investing into your, into your future, and investing 10% of your take home income, what is your next finance hack and the app that you can do it with?

Ben Ford  26:08

Well, this was meant to be relevant to all of your audience, but hopefully to some of your audience. And that would be to teach your children about money. And the app that I'd recommend for this is spring, which is a kid's pocket money app, which enables you to pay children weekly pocket money, reward them for chores, reward them for jobs, they can set up savings goals, they can be paid for additional items, say for birthdays, and things like that. And it's effectively a money manager for kids, I think we money for children under the age of 11. And springy has somewhere in the region of 300,000 families already using it in Australia. So it's got real, real traction already is easy to use. There's a huge sort of sprig effect, I would say that because it's fiercely independent is not linked to any of the big four banks and schemes like that which have had a bit of a bad press over time. And that is extreme like ability with a with a spring gap. So any of my friends who are sort of in embarking or starting a family or have have little ones that are getting to pocket money type age, I absolutely recommend that they download bringing and get paying their kids pocket money into the spring, the app, it's a it's a great app, easy to use simple UX, they really do a fantastic job.

Dan Jovevski  27:23

Then, when you hear about obviously, we're in fin tech and what we understand the space, but what do you hear strangers on the street, recommend these apps to you like spree for kids, and then being just people going about their daily lives, I think it's really cool. And I think what they're doing is really incredible, by teaching all this good money habits in a very, very formative age, which is filling a gap with something that plays in I've discussed with previous guests on the podcast around financial education and literacy at a very young age. And they're, and they've done wonders in terms of really getting kids to understand the value of money, and then the incentives behind money. So they can take all those lessons into the latter part of their life in their 20s and 30s. and beyond. So I think it's an incredible, incredible service, that parents who to look at,

Ben Ford  28:11

completely agreed on, doing a fantastic job, as I say, fiercely independent. They've done super well, so far. And like you say that one of these apps that seems to transcend the FinTech space a little bit, as you say, we get deep into the weeds on our daily work. So we know a lot about some of these, these new new apps sort of creeping up, but springy seems to have done a really slick cross over almost a mass market, families within Australia and done a great job of it. And I think there's only new or based on the conversations I've had with the sprinkler team. There's some new things on the way that are super exciting. And I think the future for these guys is really, really good.

Blaize Pengilly  28:49

It's cool that apps like Fergie exists to train kids and to train families like we do have, as I suppose this comes down to the relevance of the podcast today, as well as that, yes, we're recommending apps because there are heaps and heaps of books out there where you can learn all of this stuff. But it's about you know, the apps have the ability to keep the information new, relevant up to date, they can evolve over time. So as much as you can get information on how to teach your kids the value of money from books like the Barefoot investor for families, which we love. Having using an app like sprig is something that would really keep it relevant and can evolve and adapt. Depending on what happens in the market, like the principles will remain the same, but also keeps it really, really relevant for what's happening out there at the moment.

Ben Ford  29:33

100% place and the thing to remember as well as the children now even from the ages of 567 and upwards are completely digitally native. So they're used to interacting with apps rather than pocket money jars, notwithstanding all of the great work that the Barefoot investor does, but I'm very rarely have cash in my pocket to pay pocket money into a physical jar. So we're going to be looking at three extremely empty jars on the mantelpiece. There. Where is You know, we could go into the spring the app on my phone and we can see exactly that I've kept up with my payment schedule. And super fit kid is getting his money going into his various parks and he's saving for his Lego or Christmas, or he's saving for the Pokemon or, or whatever it may be. And yes, absolutely, I mean, it's, I guess a sign of the times is not necessarily always positive. But in terms of opening up the financial world, and empowering and teaching kids about things like share trading, for example, is super, super positive.

Blaize Pengilly  30:30

Yeah, that's so awesome. It's, it's, it'd be weird to think that, you know, in a couple of years, we might be passing someone a book on budgeting, and passing a kid a book on budgeting, and I look at it and go, Oh, what's this and use it as a doorstop or something. So, definitely adapting into technology is a great way to teach. Then what would be your fifth and final finance hack that can totally improve your finances? And what app would you suggest

Ben Ford  30:58

for it? Okay, well, you sort of stole my thunder here, a little bit Blaize on this one already.

