Blog - Page 50 of 52 - Raiz Invest

The new financial year has begun,
and the tax-man is knocking at your door again. Here are some key tips to send
him on his way with a smile:

Ensuring you have all the
accurate information makes the tax return process that much smoother. Before
you start, make sure you have all that paperwork ready to go. Hopefully you’ve
kept all necessary information very organised throughout
the year…

Some of the key documents you’ll
be needing are:

Your Income:

• Payment summaries
• Bank statements
• Shares, unit trusts or managed funds statements
• Buy and sell investment statements
• Records from your rental property
• Foreign income details

Your Expenses:

• Private health insurance policy statement
• Donation receipts
• Educational records and receipts
• Investment property receipts
• Your spouse’s income and expenses
• Union membership
• Work related expenses

Deductions are awesome. They
allow you to claim work-related costs against your tax, these can include sun
glasses, computers, vehicles etc. Although, one must remember that these
expenses must be:

Real – you must have spent the money
yourself for the product or service

Relevant – they must be related to your
job

Recorded – in the form of a receipt

The ATO has some good info on possible tax deductions based on your occupation.

As a Raiz investor, any realized
capital gains/losses through Raiz will be tax liable.  We will produce an
annual tax statement for all investors by the end of July. These statements
will contain all details necessary for filling your tax returns.

If you have any further
questions about your tax statements please do not hesitate to email the
Investor Success Team at support@Raizinvest.com.au or alternatively call us on
1300 754 748.

Important Information

The information on this website is general advice only. This means it does not consider any person’s investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. If you are an investor, you should consult your licensed adviser before acting on any information contained in this article to fully understand the benefits and risk associated with the Raiz product.

The information in this website is confidential. It must not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed to any other person. The information is based on assumptions or market conditions which change without notice. This will impact the accuracy of the information.

Under no circumstances is the information to be used by, or presented to, a person for the purposes of deciding about investing in Raiz.

Past return performance of the Raiz product should not be relied on for deciding to invest in Raiz and is not a good predictor of future performance.

Read Post

The
focus of the Australian market is on the result – or rather lack of result –
from the weekend’s federal election. It appears the most likely outcome is a
hung parliament although we may have to wait some time until we know for
certain. Unfortunately, the Australian Electoral Commission has made it clear
that it won’t begin counting any more votes until Tuesday, leaving buyers and
sellers in an information vacuum.

“Such
uncertainty is never good for markets…. However, the Australian economy remains
strong.”

As
the possibility of a hung parliament looms closer, the financial market grows
more and more uncertain. Additionally, the prospect of the second hung
parliament within three years escalated speculation the governments AAA-credit
rating will come under pressure in the coming weeks.

Such
uncertainty is never good for markets, and traders may have to wait a month or
even longer to start to get a picture on who will be forming a government for
the next three years. However, the Australian economy remains strong. We do
expect international money flows into our market will slow until the election
outcome is known.

“If
Brexit taught investors anything, at times of such economic uncertainty it is
important to remember the golden rule; do not panic!” 

Australian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry boss James Pearson believes it’s very likely
that whoever does form government will now have to build strong relationships
with crossbenchers “to get things done.” Sometimes a minority government can
implement a higher level of discipline and ultimately work better.

If
Brexit taught investors anything, at times of such economic uncertainty it is
important to remember the golden rule; do not panic! Much to the surprise of
market participants, equities and bonds have recovered most of the losses they
experienced in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Additionally,
The Reserve Bank is observing all of this unfold, potentially intervening with
an interest rate cut on Tuesday, although economists think this is unlikely. We
are also expecting a 0.5% month on month rise in retail sales reflecting a
sustained rebound in consumer confidence following the RBA’s decision to cut
interest rates in May.

Important Information

The information on this website is general advice only. This means it does not consider any person’s investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. If you are an investor, you should consult your licensed adviser before acting on any information contained in this article to fully understand the benefits and risk associated with the Raiz product.

