The Savings Squad

It really depressing that the recent Gratton study shows today’s young Australians are in danger of being the first generation in memory to have lower living standards than their parents’ generation.

So I think its more important then ever for parents to teach kids about money.

So in this episode I cover my 5 top money habits to teach kids:

* Spend/ Save / Share

* How do you talk about money

* Lead by example

* Part Time Job

* Conscious Spending

 

The information (including taxation) provided in this blog is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice and consider the Product Disclosure Statement. The author, Adele Martin, is a Certified Financial Planner at Firefly Wealth which is an Authorised Representative of RI Advice Group ABN 23 001 774 125 AFSL 238429. The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the author, they are not reflective or indicative of RI licensees’ position and are not attributed to RI Advice Group. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author.

So excited to have our first international guest Jessica Garbarino on The Savings Squad Podcast. 

Jessica shares how she paid off $56,000 USD of debt (that’s about $80k Australian) in just a few years. 

We cover lots in this episode including: 

* How Jessica regained motivation when she went off track

* How she was able to curb her impulse spending  

* What she wishes she did differently 

* How Jessica used the debt snowball method and why it worked for her

* The best money advice Jessica has ever received

 

Links

You can connect further with Jessica on any of the below:

* https://everysingledollar.com/

* https://www.facebook.com/everysingledollar

* https://www.instagram.com/jessicagarbarino/

Heres the Dave Ramsey debt snowball method Jessica used

* https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/get-out-of-debt-with-the-debt-snowball-plan

 

 

The information (including taxation) provided in this blog is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice and consider the Product Disclosure Statement. The author, Adele Martin, is a Certified Financial Planner at Firefly Wealth which is an Authorised Representative of RI Advice Group ABN 23 001 774 125 AFSL 238429. The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the author, they are not reflective or indicative of RI licensees’ position and are not attributed to RI Advice Group. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author.

In this episode, I talked to AJ from The Joy Box all about Tiny Houses.

Tiny houses are something that is growing in popularity in the USA, Japan & Canada and we are starting to see the trend here in Australia.

AJ was only the 4th person in Australia to have a Tiny House so she is a real expert in this space.

She has also been a real estate investor for over 20 years so she is going to take us through the financial advantages to putting a tiny house on your land as well as how it can help solve Australia’s housing affordability.

NOTES

* Follow AJ Tiny House journey at The Joy Box https://www.thejoybox.com.au/

* Book: Rich Dad Poor Dad https://www.booktopia.com.au/rich-dad-poor-dad-robert-t-kiyosaki/prod9781612680194.html

* Book: What I Didn’t Learn In School But Wished I Had https://www.bookdepository.com/What-I-Didnt-Learn-at-School-But-Wish-I-Had-Jamie-McIntyre/9780958192217

* 30 Day Minimalist Challenge https://www.theminimalists.com/game/

The information (including taxation) provided in this blog is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice and consider the Product Disclosure Statement. The author, Adele Martin, is a Certified Financial Planner at Firefly Wealth which is an Authorised Representative of RI Advice Group ABN 23 001 774 125 AFSL 238429. The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the author, they are not reflective or indicative of RI licensees’ position and are not attributed to RI Advice Group. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author.

This is the last of our Fast 5 Savings Tips. Tip number 5 is perhaps the most important thing to remember when you are saving money and that is to make sure you allow for FUN !!

In this episode we cover:

* why its important to allow for fun (even if you have credit card debt)

* how you can use your bank accounts to make it easy to stick to your fun budget

* how lifestyle creep (going from passion pop to moe) could be impacting your savings plan

If you haven’t already make sure you join our Facebook community The Savings Squad and look at the Units section for more resources (like videos, workbook, script etc) to help support your Fast 5 challenge.

The information (including taxation) provided in this blog is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice and consider the Product Disclosure Statement. The author, Adele Martin, is a Certified Financial Planner at Firefly Wealth which is an Authorised Representative of RI Advice Group ABN 23 001 774 125 AFSL 238429. The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the author, they are not reflective or indicative of RI licensees’ position and are not attributed to RI Advice Group. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author.

When we work with clients we help them figure out what success looks like for them. It often doesn’t equate to having more money. Often its wanting to do more travel. 

So when I saw that my business buddy and mentor Sean Soole was heading around Australia with his wife and primary aged kids for a year I thought this would make an inspiring podcast interview. 

In this interview we cover:

* What they did to prepare for their trip

* How they dealt with school on the road

* Their favourite places they visited

* Sean tips for travelling in a caravan

* Heaps more that will leave you inspired and wanting to visit a caravan expo

If you have any questions for Sean Soole then you can ask him inside The Savings Squad Facebook community

The information (including taxation) provided in this blog is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice and consider the Product Disclosure Statement. The author, Adele Martin, is a Certified Financial Planner at Firefly Wealth which is an Authorised Representative of RI Advice Group ABN 23 001 774 125 AFSL 238429. The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the author, they are not reflective or indicative of RI licensees’ position and are not attributed to RI Advice Group. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author.

The Fast 5 are savings tips that you can easily implement to save you money so you can have more money to spend on the things you love.

This is tip number 4 and its all about reviewing your subscriptions (the things you pay each month). In this episode I share:

* how to assess if you are getting value from your subscriptions

* how I have got caught out with app subscriptions and how you can avoid my mistake

* looking for alternatives

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did creating it

PS: make sure you checkout the Learning Section inside The Savings Squad Facebook group as there are lots of free resources to support the Fast 5

The information (including taxation) provided in this blog is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice and consider the Product Disclosure Statement. The author, Adele Martin, is a Certified Financial Planner at Firefly Wealth which is an Authorised Representative of RI Advice Group ABN 23 001 774 125 AFSL 238429. The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the author, they are not reflective or indicative of RI licensees’ position and are not attributed to RI Advice Group. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author.