Blaize Pengilly  31:04

Sorry

Ben Ford  31:05

But the hack is passing around passive investing, and not in superannuation, this time, but investing in the financial markets. So the app that you mentioned, and I'm going to mention now is raised, there are a few others out there, but I think raises kind of the Oji of the FinTech space, in terms of non lending. So they launched in early 2016. And I was lucky enough to be involved with them. Even pre launch before they were actually called raised actually raised was called April's before it was raised. So this was pre acorns, even before raise. And as a lot of us will know by now you link a bank account to the raise app. And then everywhere you use that particular bank card, your transactions are assessed and an appropriate round that goes into an investment fund or diversified portfolio. So at the time, this was pretty groundbreaking, because this really sort of democratized the whole investment process, or the idea of building an investment portfolio at folio for millennials. Whereas traditionally, you might have needed $5,000 $10,000, to invest in mutual funds or to invest in the stock market, raised enable you to get going with absolutely zero, other than a phone, an app and a bank card. And they've maintained this growth trajectory, which has been super impressive, considering they are the perhaps the most well known roundup app in Australia, the app, I think the reason they've been able to do this is the app always delivers, it's got a great UX, they've had very, very few missteps along the way. And they're sort of iterating on the fly or as they go. So they're bringing in new functionality, new features, and now our superannuation fund. There's some rewards and loyalty elements to it. And they've also expanded into Malaysia and Indonesia, and racking up users over there as well. So I still think despite being that, like I say, the big of the FinTech world in this space, they're doing a great job that continuing to grow. And that they're on my phone and taking longer and have a great time with it.

Blaize Pengilly  33:10

Yeah, Raiz. I'm really glad you mentioned Raiz because raises Actually, I've been using raise. And I don't know a lot about money. I'm definitely learning a lot from Dan, and from the guests we have on this show, raises my first foray into investing. And it is so simple, so easy to use. And it's really interesting to see how much it changes over time, like, I get a little bit addicted and seeing logging in every day and seeing how much the market has changed. And it's really cool being able to select different portfolios and seeing, you know, how risky you want to be because you know, they've got the moderate portfolio, they've got the aggressive portfolio, there's one that's good for the environment. So there's different you sort of have selection and who you're choosing to invest in. And then you can also diversify, because it's all in a big mix. Is that the right way to describe it? I'm still learning myself. Yeah,

Ben Ford  34:03

absolutely. That's the way to describe it. They invest in predominantly ETFs or exchange traded funds, which are baskets of securities or investments and they they dial up or down the portfolio. Depending on the risk profile that you select on the way in, it's fairly easy to change portfolios, you can make additional investments as well either on an ongoing recurring basis on a monthly basis or as a lump sum. I sort of refer to Ray's often as stocks bonds cheeky younger brother, so stops by does have a, which I mentioned before, the robo advisor has a $2,000 minimum investment, and is perhaps a bit more of a longer term or medium to long term play raises enables younger people to sort of get on the investing bandwagon or on the investing journey and then potentially progress on to other things should they wish to or they can they can stick with race and enjoy the ride as I go.

Blaize Pengilly  34:54

There is something I noticed about the race app. Is that you one of the things I really liked about signing up because it gave me a sense of security in that you can you can cash out quite simply and at any time, so you can go, okay, I've had enough, I want to take my money out of the market, I want to stop investing in Apple, whatever it is that do you think that creates? You know, do you think that might foster bad habits for people that should really be investing in the long term having the ability to cash out so easily? Your Do you have any thoughts on that?

Ben Ford  35:28

I sort of get that. But I also think that Raiz is clearly set up and to be for medium to long term investing the nature of the portfolios, we're not talking about investing in sort of fat stocks or particular trends of the day. I don't think we get people with ever sharing their race screens on Facebook groups boasting of particular returns on a particular day or within a particular week, that's probably just you blades. I say that's not a major issue. I think I'd be surprised if that's an issue for race. I think there's other areas of the markets where there's more of this sort of frenzied activity and risk taking activity, that's potentially not good. I'd be a little surprised if people were trading in and out of raise on a frequent basis to the point where it becomes damaging or encourages, amongst other behaviours.

