9 tips to get financially fit in 2021 and building wealth with the Aussie Money Man

The following is a transcript taken from episode 13 of the We Talk Cents podcast. You can listen to this episode here.

‍

SPEAKERS

Dan Jovevski, Blaize Pengilly, Nicholas G Muscat

BlaizePengilly  00:09

Personal Finance, budgeting, cash flow andinvesting don't have to be scary words, The We talk podcast is here to help youlearn more about money and take control of your personal finance.

BlaizePengilly  00:26

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

DanJovevski  00:45

For more information, please check out Wemoney.com.au/disclaimer. Hello, welcome to Episode 13 of We Talk Cents podcastpresented by WeMoney. It's your second installment of 2021. And we're pumped tobe with you. I'm Dan, your finance expert.

BlaizePengilly  01:01

And I'm Blaize here to ask Dan the money questions. Today we'll be sharing a bunch of ideas that you can adopt in 2021to make the most of your money. And we'll be chatting to Nicholas G Muscat, whoyou may know as the Aussie money man from YouTube.

DanJovevski  01:15

But before we get to that Blaize What are theheadlines that captured your attention this week?

BlaizePengilly  01:20

Okay, Dan, for this week, I have two thingsthat have captured my attention. And one is not a news headline. One is just arealization that happened to me personally. When I  moved to neobanks. Last year, I have severalaccounts with different neobanks, which I love, which is great. However, Ifound that over Christmas, I came into some Christmas cash. And I don't knowhow to deposit it because none of my new banks have ATMs. So I'm not sure ifthis is a problem unique to me. Is there a solution that I'm not aware of? Butwhat what's going to happen in the future moving forward? How do I deposit cashinto my account? Or will I become a cash user? Again?

DanJovevski  02:00

Wow this is really interesting. Did you knowthat there's been a 20% increase in demand for 20 to $50 notes? Just only inthe last two to three months?

BlaizePengilly  02:11

Why is that? Is that because everyone's gettingout the pineapples and the lobsters for putting in Christmas cards or is theresome other reason that I don't know about? Well, I

DanJovevski  02:19

I think so without putting my tinfoil hat on. Ithink it could be something to do with the rise in electronic payments, andsome people actually going back to cash as a preferred form for payment. Sothis is really interesting that we're seeing this huge run to physical cash,which I think will solve your problem in the short term players. But I thinkthis is certainly true that the old world economy is catching up with the newworld economy and making cash deposits. You know, maybe requirements. Some ofthese do banks have to start thinking about. How did you get around the issue?

BlaizePengilly  02:51

Well, I haven't I've just got a small just got a bunch of notes stashed in my room somewhere that I'll probably forget about.And one day when I eventually decided to Marie Kondo at the change of seasons,I'll hopefully come across and find as a nice treat. But that's my news, nowthe actual news headlines that captured my attention. And last week, Dan, wasthat if you're in Centrelink benefits, the Coronavirus supplement has beenreduced to $150 a week from the first fof January so that's from last week. Andit's down from $250. So if you're receiving the Coronavirus supplement, you'resurviving on $100 a week less, which is you know, $200 a fortnight. That'sthat's a fair sum of money if you're on these benefits that you'll be having toadjust to living without not only has the Coronavirus supplement been reducedby the Job Keeper rates have changed. So the rates from the fourth of Januaryto the 28th of March, which is when it ends. If you work more than 20 hours perweek, the rates $1,000 of whatnot. And if you work less than 20 hours a week,the rate is $650 a fortnight, it'd be interesting to see especially seeing hisborders locking down in parts again, and it seems to be spreading a bit inSydney. It'll be interesting to see if the government makes any further changesor decides to extend job keeper and job seeker and all of the other Centrelinkpayments that they put to really help buffer us and pull us through theCOVID-19 period.

DanJovevski  04:19

Absolutely, Blaize, I think it's really superinteresting that there's gonna be a big debate in Parliament or whether or notI should extend job keeper and job seeker because economists have warned thatthe sudden decrease in payments being levied at the people may create a reallybig shock of the economy, where it's going to actually force a lot ofbusinesses to actually shut down and maybe even shut down in a pivot basis. SoI don't think we've got over this whole Coronavirus, economic malaise just yet.I think there's probably a little bit more government intervention that'srequired, but hopefully the government does come to their senses and sort ofrealize that the state of the Trying economy is much more important thansimple. You know, fiscal  readjustments,particularly when people are still hurting. So want to watch out for the nextcouple of months? That's for sure was,

BlaizePengilly  05:10

Yes, I guess we will wait and see. All right,Dan, I am so excited about this next segment, because we are talking aboutstarrting the new year strong And I know last week, we discussed the art ofnegotiation, and how to set goals with our lovely guests, Matt and Ben.However, this week, we thought that we would pull our minds together and comeup with some lists or some ideas of things that may inspire you, or encourageyou to get ahead and set yourself on the right foot to start 2021 strongfinancially. So Dan, have you got your list? Ready?

DanJovevski  05:50

I do, please, how about you,

BlaizePengilly  05:52

I do have a list ready. And for those of you listeningat home, Dan, and I haven't seen each other's lists. So then your list is goingto be a total surprise to me, and I hope my list will be a total surprise toyou. Should we go one for one? Or do you want to read your full list first? Orhow should we do it?

DanJovevski  06:10

Let's get one to one Blaize.

BlaizePengilly  06:12

Okay, good. Because that way, if you read awhole list, and you've stolen all of my ideas, I'll have something to share.All right, Dan, you're gonna start us off with your one of your tips to start2021 strong

DanJovevski  06:27

I do Blaize, and this one is gonna be quiteesoteric, it's not gonna be one that usually that's often talked about. Andthis is building knowledge. And one of the biggest lessons that I've taken awayover the last two to three years is that any type of key behavior change orachieving goals, actually goes into uncovering things. At the first principleslevel, this is really getting to the root of understanding of things likecompounding interest, not spending $1, as $1 saved, this is $1 spent a lot ofthese principles and information here is really good. But it doesn't actuallyprovide any tangible changes to your life unless you make implementations. Andthat typically comes from knowledge. And so the first tip that I have is buildknowledge and not just information, you probably get articles from a lot ofdifferent locations and a lot of different people. But retaining thatinformation is very difficult. building knowledge, or principles is one tipthat has certainly proven valuable in my life where understanding things thatare the most visceral level actually helps long term change. So probably askingthe question, how do you build knowledge? Well, knowledge is built over aperiod of time, were something that you might ingest may not sink instraightaway. But may actually comes as an epiphany a bit later on. And one bigtip that I have to start 2021 really strong and to buildknowledge is to read asmany books as possible around a topic that you're incredibly passionate about.And if it is money, think about some of the top three or four or five booksthat have endured the test of time that are so old, that some of the timelessprinciples that you can learn, can we help you, you know, chart the course oflife. And I think those are the books that can help you create a lot ofknowledge rather than the stuff that you may hear about tactically day to day,which is going to be plenty of text with stuff that we'll talk about today. ButI think, arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible as opposed toinformation. That's my first overarching tip Blaize.

BlaizePengilly  08:42

All right, Dan, I love this. I do love reading.And something you actually got me onto last year was listening to audiobooks. Iwas always a bit skeptical about audiobooks. And I don't know why because Ilove listening to podcasts. But listening to audiobooks is so great, because asI'm driving or cooking dinner, I can be learning rather than just watching somemindless nonsense on the TV. So audiobooks I really like.