Today I interview our super star Money Coach James Smith. James has over a decade worth of experience in financial planning and use to run his own practice so we are super lucky to have him in our team.

James heads up our investment committee (you should see his spreadsheets … you will have spreadsheet envy !!).

But today’s episode is all about insurance. I know its a little morbid but its something James and I are both passionate about as we have personally seen the impact of not having insurance after both our fathers had cancer multiple times. We also unfortunately know its not just something you need when you are old with both of us having friends in who were only in their 30’s have major cancers.

We cover lots in this episode including:

The different types of insurance & whether you need all of them: Death/ Life, Total and Permanent Disablement (TPD), Income Protection and Trauma

Whether you should have in your super fund or not

Whats wrong with the cover you automatically get in your super fund or the ones you see on TV

Why you shouldn’t wait until your pregnant to get cover

What you can do to make it more affordable

How to choose an insurer

If reviewing your insurance has been on your TO DO LIST then reach out to see how we might be able to help. Email [email protected]

LINKS:

4 corners private health “Mind The Gap”

Private Health Insurance Ombudsman State of the Health Funds Report 2018

The information (including taxation) provided in this blog is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice and consider the Product Disclosure Statement. The author, Adele Martin, is a Certified Financial Planner at Firefly Wealth which is an Authorised Representative of RI Advice Group ABN 23 001 774 125 AFSL 238429. The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the author, they are not reflective or indicative of RI licensees’ position and are not attributed to RI Advice Group. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author.

The Fast 5 Savings Challenge are easy bite sized money tips to help you accelerate your savings. 

We are up to tip number 3 and this is probably my all time favourite money tip and thats: Treating Money As A Person

In this episode we look at:

* How much time we spend learning about money

* Why you should treat money like your best friend

* Taking your Money on a Date 

* The benefits in knowing “where your money goes” and setting goals and we spoke about our My Money Buddy Savings and Goals Program that can assist with this

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did creating it

PS: make sure you checkout the Learning Section inside The Savings Squad Facebook group as there are lots of free resources to support the Fast 5 including the agenda to use for your Money Date

The information (including taxation) provided in this blog is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice and consider the Product Disclosure Statement. The author, Adele Martin, is a Certified Financial Planner at Firefly Wealth which is an Authorised Representative of RI Advice Group ABN 23 001 774 125 AFSL 238429. The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the author, they are not reflective or indicative of RI licensees’ position and are not attributed to RI Advice Group. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author.

Today episode is about something we know we should do but often don’t – meal planning. 

I interview Kim McCosker the founder of the 4 Ingredients franchise. 

We are are lucky to have her on the podcast as she is super busy – juggling family, tv show and selling over 2 million books !! (She’s so busy she actually calls me the wrong name in the interview at some point …see if you can hear where)

Now when I first heard about meal planning I assumed it was giving up your Sunday’s to cook. That just didn’t appeal to me. 

But then I learned there were other ways you could meal plan -like batch cooking or using a slow cooker. 

I realised that by being more organised I could not only save money (nearly $100 pw which is over $5,000 pa … hello Hawaii ) 

But it had other benefits too like I was healthier as I brought less takeaway and it reduced the amount of food I was throwing out (scarily 1 in 5 bags of groceries lands in the bin).

In todays episode Kim covers how to meal plan like a boss – to save you not only money but time.

I would love if you could share your favourite easy dinner in The Savings Squad Facebook group . Ill pick one at random to win a signed copy of Kim’s 4 Ingredient Meal Planning Book. 

LINKS:

4 Ingredients Facebook Page

4 Ingredient Books

The Pink Hard Hat Louise  – Building Resilient Women 

 

The information (including taxation) provided in this blog is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice and consider the Product Disclosure Statement. The author, Adele Martin, is a Certified Financial Planner at Firefly Wealth which is an Authorised Representative of RI Advice Group ABN 23 001 774 125 AFSL 238429. The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the author, they are not reflective or indicative of RI licensees’ position and are not attributed to RI Advice Group. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author.

Fast 5 Savings Challenge: 5 Easy Ways to Kick Start your Savings

We often under estimate the impact small changes will have on our life:

* Whether that’s going to bed earlier and the effect this has on our energy and happiness 

* Portion control food and the impact it has on weight 

And we do same with money. We convince ourselves to save money and build wealth we need to do something drastic 

The secret to saving money and building wealth is small changes done consistently. And that’s what the Fast 5 Savings Challenge is all about.

In this episode we cover tip number 2: Benefits of Decluttering

We look at:

* How to pick what to sell

* Where and how best to sell these items 

* Other benefits from selling (its not just financial)

* Overcoming any roadblocks or challenges 

Other Resources & Support

Make sure you checkout the Learning Section inside The Savings Squad Facebook group as there are lots of free resources to support the Fast 5 including – videos, workbook, scripts and more. 

The information (including taxation) provided in this blog is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice and consider the Product Disclosure Statement. The author, Adele Martin, is a Certified Financial Planner at Firefly Wealth which is an Authorised Representative of RI Advice Group ABN 23 001 774 125 AFSL 238429. The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the author, they are not reflective or indicative of RI licensees’ position and are not attributed to RI Advice Group. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author.