General | Brett Geappen Financial Services

Financial Fitness in Your 20s: Laying the Groundwork for a Secure Future

Your twenties are a pivotal time in your financial journey, offering the perfect opportunity to lay a robust foundation that will support your goals throughout life. Cultivating a savings mindset, such as automating savings into a high-interest account, helps build financial security. Enhancing your market value through skill development can lead to better salary negotiations, while avoiding high-interest debt and distinguishing between good and bad debt ensures financial stability. Investing early, even with small amounts, leverages the power of compound interest for long-term growth. By focusing on these key areas—savings, income building, debt management, and investing—you set yourself up for a financially sound future, avoiding common pitfalls that can hinder economic progress.

The Journey of Financial Planning: A Life-cycle Approach

The lifecycle approach to financial planning recognises that financial priorities shift from managing debt in early adulthood to wealth accumulation in mid-life and retirement planning in later years. By aligning financial strategies with your current life stage, you can create a more responsive and personalised plan that ensures financial stability throughout your lifetime. Whether you're just starting your career or approaching retirement, understanding and implementing a lifecycle approach can help you approach financial challenges more effectively and secure a comfortable future.

Redirecting Instant Gratification Urges for Wealth Building

Imagine turning your $50 weekly impulse buys into a $39,000 nest egg. Sounds impossible? It's not. By redirecting just $2,600 a year – the cost of those small, often forgettable purchases – into smart investments, you could be setting yourself up for a significantly wealthier future. This article explores how to transform your spending habits and harness the power of compound interest, turning fleeting pleasures into long-term financial success. Discover practical strategies to curb impulsive spending and learn where to invest for maximum growth. Your future self will thank you for every dollar saved and wisely invested today.

Here’s One Thing that all Australians Can Agree to Be Proud of

Here in the land downunder, we are blessed with a very stable economy. That stability is no accident. It is the end result of a lot of thought that has been put into developing institutions and processes that really work.

Wishing you a Well-Earned Rest!

2023 is coming to an end and we are taking a break from writing articles for a few weeks. If you are anything like us, you are probably looking forward to a well-earned rest as the year comes to a close.

Student Loans: To Repay or not to Repay?

One of the most common questions we are asked by our younger clients, or the parents of our younger clients, is whether and when to make a voluntary repayment of a Commonwealth Student Loan. Usually, the answer is still no.

Making Unknowns Known

People of a certain age will remember former US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld describing ‘knowns and unknowns’ way back in 2002. Rumsfeld copped some criticism for what seemed to be a mangling of the English language. But in actual fact, his sentences make perfect sense. And they apply to finance just as well as they apply to global politics.

The Best Time to Think

The best advice anyone ever gave us was to plan our next holiday while still enjoying the current one. There are a bunch of reasons for this. But the main one is that we make the best decisions when we are relaxed and happy.

Like Some Cherries on Top of that Government Payment?

Australia has a generous benefit system, ranging from unemployment benefits to aged and disability pensions. But the cash that the Government provides is not the only way they help. Payment recipients can also claim some additional extras which can also make life a lot easier. And the best news is that sometimes you only need to qualify for a small Government payment in order to access these added extras.

What does a bank know about spending?

Every time we tap or swipe to make an electronic payment, or send a direct debit, there is someone who knows exactly what we have spent our money on. That someone is, of course, our bank. What they can tell us about our overall spending is fascinating.