BlaizePengilly  09:09

So my first tip would be check yoursubscriptions. It's really very simple. It's very basic, but it's somethingI've been doing. I started on my my time off over the holidays. And I thought Iwas really on top of my subscriptions. And I found multiple things that I don'teven use or use so rarely that it's really not providing me any cost benefit.So go through your bank accounts, check your statements and make sure thatyou're aware of all of the costs that are coming out. Are you getting yourmoney's worth? So for example, I had a streaming service account that I havebarely been using. I literally watched one episode of which I downloaded Stanto watch. Thomas Banks Journey of love which was a beautiful Beautiful show.But was it with a two month subscription? I literally watch one show in twomonths not worth it. $20 not worth it, I could take myself out to the moviesfor that. So yeah, My top tip, well, not top tip. But my first tip for todaywill definitely be check your subscriptions, make sure you know where yourmoney's going.

DanJovevski  10:24

I think another one that goes with that. Thatis one of the one of the best things I've heard before. And I can't rememberwho it was from. But it just stuck out to me as being really sound advice. Andit comes off the back of what you just said there were canceling subscriptions.You know, I think this advice is for somebody at the moment who's thinkingabout, maybe there's too many things coming out of their bank account, there'stoo many things subscribed for, and you don't know how to get it all over anddone with because sometimes going into these subscription providers and cancelaccounts can be painful. The best thing I've heard on this piece of advice,which actually goes to the next level of extremity applies to your to yourpoint is to just cancel your debit card, or cancelling your debit card does, itactually forces you to stop every single direct debit that's coming out of youraccount, and painfully reorganize the most critical direct debits that arecoming into your account, such as, of course, your rent, and mortgagerepayments etc. What it does is it basically keeps anybody from taking moremoney from your account to service that you don't use, what you can then do isthen go through the process of canceling all those providers. But without thefear of more money be taken out of your account, especially now with jobkeeping being removed away, this could be a great way for you to stop havingmoney taken at your account without you knowing about it. So that's anotherpiece of more radical advice. For those who are really sort of struggling to gothrough and cancel those accounts. just cancel your card, get a new cardreissued. And then go through the process of instigating the direct debits youactually need this the ones that you don't,

BlaizePengilly  12:05

I wish I had taken that piece of advice twoyears ago, when I realized this is a bit of a confession. I did my I did mysubscriptions check a couple of years ago in January and realized I was paying$76 a year for an app that I downloaded once didn't know I had a subscriptionto and was paying $76 a year I deleted it. I didn't even have the app on myphones.

DanJovevski  12:27

I wish I'd taken radical advice then 100%implies this is so true. Because I think the the subscription wars are startingto heat up where they are getting really smart people knowing that instead oftrying to sell you will have a monthly subscription where you can see thelittle fee being taken into your account and banking apps getting a little morebetter with providing you advice of when money is taken out. What app companiesare doing now is they're charging you an annual subscription or subscription everysingle two years. So one thing that really caught me by surprise is I took afree trial for like a VPN service, because I was trying to access some show andsome type of streaming service and forgot what it was. But anyway, I noticedthat they charged me like $79. I thought it was a What the hell is this afterrecord signing up to that innocently? Yeah, I was about to call my bank and saycan you please cancel this unauthorized transaction? And then I recalled Oh,yeah, I do. Remember I saw years ago, when I checked my emails that I noticedthat they put me on an annual resubscription plan. And so these companies noware getting really smart on changing the subscription to make it lessnoticeable about when they're taking money their account. And hopefully youdon't recognize that's a really, really awesome piece of advice.

BlaizePengilly  13:48

Yeah, so check your subscriptions because we'vebeen stung. So I'm sure a lot of other people out there getting stung too. Myn ext tip is or idea is check your benefits. So are you taking full benefits ofthe memberships that you have access to, for example, one of my bank accounts will triple the interest that you pay if you make five transactions, usingtheir debit card with a direct link to a transaction account each month. Sothat's a really easy way to make sure that you're getting maximum interest,just for doing five transactions that's really, really simple. So make surewhere you can be buffering up the amount of money or the amount of interest your work earning, whether it be on a bank account or whatnot. definitely makesure you're taking full advantage of that. And part of this is I guess, it sortof ties into memberships as well. So that's that clearly is very specificallyto banks. However, if you're a member of something, whether it be maybe you'rea student, maybe have roadside assistance or car insurance or whatever it is A lot of these companies offer discounted tickets or access for discounts atvarious stores that you may not even know about. So for example, if you're with the RAC or the NRMA, both roadside assistance companies, you can save money ina variety of things. I like such a random variety. You can get discounts on anewspaper membership, you can save money on petrol, you can save money diningout at restaurants, you can save money at chemists and on appliances, you cansave you can get discounted movie tickets, and you can even buy discountedmattresses, all through these roadside assistance companies. Same as Optus andTelstra, they offer membership discounts as well. So if you have a phone or acar, or you're a membership, you have a membership with something, definitelytake a quick look at their website, it's really, really easy to find, I justdid it yesterday, I just typed in, you know, roadside assistance, membershipperks, and it comes up with a full list of places that you can save money. Sodefinitely make sure you're taking full advantage of the benefits you'reentitled to. And the membership perks that you may have access.

DanJovevski  16:07

Blaize, there is something that's happened in Australia for the last 10 or so years in the world, which is why the gigeconomy and another awesome tip that I think if you haven't gotten to the side,hustle journey or train just yet, it may be time to jump on board. You'v eprobably heard your co-workers at work in the cubicle talking about how they'remaking paper mache dinosaur that they sell at their kids fairs or gems or Kombuchas in their bathtubs at home.

BlaizePengilly  16:38

Bathtub?

DanJovevski  16:38

Oh there's heaps.  And I think that as the world starts changingand moving into more the gig economy where people's labor is being priced intasks of yours and more short term engagements as opposed to, you know, morelong term, secure jobs and in the forms of employment, that starting a sidehustle now and 2021 is probably going to be proven, as it means that not onlycan you earn additional income, but you can also diversify your revenuestreams, and also bring a huge sense of enjoyment to your life. A lot of peoplethat do side hustles actually do say they're incredibly passionate about. Andthey really love doing can give you an awesome outlet to not only exercise ahobby, but also to earn some additional money on the side. And the trends atthe moment are indicating that more short term, contract level work is going toincrease as opposed to the more longer term secure forms of employment, whichis obviously going to bring up a whole raft of different issues. But if youhaven't already started to consider a side hustle 2021 now could be the time toconsider that. And really the best place to start that I've heard for people isto start on doing a side hustle or that something that you're incrediblypassionate about. side hustles shouldn't be a chore, if you really, reallyexcited and passionate about something. And you can turn that into a form ofincome. That could be awesome. And there's plenty of different examples, likeI've mentioned before, but it could be something that is even as more than now,as between and helping people create cover letters for employment. And ifthat's a particular skill that you're really good at, somebody is probablygoing to pay you a lot of money to help him out through that process. Andthere's no shortage of different ways it can go and advertise your services andyour products. Things like Etsy if you're making crafts, things like AirTasker, if you're looking to do more, some shorter term, hustler jobs, etc.There's plenty of ways that you can get involved in the business. What do youthink Blaize?