Blaize Pengilly  36:21

Yeah, awesome. It's better to think about the list that you've given us today, you've given raise and longevity, which are both small, roundup apps that are really investing for the future, it's it's good to see you're sort of stance and that even the small amounts can make a change in you really focusing on building wealth, rather than that instant gratification and, and, you know, using apps like longevity and raise it, small amounts tucked away every day, every time you make a purchase, is really going to benefit you in the long run. So it's it's interesting to see your sort of values coming through and apps that you've suggested today.

Ben Ford  36:56

Thanks, Blaize. Well, I'm probably showing my age a little bit. But as someone who lived through the.com bubble, as a broker in my early days, very, very early, my career, and then subsequently the GFC. In 2008 2009, you'll see these sort of roller coaster rides, and it certainly feels a bit like we're on something akin to, to those kind of trajectories at the moment. So I certainly think there's always time always a good idea to just pause and reflect and make sure your portfolio is as balanced as you can in medium to long term investments. And if you have one, I have a small amount to invest in slightly more speculative things. And that's entirely down to you, by all means that by all means, go for it if that's what blows your hair back. Absolutely. Love them. That's

Dan Jovevski  37:41

absolutely awesome. So Ben, look, we're talking about apps and how we can look after our money. But a person like you, if anybody has checked out a bit Instagram profile, people will probably want to look like them, too. What are the top apps you recommend for your for your fitness regime?

Ben Ford  37:56

Okay, so moving into my fitness folder on my phone, and the apps contained in there. Number one is the TAC fit timer. So, tac fit short for tactical fitness is a app that has a range of pre configured workout timers. So whatever your workout preferences, whether it's high intensity interval training, whether it's longer training sessions, there's a timer on there to serve you, I use it daily, as I say, I wouldn't be without this on any workout, whether we're training down at the beach, whether we're training in the backyard, whether we're training in the gym tech fit time or is timing all of those workouts. And the second one I would recommend is there's not only a breathing, so this is called worried breath. And this is what's called a box breathing app. So it's a really simple app that enables you to just regulate and time your breathing using the box breathing protocol, which is designed to just get you in a much more relaxed state, give you time to pause during the day for three or four or five minutes. Just chill out, get your breathing regulated, you breathe in for a certain period, you hold your breath, you exhale for a certain period, you hold your breath again, and you just go round and round in a box for as long as you want. Recommended doing that on the bus. You sneak into a private office where you work, you do it at home, three to five minutes of that a day. And it really chills you out puts you in a very Zen like state and gets you away from the business of day to day life. So that would be my second fitness app. Today, guys.

Blaize Pengilly  39:23

I took a deeper breath when you mentioned breathing. So I think even just the the flow on effects of mentioning breath, I was like, Oh yes, I shouldn't be breathing deeper.

Ben Ford  39:33

It's actually it's very true. Blaize just in terms of how pent up our breathing could get during the during the day. Awesome.

Blaize Pengilly  39:40

Then, before we wrap up, I have to know how many FinTech apps do you actually have on your phone?

Ben Ford  39:48

This is embarrassing for me to say. I think there are somewhere in the region of 45 to 50 live active apps at the moment. I think there are probably 10 to 15 apps that are no longer fully functioning or operational. So the graveyard of FinTech apps, yes, unfortunately, live in a few casualties along the way, or some that just didn't really get out of the gate. So didn't get up and running, but 40 to 50. At the moment, I would say there's probably a cohort of about 10 to 15 that I use multiple times a day on a on an extremely regular basis. Now,

Blaize Pengilly  40:25

I thought I had a lot of five I have, I've got a long way to go to catch up to you super fit dad.

Ben Ford  40:32

I was just gonna say I've got a bit of time on airplanes. So I'm sure you'll catch up over the next year or so.

Blaize Pengilly  40:37

I will give it my best shot. Now. Ben, thank you so much for joining us today. It was so interesting learning about the five hacks and the apps that we can achieve them with. If our listeners want to learn more about you the super fit Dad, where can they go?