BlaizePengilly  18:45

I think that I need to get my paper mache andstart making that you mentioned? Yeah, I totally agree with side hustles It isa great way to make extra income. However, my next tip sort of comes off theback of that, because I have found for myself that sometimes when I you know,you know, you know me I'm a spendaholic. So sometimes when I have money, I'mlike, whoo, I want to spend it all immediately, rather than actually putting ittowards my goals. So this next tip is more for me than anyone else. But I hopeyou find some benefit or some inspiration for it. It is treat yourself inbetter ways. So like I said, I often adopt to the 'ooh, I made an extra $300this month, so I deserve to spend it all on myself immediately'. Or I shouldimmediately take my friends out to the pub and we should have a big night likethat's my immediate reaction because I get excited. However, yes, you deserveto treat yourself because you worked hard and you made extra money. But maybethink about treating yourself in different ways like reward yourself with thesunsets on the beach or attending a local free show. Or maybe Be maybe insteadof using the full extra money because I do love treating myself, maybe insteadof using the full amount that you make, you say, okay, for every bit of extramoney I make, I will allow myself 20% to treat myself and the rest, that 80%will go into savings and it will go towards working towards my money goals. Soyes, so my tip would be, treat yourself in better ways, get creative with theways that you want to treat yourself. And if you're making extra money, doDon't, don't immediately spend it or, or plan on spending it, you can put ittowards your saving goals. Dan next tip, how do we start in 2021 strong

DanJovevski  20:39

Blaize one of the great books that I read lastyear was a book called Atomic Habits. And atomic habits is a book that reallykind of delves into, again, a topic that I think all the listeners probablyknow that we're really passionate about these behavioral psychology, and mehelping us build long term sustainable habits that can help us achieve thingsin our life that we didn't think was possible are the books by James Clear. Andone of the tips that I've seen work really good for me, particularly late lastyear, when I was trying to develop this habit introducing what's called there'sno spend days. So this is basically where you commit to having two to threedays per week, or as much as you can really, we actually don't spend any moneyat all. And the way that I've practically visit my life is that I don't spendany money on Tuesdays, and I don't spend any money on Sundays as a way tostart. And that basically means that when I organize my life, and going to theshops or doing something at home, or figuring out whether I should buysomething, or I shouldn't I check myself is the day when I can spend money ornot? Because what it basically does is it means that I'm not thinking aboutspending money or having money, leave my bank account on two particular dates.And this has been a great habit for me, where I can start thinking aboutparticular weekend on a Sunday, if you think about how difficult that might be,is thinking about what are some of the free activities that I can do with myfamily. That means I'm actually not spending money but to have a good time. Andthat's been a great way for me to personally help me spend less money duringthe week, maybe a tip that you could also incorporate in your life and startsmall, doesn't have to be next three days to start off with each and everysingle week, it could be starting off with just one day and actually buildingthat up even more, which could potentially help you save more money and wasteand stop the waste of discretionary spending that you would have pulled thatcoffee, bought that extra random thing at Kmart or whatever else. So yeah,that's a that's a big unlock that I've that I've had in my life recently.

BlaizePengilly  22:53

I think if I was to adopt no spend days, if Ipurely did it on a Saturday and a Sunday, I would I would probably have thehighest savings rate I could possibly have going out and I love brunches anddining out and I love all of that. So perhaps perhaps a goal for me this yearshall be a weekend no spend day as well. But I don't know if I'm quite ready tosacrifice that part of my social life just yet for it. Also the two days a weekit reminds me of that diet, the five and isn't the five and to date. Yes. Ilove it. You could just go five and two all over, you know, five days of worktwo days off, five days of eating good two days of fasting, five days ofspending two days of no spending. Maybe that could be adopted through allaspects of life, you know,

DanJovevski  23:49

I love it Blaize, got a good ring o it.

BlaizePengilly  23:52

Then my next tip is look at your phone plan.This is particularly relevant for me because I did this last night. Like I saidat the start of each year, I look at my subscriptions, I look at my bankaccounts, and I look at my different memberships, etc, and see if I'm gettingthe best deal. And I like to do it in January because it sets the new new yearoff right, and helps me start afresh. So I had a little shop around yesterdayand realized for the exact same amount of data, unlimited calls, etc that I'mgetting on my phone plan. I can sign up for a prepaid phone membership withanother company that will save me $10 a month. And at first, I will confess Ithought $10 a month. Yes. That's great. It's what's that $120 a year? And Ithought Oh, is it really worth the pain of transferring and getting a new simand signing up with a new provider? I literally thought to myself, is it worthit? And then I said you know what? Blaize let's look at this properly. So Iwent to the MoneySmart website, and I looked to see if I did save $10 a monthif I switch my phone plan, and I save $10 a month and I want to invest that. IfI was to do that, over the next 30 years, I'm sure I would change my mind by then.But I use it, what I did is I went to the MoneySmart website, and I use thecompound interest calculator. So the average return on investment is, say, aconservative 7%. So if I was to do that $10 a month over the next 30 years, Icould end up saving $12,500 just from changing my phone plan. So when Iinitially saw that an alternate provider was offering the same deal for $10, amonth less than I was currently paying, I was like, Oh, is it really worth it?And then when I went to the compound interest calculator, and I looked to seewhat would happen if I changed my habits. And I did put that $10 a month intoan investment account. And if everything went well in 30 years time, seeingthat I could potentially be 12 and a half $1,000 richer, and more than 50% ofthat is compound interest. I my argument was made for me, I was very convinced.So yes, I would say check your phone bills, because you're probably paying morethan you need to. And yeah, definitely shop around and see if you can getyourself a better deal and use that extra money that you would have beenspending towards something else

DanJovevski  26:21

Blaize final tip from me is to if you thinkabout what 2020 taught us, well, not only was the shop or a home or having theeffects of COVID subtype over all of our lives. But also one thing that reallycame to the forefront was getting into some type of investing. Now, we'realways investing via superannuation accounts. But we don't really have anyactive involvement that we may have heard about different paths that could helpyou break into the investing game. But to your point about compoundinginterest, and then compounding wealth, I have a piece of information in us thatif Warren Buffett, who is now the richest person are one of the richest peopleon the face of the planet, with

BlaizePengilly  27:10

He's the most successful investor in the world,isn't he?

DanJovevski  27:14

He absolutely is. And I think he's got a networth for around 85 billion US dollars. And the one of the biggest lessons fromWarren Buffett, that was a huge takeaway buy something to analyze his investinghistory was if Warren would have invested that say, the age of 30 people thatcan be a multi millionaire, a lot of not

BlaizePengilly  27:45

Only a multi billionaire!

DanJovevski  27:49

tell me about it was something of above the ageof 14. So they started incredibly young, and some of the positions that he tookin his investing world, we're actually so long ago that compound over a periodof time companies that you may have heard of, if ever heard of interviewingWarren Buffett, you know that one of his biggest investments was in Geicoinsurance, which is now probably one of the largest insurance providers in theUS for longer term cola and some other companies, as well. And what it teachesyou is that it's never too late to start investing. But the longer that youleave starting to invest, the less likely you're probably going to get thebenefits of compounding and riding out different months cycles. And we've seenthe massive explosion on ticket savings apps, which probably hadn't hit ourshores to the degree that haven't states on things like Robin Hood, but thesurface and other apps here in Australia, like superhero that played intoinvesting into Australian shares and us shares and also platforms like Stake,Raiz and Spaceship in terms of superannuation investments, and directinvestments, which I think are an excellent way to start off your listingjourney, something really small, that can give you the ability to learn aboutinvesting over a period of time by being in the game, as opposed to beingpassed on to the game. So if you're a person that hasn't considered potentiallyinvesting, and then of course, there's a whole degree of risk involved, thatyou should look into. But you should see what other people are doing onInstagram or YouTube and talking about their own investment journeys that youcan potentially replicate to actually get started. It's never too late to getstarted. But along the lines of the less likely you are to get the benefits ofinvesting over a long period of time, similar to the case of what WarrenBuffett is. So if you're considering doing something new and fresh, how aboutconsidering opening up a new investment account with a relatively small degreeof investment to begin with, to learn about investing to get you into the habitof potentially making a bigger part of your life move forward. So it removes Tofocus away from spending money and saving money in day to day, but think abouthow you can actually grow and make money from investing into different areas ofthe economy of business that you're interested in, or that you know a lotabout. So that would be a way to cap off the recommendation list and thingsthat you can do in 2021. Wise.

BlaizePengilly  30:20

Yeah, investing is so something I don't know alot about. I know a little about it. But I definitely think I will be pickingup brains in a episode of the near future about the one on one on how to startinvesting, so that we can really delve into it and, and get started and becomethe next Warren Buffett perhaps. My final tip is stolen from one of our gueststhat we had on last year. Do you remember Natasha from the buy nothing project?

DanJovevski  30:49

Oh, I do. Yes.

BlaizePengilly  30:51

Yes, so I love Natasha's tip and I have starteddoing it myself. And I cannot recommend it highly enough. Put away the moneyyou don't spend. So if you going out and you decide not to get the dessert,look at the dessert, you would have gotten go tiramisu, 16 bucks, all right,and putting that $16 labeled tiramisu into my savings, if I'm going outshopping, and I take four things to the change rooms, and then I end up goingto the counter with two. But I really, really wanted that really beautiful reddress that changed my mind. Last minute, I will put the $40 that that dresscost into my savings account, and I will label it like Natasha said, red dress,seeing my savings grow. It's like I am shocked at how quickly my savings havegrown. Just by adopting this simple tip, the simple habit, it's a habit reallyputting away the money that I don't spend. And what's great is that money isn'tsitting in my account. So I'm not tempted to spend it on anything else becauseit's already gone into my savings. And as we know, the best way to save is byputting away small amounts, small increments over time and letting that buildup. So by adopting this habit, you're really putting yourself in good stead andreally adopting the right mind frame to be putting money away and growing yoursavings without even really thinking about it. And it's it's really satisfyinggoing and looking at that account and going, Oh, I'm so glad I didn't buy thatcoffee. I'm so glad I didn't get that because now by saying no to those fourthings and putting them in my account, I've got an extra $100 in my savingstowards my goals. So my final tip is put away money that you don't spend

DanJovevski  32:37

amazing Blaize

BlaizePengilly  32:38

Dan, I think we should publish these tips up on the blog. So if you would like to rehash, we'll go over them again, feel freeto visit the way money blog way money.com/blog. And we will post up the tipsthere so you can revisit them and be inspired.

BlaizePengilly  33:02

Dan, if I managed to find a time machine, and Icould put you in the Time Machine and you could travel back to when you were 13years old. If you could do that you jumped in the machine and you met 13 yearold you? What piece of advice would you give your former self?

DanJovevski  33:22

Blaize? It's a great question. If I think aboutwhere I was at 13 it was the first year of high school in the quadrangle on oneracist morning asking out a girl called Jessica. And she rejected me. And if Iwas to go back and go back and look at my 13 year old self, I would say, mate,who came right. Step Step back a bit Don't be so forward. And I think today'ssort of session we'll be talking and delving into some of the topics that wewish we could return back once quite trivial. But I think starting at an earlyage and start thinking about your your life and your you know, your career andlooking back is an important question. So I'm really excited. Let me throw backto you because you were 13 what are some of the things that you wish you knew?

BlaizePengilly  34:13

Don't get chunky blonde highlights would be mypiece of advice to myself because I had some really awful haircuts for quite awhile. And also embracing natural curls. Now it's not as deep and meaningful asthe answer you probably liked. And but yeah, I've made some appalling appallingfashion choices and hairstyle choices in the past so my 13 year old self woulddefinitely be getting a lesson in what's good and what's not so good for for mylocks so then the reason I asked you about your 13 year old self is because wehave a very special guest today is joining us who started out at age 13 reallymaking waves for the rest of his life. So Joining us today is a guest that issuper passionate about finance and educating others on Australian prices. Inparticular, as I said, he started out at age 13, with a YouTube channel aboutgaming. And now eight years later, he has a successful YouTube channel focusedon personal finance education with over 12,000 subscribers. Not only that heruns a blog, he's penned multiple ebooks is a serial entrepreneur. And withmany businesses under his belt, he achieved a net worth of more than $250,000by the age of 20. And he's just had a birthday, so I'm sure that number hasjumped. You may know him as the Ozzie money, man, and he joins us now via videolink. Welcome, Nicholas. The Aussie money, man.

NicholasG Muscat  35:37

Thanks so much for having me on.

DanJovevski  35:39

Excellent. Nick, it's so good to have you here.And I think your story is incredible. I mean, for people who haven't heardabout you, there's been this explosion in authentic personalities that havedeveloped really strong followings on platforms like YouTube, that areinspiring people in a really hyper authentic way. I've been a fan of yours formany years, as I've seen your sort of journey grow and seeing you grow andlearn along that way. But also impart invaluable knowledge to people in termsof personal finance and how they can grow wealth. And that's something thetopic that we really love to discuss your way talk sense, but let me put it toyou, Nick. Yeah, the age of 13. You know, what your, what were you thinking andfeeling about? And how did that lead you to where you are today? Yeah.

NicholasG Muscat  36:24

That's something I've thought about a lot,because I see people ask you that. And I mean, even even I'm surprised I'vementioned before, when I've been asked about this, that, you know, even now,I'm actually probably less ambitious than it was then. So I mean, that's reallythe case. But I was just incredibly ambitious to do something, you know, sortof somewhat meaningful or exciting. And because of that, you know, I was like,Okay, well, I want to do something. And obviously find this makes a lot ofsense. Because it's a tool. It's an it's an enabler, to do so many otherthings, when perhaps you find a particular passion, if that sport or music orwanting to start up a family, or whatever it is, so to speak, it might just gooff to setting up my finances as early as possible. And, you know, even at thatpoint, not having a huge financial knowledge at all, you know, at 13 years old,I was quite aware that if I started early, I'd be ahead ahead of the game. Sothat was pretty much my my thoughts.

BlaizePengilly  37:15

pretty remarkable. They started out so young.Now, Nick, I'd love to get your insight because a lot of high school studentsand uni students finishing up their exams right now, or have finished up in thelast couple of weeks. Now, if you think back to when you're in school, and whenyou were 13. And starting out, what are the things that you wish you weretaught in regards to finances while you're in school?