Ben Ford  40:52

I am @ super_fit_dad So the blog is https://superfitdad.com.au/ I post there a bit sporadically trying to make it more regular at the moment. But there's all of my past articles on there on productivity hacks, finance, and of course fitness, nutrition workouts, running marathons, you name it, it's on there. On Instagram, it's @ super_fit_dad, I post my workouts on their occasional picture of me working out at the beach, and the on fitness and finance tips make their way onto there as well.

Blaize Pengilly  41:29

Lovely, Ben,

Dan Jovevski  41:29

great to have you on the show.

Ben Ford  41:31

Thanks for having me, guys. What a blast.

Blaize Pengilly  41:34

Thank you so much, Ben for joining us. And if you're listening and are super interested in any of those apps, I will Chuck links to all of them in the show notes. So you can take a squeeze and download and start hacking your finances too. Thanks, Ben. See,

Blaize Pengilly  41:52

This very podcast is produced by WeMoney, which is a smart money app that helps you manage your money. Now, Dan, there was a big change in the WeMoney app this week. Tell me about it

Dan Jovevski  42:04

applies for women, you know, this is logged in over the course of the last couple of days of notice that now they have the ability to obtain a certain credit score. WeMoney is proud to announce that we partner with Equifax, Australia's largest credit bureau to give people a deeper insight into their credit health. So what this basically means is that the big banks and lenders that assess your creditworthiness prudently use Equifax in the decision making process. And we can now give you the ability to understand your credit score, or your credit file attributes that help you understand where you're currently sitting and more importantly, how you can improve your credit score over time. This little feature is not included to anybody just yet. But it's something that we're going to release in the next couple of weeks, which is called key contributing factors, which will give you a really good precise understanding about why your credit score is what it is and what you can do to improve it. So we're very excited about that. And a lot of our members have also been pretty excited about receiving that score as well.

Blaize Pengilly  43:04

I'm glad that you're mentioning this because I when I was using the app this week, I noticed that my credit when I checked my credit school. So I've got two in there now I have my experience score and my Equifax score, but my Equifax score is different to my experience score. Why is that? And Is that normal?

Dan Jovevski  43:22

Yes, it is very normal. So credit bureaus are different for a number of different factors. The first factor is that Equifax is a rating of zero to 1200. And experience is a writing insert 1000. And they contain different data and predicting different outcomes in terms of your individual risk profile. And I guess the key distinction is is that between Equifax, which is considered Australia's largest credit bureau, has more data and understands you in terms of the cars that you make with a variety of different providers in a way that is different to experience and experience is Australia's second largest credit bureau from what we understand. And what it does is it basically gives you the ability to have both credit scores that the banks use to understand your credit health. I'm looking forward to presenting some more information about that with you blaze in the coming weeks and uncovering your demystifying credit scores again, and maybe some of these deeper details. But in summary, people now have access to credit scores. It's a win for members, given the fact that they don't have to rely just on one particular provider. They've got two now, which is super exciting.

Blaize Pengilly  44:30

Yeah, awesome. If you'd like to check out your credit score, or just have a great place to look at all of your bank accounts, or check out the WeMoney community, get the WeMoney app, it's free to download and free to use. And if you download from the Apple or Google Play Store and use the referral code podcast, you'll get a free $5 on sign up when you connect a bank account. And I'll also check that link in the show notes so you can download straight from the show notes if that's what you'd like to do. Thank you so much for tuning in to We Talk Cents. If you've got any questions about the show you'd like to get in touch or any topics that you'd like us to discuss, feel free to get in touch via Instagram, which is at Gateway money.

Dan Jovevski  45:13

And if you'd love the podcast, please do us a favour by heading over to Apple podcasts and Leave us a review so others can find the podcast and just shared with a friend if you know anybody that needs help with money, and to understand that in a really simple and easy to understand way, then give them We Talk Cents, who knows they might thank you for it in the future.

Blaize Pengilly  45:32

Thank you so much for tuning in. And we will catch you next week for another episode of We Talk Cents See you later.

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Disclaimer:

The author is not a financial advisor and the information provided is general in nature and was prepared for information purposes only. This article should not be considered to constitute financial advice. Accordingly, reliance should not be placed on this article as the basis for making an investment, financial or other decision. This information does not take into account your investment objectives, particular needs or financial situation