NicholasG Muscat  37:38

Well, there's a lot. So the only bit offinancial knowledge that I got was, was basically indirect. And that was duringa math class where we just happened to be talking about annuities and stufflike that, and doing calculations on them. But we weren't learning what theywere, I actually went home and looked up, you know, like, what was the steamthat was compounding and making all this money over time? I was like, like, howdo you get one of these things. And that was financial knowledge I got theseyou can tell it was it wasn't a lot. So there's basically you know, with thatsaid, there's a lot that I wish I would have learned in school. Now, obviously,I was quite fortunate that I wanted to soon after, but a lot of people don't.And that's the point. So we're talking about things like like investing likecompound interest, like the different sorts of income. So passive income makingan income, you know, from a business that keeps making you money, even whenyou're not, you know, physically at work working on tax law, or just basic,basic taxes, something I've spoken about a lot, even when I'm a relatively lowincome, when leaving school from 18 to 19, I saved a huge amount of moneysimply because I had educated myself on tax upon leaving school at age 17. Andmost people don't do that. They don't know they should do that. They just thinkI'll get a path accountant or, or a general counsel, you can just go ahead and,and just you know, they'll take care of it for me. But there's a lot more toit. So there's a lot. I think that young people can be taught in school, thatwill just make their lives a lot easier later.

BlaizePengilly  39:00

So talking about tax, I think that's reallyinteresting, because tax seems to be one of those things that I'm this I'mdefinitely guilty of this as well, is that I might have too hard basket, I willjust pay someone to do it for me. And hopefully, I'll get a nice sweet payout.And I'll just, you know, send it off to the accountant, keep my fingerscrossed, and hope that I get that big payout in my bank account, which doesn'talways happen. In fact, that really happens. Nick, what is it about tax thatyou think we should be learning earlier? What is it about tax that we shouldknow? So we can make the most of it?

NicholasG Muscat  39:32

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, what you'vejust said there sort of the issue, which is that, you know, people do think ofit as too hard. They don't know anything about it, so they just avoid it. Andthe idea isn't to know everything and you know, becoming your own accountant,you still want to work with an accountant, but you want to have that basicknowledge about things like salary sacrificing, and deductions so you can makeyour decisions better because you know, you can just do whatever you want inthe hands of the accountant and hope they'll do their best with it. Or you canactually do things like tax planning where you understand the basics and youyou know, You have an approach toward your finances, finances, that makes iteasy for the accountant and better for you because you save more money. So it'sjust basic things about tax how it works, that are going to help a lot. I mean,just two quick things that, for example, I was taught personally when I wasyounger, about tax that are completely, completely wrong, because they're justrumors because people around me weren't educated around tax with things like ifyou get a second job, you're taxed at 50%. And I thought, Well, I'm not goingto get a second job, then you know, and that was a common thing that was told,you know, in my area, that's what people thought. And then another one was, youknow, you should buy everything that's a taxes tax write off, because it's atax write off. And it's like, well, that doesn't make sense, because it's onlyeffective up to your marginal rate. And that sort of stuff in there. Peopleprobably hear that and go, I don't know what that means. And that's the sort ofstuff so just a basic tax education, on things like deductions, salary,sacrificing, all that sort of stuff will can can really, really help people.And it really isn't that complicated. The issue also is that people are talkingabout it, they aren't taught about it in school, and therefore, you know, like,like, as you saw, you mentioned, people put it in the too hard basket, they go,No, I'm not going to deal with this basic knowledge. Yeah.

DanJovevski  41:06

Nick, just switching gears here, and they'retalking about wealth and wealth creation. And that's something that's very, atopic that you really like talking about, and like reporting on transparently.For our listeners, who have tuned in today, and particularly for those folkswho are looking to build wealth. What is your fundamental philosophy aboutbuilding wealth? How would you summarize it? In a nutshell?

NicholasG Muscat  41:29

Yes, I think it's a number of things. Like themost fun, there's, there's a few fundamental things that you can sort of get inorder. And there are things that you know, paying yourself first, just spendingless than you're earning those sorts of basic, fundamental things are the sortsof things that you can can use to create wealth and do create wealth for manypeople. I mean, I think the largest portion of you know, the everyday personthat becomes a millionaire is just because of frugality, meaning, they're just,they're saving a bigger chunk of their income than most people. And then, youknow, that's considering the fact that a lot of people are spending more thanthey're making, or the same amount. So they're living paycheck to paycheckessentially. So those basic fundamental things of, or traits or habits of, youknow, not getting in consumer debt, so car debt or credit card debt, wereavoidable, or knowing how to get out of them, when you do run into those sortsof situations are the sorts of things that people can use to build wealth. Andthen from that you can you can build on to more complex things, you know, like,creating a bigger income or a side hustle or building passive income, andthings like that. But really, the most fundamental things are your basicfinancial knowledge and understanding. So assets and liabilities are goodexample. What what's an asset? And what's a liability?

DanJovevski  42:37

The motivation, I think that's the fundamentalbuilding blocks there. I think what a lot of people often forget about is it'soften the most simplest things that the core principles end up building a verysolid foundation.

BlaizePengilly  42:50

Nick, it's interesting that you talk aboutbuilding wealth, I read the psychology of money recently, which is a fantasticbook. And in that book, they talk he talks about how wealth is the money youhave that you haven't spent, whereas a lot of people want to be rich or be amillionaire, and, and they kind of want the money for the nice car and theamazing house. But in that case, you don't really have wealth, because you'respending the money that you do have. And then you have all these things to sortof show for it. But really, when it comes down to it, you don't have wealth.Now, I'm curious to see what you think on this is that so like, I think a lotof people have probably had this goal or aspiration, and that kind of alwaysimagined, oh, one day, I'll be rich. Or one day, hopefully, I'll come into alot of money or one day, I'll be a successful business person, even though I'mnot doing really anything towards it now or not not putting any money away, andI'm still spending my money, like crazy. So, for that aspiration of one day,I'll be rich. Is that something that is achievable for anyone? Is it true thatanyone can be rich? What are your thoughts? Yeah,

NicholasG Muscat  43:56

that's a brilliant question. You made somereally good points in that question that I'll quickly touch on on the factthat, you know, you said, you know, a lot of people just think they're going tobe rich one day, and they don't really have a plan to it. I think there was astudy it was on Americans, though it was 60% of young Americans thought theywould be quite wealthy, that'd be in the top, you know, 10 20% at some point,but almost none of them had a plan to deal with it. So it's really quiteinteresting. And I also just want to comment on the point of people people'sperception of what being wealthy or rich is, which is, you know, spending allthat money. And yet it's the exact opposite. In fact, you know, as I mentionedearlier, in the podcast, most millionaires are frugal, they're not spendingtheir money. And that's how they become wealthy. And that leads me basicallyinto my answer to your question, which is that, yes, most people can becomewealthy. And the way most people can do that, in a really, relatively simpleway is frugality. And if you start early, you develop that habit habit early,it's easier and then obviously, then you have more time to leverage on thingslike compound interest, because you're not only saving money and only beingfrugal in a way possible, but you're also investing that money that you'resaving, which will then work for you. So an entity that they really are, youknow, things like saving Want more money and investing as much as you can, aswell, are the basic building blocks to wealth. So I think it is possible foreveryone to do and I think it's possible for what almost everyone to do, Ithink it's possible for almost everyone to do it in a way that isn't detrimentdetrimental to, you know, their, their lifestyle, or their well being. In fact,the studies on well being and happiness, obviously, look at money a lot. Andit's quite clear, what makes you happy and what doesn't. And people are often alot more happy, saving, saving money, investing it and working towards theirgoals than they are, you know, spending it and trying to look or feel rich. Sothe literature on that's actually quite positive as well,

DanJovevski  45:37

Nicholas you've touched on a really good pointthere. And this is something that a lot of people get get stuck in,particularly when they turn 18, then they have the capacity to contract, theycan get themselves that very first shiny plastic credit card from from from oneof the banks. And then they can get themselves into a trap, where the thingthat you've just mentioned about which is looking at appearing good andappearing wealthy, a lot of the time that's built on a foundation of reallyunsustainable practice of getting yourself into consumer debt that ends upsnowballing can affect you later on in life. Have you seen that from yourconversations with other people as they start being 18? And start thinkingabout the early 20s? And then off the back of that? What advice would you give tothose people that are in that decision right now where they're, you know,they've got one credit card, and they've got a balance? And maybe they've gotthe Buy Now Pay Laters and that's all getting unmanageable? What? What are somepractical tips that people can do to maybe check themselves before they getinto a really bad spot?

NicholasG Muscat  46:32

Yeah, brilliant, brilliant question, Dan. Look,I see it constantly, mostly with cars. And that's just because a huge part ofmy audience seems to be males about 80%. I'm totally sure why. But look, a lotof people come to me a lot of people I'm talking to, even in my own friendshipgroup are people you know, when they turn 18, particularly, and they go out,and I've seen as much as $74,000, and be put, you know, towards the top 74,000,the average is about 30,000. That people and it's normal. It's very normal,particularly in the area, my own circle, but a lot of people messaged me aboutit, you know, they'll go, you know, Nick, you know, this is how much money Ihave sort of gotten debt on this car. What do you recommend? I've watched yourvideos and realised, maybe this wasn't the best decision. So look, that'ssomething I definitely do see. And if you know, the first thing, the best thingto do, as we all know, is to prevent it happening in the first place. So peoplecan get the financial knowledge earlier, you're already so many steps ahead ofat least the people that, you know, I'm hearing and seeing of the advice, youknow, I suppose, if it's already been done is we'll just educate yourself.Because you know, particularly if you are someone who is young, you're stillgoing to be way ahead of most people. I mean, from what I've seen, most peopledon't start to take their finances seriously, till they're like 30. And then 40is when most people start to be like, Okay, I need to be really seriously. Soeven if you are, you know, 2024 25 or whatever it is, now is always the besttime no matter what your age, but if you are relatively young, you know, starteducating yourself. And, you know, obviously you can do, then once you do that,you you'll know the right direction to move forward. So it really just is abouteducation, because it's not that people are you know, they're silly or, or thatthey don't care or that they're apathetic, I think it's just that people don'thave the education. And that's the most often cause that I say.

DanJovevski  48:09

Amazing, My wife has recently told me a goodhack that she's used after the countless knocks on the door from online parcelsthat started arriving at a hack that she learned was to count to 100, beforemaking decision to buy something that you may not need, and we often get intosituations where we regret all these purchases, we think they're nice andshiny. And then ultimately, we could have realized there was plenty of otheralternatives. We could have gone to Facebook marketplace or Gumtree and boughtsomething that was preloved before. So that's one that I've had in my house, orreally recently that that may be also useful, because you've got something

BlaizePengilly  48:44

That is such a good hack, because do you knowwhat I do when I go online shopping? I fill up my cart and I go, Well, yeah,maybe I do need that belt, oh, maybe you know, a buy thething that I want. Andthen I fill up my cart with other suggestions. And sometimes I will genuinelysprint to the checkout, and click Pay Now before I can even think about it.Because then I'm like, oh, too late. It's done now. And then it's, it'sliterally the adrenaline like I've said it before. I'm a spendaholic. I lovespending, which is, you know, something I'm trying to work on but can do thecount to 100 very good tip.Now, Nick, I have a question for you. So you're 21now you got a great net worth. You're doing all the right things. I want toknow are you chasing the Australian dream is becoming a homeowner a goal foryou and you're looking at buying your own place. What are your thoughts aboutproperty?

NicholasG Muscat  49:38

Right. It's a complex area like I myself on andnot looking to buy a home to live in. I'm have considered a lot going intoproperty as an investment. Although I have a few reservations about that, look,I think property can be good. I think to be frank, the Australian propertymarket is overpriced. It's very overvalued. We have incredibly unaffordableproperty. And that causes a lot of problems for a lot of people. So, you know,there are definitely issues there. But for me personally, I'm definitely notlooking to own a home. And there are a number a number of reasons for that. SoI'm surrounding the issues with the prices in Australia. Some some real moralissues that be frank, but also just a convenience thing, for me, as someonewho, you know, is still sort of moving around and sort of exploring and being abit, you know, I suppose younguns phrase, you might call it, buying a, youknow, a house to live in, for me seems a lot like a really big liability, notjust not just from a financial perspective. So my thoughts on property are reallymixed. You know, I mean, there are articles out there, speaking about how greatit is to build wealth, and it can be like, honestly, I've been borderlineobsessed with building wealth for four years now. And that, truthfully, thefastest way to build wealth is in the property if you do it correctly. Butthere's a lot of, you know, caveats to it. So my thoughts on it are quitecomplex. And it Yeah, it's hard to it varies a lot, depending on whatspecifically we're talking about.

DanJovevski  51:05

Nick, this is a fantasic perspective, becauseoften you don't hear this, often you hear about property as being theAustralian dream buyer, whatever price you're going to live in for 20 yearsdoesn't matter if the price goes up and down. Let's double click on some ofthese topics, because I think it's a really big thing, especially for youngpeople, as they may feel a certain way you are Nick, in New South Wales or inSydney, where the property market is just gone. You know, ballistic? What aresome of your thoughts around there, particularly for the young Aussies lookingat homeownership as a dream? And maybe your perspective is maybe a perspectivethey haven't heard before? What's your what's your some of your deeper thoughtsthere?

NicholasG Muscat  51:43

Yeah, absolutely. Well, look, I'm definitelynot. I'm definitely well aware, you know, of, you know, the, the obsession, Isuppose, with property with property in Australia. And it's not all bad. Imean, there's some truth to you know, what you sort of said, then, which isthat, well, it doesn't really matter what price you buy now, because it'sprobably going to go up. And to be frank, it, it probably will, I mean, there'stoo much riding on it for it not to almost, but there's also a lot of caveatsthat come with it that people aren't aware of. I mean, the biggest one is just,you know, look at the statistics on the amount of people, particularly youngpeople in mortgage stress, you know, people go out and they, they buy theirhouse, and they're happy with that. And it's exciting, and they want to go topost it on Facebook as soon as possible. But a lot of people, particularlyyoung people, they haven't experienced the sort of stress and haven't learnedto deal with the sort of stress that comes with having a mortgage and having topay that off. You know, you can't just decide to change jobs, or take some timeoff work or start a business or go on some crazy long holiday or decide to goon an internship, because you have to pay off this mortgage, it really can puta limit on you. Now, that isn't to say, you know, young people shouldn't get amortgage, some people were in the perfect situation to get a mortgage, somepeople were in a perfect situation where renting wouldn't make sense. And bythe way, the statistics on renting versus buying another thing are reallyinteresting, because often renting actually is better. All right, based onpurely numbers, I'm very confident in saying that, but there are situationswhere that's not the case. But I do think it's important for young people toreally try educate themselves on property, because it's the biggest purchasemost people are ever going to make. And there's a lot of misconceptions aroundit. Because mostly because so many people have made so much wealth with theirparents, grandparents, etc, that people like that are influencing young people,you know, the media is influencing young people saying go out and buy a house,buy a house, buy a house. And therefore, you know, there's not a lot of thoughtgoing into the complexities and nuances of and real consequences of buyingproperty

DanJovevski  53:25

Nick that is so right, I'm looking at somestats here to look at your point where in October 2020, mortgage stress hit anall time high, with 14.6% of people who had mortgages in Australia experiencedsome type of stress. That's a very good point. So before getting swept away andthinking, Hey, is property, the right sort of strategy for you? Should you getcarried away and swept up in homeownership is being a goal, I think you'rereally going to do some research here, whether it's right, it's the right timefor you in your stage in life, and you really want to be living your life. Buteven in your 20s are just sweating bullets every single day, am I going to havemy job and my potential to lose my job to have to put all this money towardsyou know, buying a home that, you know, may go up and they go down? Who knows?It's a very good point, which I think a lot of people don't get theirperspective on. So that's really refreshing.

NicholasG Muscat  54:22

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and I want to beclear, it's not always bad, it can be a really good decision that works outwell for people. It's just for those people that need to do stress. And, youknow, you mentioned 40% I think it's 60% of young people, you know, so that'sunder 25. So, so, you know, it really gives you some perspective on that. Somepeople you know, people should be cautious before jumping into it. But I alsowant to be clear on the other side that it isn't, you know, always bad a lot ofpeople hear me say this and, you know, people that have made that decision tobuy a house before when they're young, become defensive. Right. And you know,it's not always bad. It's just about if you do hear this early, just go do thechecks, just to be sure before before you jump into it. That's what that's allit is. Yeah,Absolutely.

BlaizePengilly  55:00

You'veraised some really interesting points and that having a mortgage isn't foreveryone, especially you said about how it, it can limit people if you want totravel or take some time off or starting a job if you don't have that constantstream of income. And this reminds me of a conversation we had with HelenHodgson, who's a superannuation expert, a couple of episodes ago, and Helen wastalking about how the system of super was built in a time where people wouldhave these really long jobs that would, you know, a job would be 40 years. Andso it's interesting, and we were talking about how we move towards the gigeconomy and how a lot of people are freelancing, or working in really shortterm jobs or chopping change their careers so much. And I would like to see ifthey, if the banks would come up with some sort of flexibility for people thathave careers like this, and if we would see the banking or the mortgage system,or the model change, to be more flexible, to allow for how careers havechanged, you know, in 2021, and especially with with the gig economy. Butanyway, Nick, you mentioned about how renting the stats of renting is oftenbetter than buying. Could you go dive into a little bit more about that,because I'm really curious to hear about why renting is often statisticallybetter than buying.

NicholasG Muscat  56:17

Yeah, absolutely. So this is a topic that, youknow, I have to keep coming back to because, you know, in Australia, again,this is one of the things I was brought up being taught, renting is dead money,you know, I had people around me they would, you know, basically, you wererenting you were you were doing less well, when, and it was just sort of likethis thing that I was taught, I always thought that was the case until Istarted doing some more reading. And more and more and more. And, you know, Iessentially came across this hard evidence is the studies on this numerousstudies that show, you know, obviously, it depends on the area is the mostimportant thing. But overall, renting tends to be tends to be better. Now, it'snot always bad. That's not the point. But it really is important to note thatgiven that the view, you know, not only in Australia seems to be like Canada,the UK as well. But it's particularly rampid in Australia, that, you know,renting is dead money, it's a bad thing to do. If you're doing that you're in abad financial situation, or you know, it's going to lead to you being in a badfinancial situation. So, yeah, the statistics on that are really quite clearthat particularly in you know, in more expensive areas, like Sydney, Melbourne,or Brisbane, although it applies in various areas, where it actually justdoesn't make sense to buy Dubai, and then, you know, then there's all sorts ofother consequences as well, that come come with buying, that people don'tunderstand. And when I talk about a lot of people get where you're gonna makemoney in your, on your house, if you're going to be there long enough? Well,firstly, you know, why are you so confident that you will be there for so long,particularly if you are young and and secondly, you know, you're taking on debt,which means that you can lose money, you can end up with negative equity. Andthat's not an unheard of thing, it happens all the time, it happens a lot thatpeople they buy a house for, and doesn't matter a million dollars, and then theProperty Valuation falls 50, 100, 200 grand, and all of a sudden, they can'tsell their house, they're stuck there, and they're in way more debt than theythought they would be. So, you know, when it comes to the renting versus buyingdiscussion, it's something that's important to know about. And if it'ssomething that people do know about, they can then, you know, really assess thesituation and make the best decision for them. You know, like, personally, I'msomeone who rents rooms, because that works best. I mean, I prefer it in somany different ways. It also just happens to save me money. So, you know, Idon't even rent entire houses. And I'm someone you know that most people wouldbe looking at thinking, you know, surely he owns property, and to investmentproperties. And and I and I don't know, it's because of the sort of figuresthat that people just simply don't know about,

DanJovevski  58:33

Nick, that's amazing perspective on property.And I think that's incredibly useful for people to get a really holistic understanding.And I think the thing I really love about your approach that you mentioned onyour videos, time and time, again, is the effort that you go into to actuallyuncover and do the work through the research and uncover whether or not this isright for you. And I think that's what really sets you apart from as the otherpeople who might have a very good new understanding about about the space. Butif we shift to say, seizing opportunities, in one of your videos, you mentionedthat you just don't take opportunities, but look out for them. How do youdetermine what's a good opportunity? And what's your checklist?

NicholasG Muscat  59:11

Absolutely. That's a brilliant question. Andit's so true. And it's something that I've only mentioned once or twice in video.So it's awesome that you've heard that, but something I've always done almostunconsciously, right? I just, I just sort of do it. It's I'm always sort of,you know, looking, you know, looking around me and thinking, Okay, is that anopportunity? Can I make money from this? You know, can I benefit from this, andI think that's a brilliant thing, obviously, to do. And if you want it's aboutbuilding a habit of doing that, obviously, that's what I would have been ableto do. So, look, my checklist amaze, you know, I've run a number of sort ofdifferent little tests in my head. One of the you know, things I talk about alot is basically I mean, the first thing is you hear this all the time he'shaving goals, okay? So if you have goals, then you know what to look for.Because a lot of people say, Well, what am I looking for? Well, if you havegoals, you've got a bit of an idea then you want to break down those goals,right? So I don't know you want to you want $100,000 by 21 That was actually myinitial goal. I said that I think I'll 17 around then. And then you go, Okay,well, you know, you break that down further, how much do we need to makemonthly? And then you're able to look around. And you know, I remember at someworkplaces, one of the first things I did was I noticed, you know, there waslike, 40, tradies drinking, you know, all these cans, and I think it will cansgo for 10 cents, how many you drinking a day? How many workplaces This is thatenterprises? Have? I can go collect them after work, maybe something like that.And then you know, you're always looking out? And yeah, and really, it's thebiggest thing I think people can do. And it's just one of those things likebuilding your basic finances is just having the fundamental set, do you have goals,you know, and write those goals down? You know, I think we've all heard thestatistics on how more how much more likely you are to achieve your goals ifyou write them down, and then how much more likely again, if you if you breakthose goals down, and and you know, there's a lot of studies on this as well,because what it allows you to do is on a subconscious level, which is sort ofwhat I mentioned, that I've been doing for a long time now, you'resubconsciously always then thinking and looking at the world, from theperspective of how do I get towards my goals. And then when you're doing that,you'll just start finding you're finding, you'll find ways to get towards whatit is that you want. Again, the biggest issue, people have that from what I cansee. And I think the literature supports this too, which is that people don'thave clinical, they don't know exactly what they want, and they sold it justhope that they will end up will end up you know, happy or prosperous, orwhatever it is, I think it's just a matter of knowing what you want. And thenand then getting into the habit of looking out for ways to to move towards thesmaller goals that you've you've made from your your biggest aspirations.

BlaizePengilly  1:01:33

Nick, your is your story about taking the cansand cashing in the cans just made me think of is it magpies or crows that justgo for the shiny things they see shiny thing and then I take it. I'm imaginingyou as a little bird going around the jobsite, picking up all the cans and thencashing them in about opportunities. Are there. Is there any opportunities inyour life that you regret not taking?

NicholasG Muscat  1:01:58

Honestly, I'd have to think about it more. Butyou know, I think like this sort of stuff, I guess a lot for different videos Imake, you know, over on my channel and look, probably not because if anything,my regrets and this, these are only small regrets. But if anything, my regretswould be the opposite, which is that I took on too much. And I still tend to dothat to this day. So for probably not for me. And that's a problem of its own.You know, that's not one of those things that you say in a job interview when Iasked what one of your problems is, because it's not a real problem and makeyou look good. That actually is a real problem, too. But not probably not, youknow, because I do tend to just become, you know, borderline obsessive with itand want to want to keep taking different opportunities. But, you know, fromwhat I've read, it is more often the case in most people that they regretthings that they don't do more than what they do. So yeah, I do think it'simportant for people to to be looking for those opportunities and to take themwhere they where they can because usually, you know, that's what they appreciate.Appreciate later. I think I am. Yeah, I think I'll leave it there. I won't sayanything else there.

DanJovevski  1:03:02

That's,that's great. Because I think, I think you've got an awesome problem to haveyou got an opportunity cost problem, where do you actually focus your time andeffort and energy to, to maximize benefit? That's, that's incredible.

NicholasG Muscat  1:03:13

That's it? I'm like, I think everyone facesthat in their own sense. You know, like, you know, where it Where should theyput the time. I mean, I saw I remember some people I met when I was younger,and they'd been accepted into some uni, you know, medicine or something, butalso have it some crazy sport career going on for them. So and getting to thatpoint, it's just a matter of, you know, setting those goals, you know, breakingthem down working towards and then everyone can sort of end up in that thatsituation where Yeah, it's just a matter of opportunity costs. Yeah.

BlaizePengilly  1:03:38

Nick, you've mentioned literature in yourreading and or your research you've done a couple of times. And I'm curious, soif you could give a recommendation to, to those listening about something toread or watch, what would you recommend? Yeah,

NicholasG Muscat  1:03:55

I'd probably say, you know, if you're new tosort of the finance space, and you want to like you want to really dive intosome of the basics of it all books like money made simple, which is by NoelWhittaker or more popular, which is the Barefoot investor. So that's by ScottPape, they're incredibly popular books to get started. And obviously, you know,not to plug myself here, but you jump on my channel, look what I've said I talkabout all the stuff they talk about, and more. But those books are really good,because they're quite concise. And I sort of step you through it. So that sortof those sorts of books that that sort of content is great to start off youknow, those those basic things like getting out of debt, if you are in debt,and then you know from there building wealth,

DanJovevski  1:04:35

Absolutely. Nick I think the the Barefootinvestor is the most common gateway drug to personal financial management for alot of people. And that's how I stumbled across you. About two and a half, twoand a half years ago.

BlaizePengilly  1:04:48

Nick, that's all we have time for today. Thankyou so much for joining us. If our listeners want to find you, where do theyhead?

NicholasG Muscat  1:04:54

Yeah, so I've got a website which is just allthe aussiemoneyman.com that I use a one word spelled out and then a YouTubechannel as well. same name, Facebook page, Instagram, basically you can justgoogle it Aussie money, man. Find all my sort of media social medias andwebsite there as well.

BlaizePengilly  1:05:11

Awesome. Thanks again, Nick for joining us andsharing your insight. It was lovely to have you on the show. We'd love to haveyou back another time and share some more of your your insight and your andyour knowledge. Cheers for joining us.

NicholasG Muscat  1:05:22

Yeah, thanks for having me.

BlaizePengilly  1:05:23

Thanks, Nick. Gosh, I am I'm amped I'm psyched.Nick is such an inspiring go getter. Kind of Dude, what did you learn from theAussie money, man, Dan?

DanJovevski  1:05:36

Well, I firstly want a sense of embarrassmentabout my my time at the age of 21. Compared to when because at the moment, Nickhas achieved a monumental amount of things in his life. And the way he talks tome he's 21, going 45 and his sort of rate, and he was just just amazing. Ithink the thing I really love about Nick is is focused on actually getting tothe more intellectual truths about what is right and what is wrong. And I thinkthat's really important, where we often sort of glaze we want the, we want theinformation to be served to us, that is very easy. And the thing about Nick, aswe've seen is he does the work, he actually puts in the hours to uncover theresearch and comes up and displays that for his audience. And I think that'sincredibly powerful that you can rely on somebody who's done all the hard workfor you, synthesizing that into a really easy to understand way. So yeah, if you'renot inspired by Nick story, the age of 21, then well, he's an amazing kid witha lot of promise, and we look forward to hearing more about his story into2021. How about you guys?

BlaizePengilly  1:06:38

I wouldn't call him a kid. 21 that's that's adulthoodnow, isn't it? Oh, my gosh. He's astute, is conscientious. He works reallyhard. And he sets goals, which is obviously incredible. And thing to worktowards. He started multiple businesses, which is incredible. I think a lot ofpeople sort of have the dream of starting a business one day, but to the waythat he's done it and setting up his own passive income on the side is ispretty remarkable. And yet Nick's super inspiring guy. And yes, he's 21. Yes,I've got a couple years on him. But I didn't feel I don't feel any regret, likeNick inspired me going, you know what, it's not too late. Like you can still ifyou do the research and you put in the effort, like you said 15 minutes a day,if you put in that effort, that's really going to help you it's just a smallsteps that will help you on your journey to financial wellness. And yeah, justlike you said, it's it's the simple stuff, spending less than you earn. It'spretty obvious, but laying that out, I think that was really really beneficial

Dan Jovevski  1:07:42

Spot on Blaize.

BlaizePengilly  1:07:49

Thank you for listening to We Talk Cense wehope you are inspired to start your 2021 with our tips. And I enjoyed ourconversation with Nicholas G Muscat as the Aussie money men. Don't forget to likeand subscribe to the podcast. So you'll be the first to get the episode eachweek when we release on Monday mornings. If you've got any feedback or topicsyou'd like us to cover, you can directly message us on Instagram @getwemoney.

DanJovevski  1:08:14

If you want a full picture of your financialhealth give the WeMoney app a go. It's free to download and use and you canfind it on the apple Google Play stores.

BlaizePengilly  1:08:23

We'll catch you next time. Have a great week.

DanJovevski  1:08:26

See you later.

‍

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.