The information in this website is confidential. It must not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed to any other person. The information is based on assumptions or market conditions which change without notice. This will impact the accuracy of the information.

Under no circumstances is the information to be used by, or presented to, a person for the purposes of deciding about investing in Raiz.

Past return performance of the Raiz product should not be relied on for deciding to invest in Raiz and is not a good predictor of future performance.

Read Post

In
the 2004 documentary Supersize Me, Morgan Spurlock eats food only from
McDonalds for a whole month. What was the result? He gained weight (a lot of
it), experienced mood swings, and frequent headaches.

“Like
your diet, your share portfolio generally suffers if you just choose one stock
and don’t mix it up”

Now
we all love the occasional Macca’s every now and again, but it’s probably safe
to say that you should mix it up and maintain a balanced diet. Our body stays
healthy that way.

Like
your diet, your share portfolio generally suffers if you just choose one stock
and don’t mix it up. Choosing different stock types to work together is one of
the most important things to keeping your portfolio healthy.

“By
spreading out your investments, you avoid putting your eggs in one basket. If
that basket breaks, you can’t have your omelette, that’s a risky situation”

For
eating we call it a balanced diet, for investing we call it Diversification.
This blog will tell you a little bit about diversification, how it works, and
how you can achieve it.

How
does diversification work?

Diversification
basically means spreading your money across a variety of different investment
types. Often these investments perform differently at different stages of the
business cycle, or have different correlation with each other.

By
spreading out your investments, you avoid putting your eggs in one basket. If
that basket breaks, you can’t have your omelette, that’s a risky situation.

For
example, take the example of stocks and bonds. During a bad period for the
stock market, we tend to see bonds perform better than stocks. If you had a
portfolio full of stocks and no bonds at this time, you’ve just missed out on
the action. By diversifying you can avoid big shocks to your portfolio.

But
it’s not just different asset classes that behave differently. Healthcare
stocks will perform differently to Oil stocks, Oil stocks may behave
differently to Tech stocks, Foreign Tech stocks may behave differently to
Australian ones. There’s many different investment types to diversify.

How
can you diversify?

ETFs
are a great start (What is an ETF?).

“When
you invest with Raiz, you diversify” 

With
ETFs, you can spread out your investments over hundreds of different stocks.
There are ETFs for local stocks, foreign stocks, bonds, and much more.

When
you invest with Raiz, you diversify. Each of the 5 portfolios offered by Raiz
are diversified across 5 different ETFs, different countries, and asset
classes.

Our
portfolios were designed with diversification in mind, and to give the investor
the best expected return for the amount of risk they’re willing to take
on.

So
don’t have Macca’s for every meal, and sign-up to invest with Raiz today. For more information on Raiz fees, click here.

Important Information

The information on this website is general advice only. This means it does not consider any person’s investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. If you are an investor, you should consult your licensed adviser before acting on any information contained in this article to fully understand the benefits and risk associated with the Raiz product.

The information in this website is confidential. It must not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed to any other person. The information is based on assumptions or market conditions which change without notice. This will impact the accuracy of the information.

Under no circumstances is the information to be used by, or presented to, a person for the purposes of deciding about investing in Raiz.

Past return performance of the Raiz product should not be relied on for deciding to invest in Raiz and is not a good predictor of future performance.

Read Post

As many of you will be aware, last week Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU). This caused much discussion and uncertainty in the markets, however this is settling down and the ASX looks like opening flat this morning.

We will not know the full extent of the economic impact until we understand the deal that the UK will negotiate with the EU. This could take a number of years, and will probably happen before they invoke Article 50 in the Lisbon Treaty which starts the divorce of the UK from the EU. We expect this initial shock to die down over this week, so don’t panic, be calm

The UK will be negotiating for the next few years on the options below:

• • Being part of the EU all but in name, like Norway but this also includes payments to the EU with no seat at the table.

• • They could negotiate a Customs Union model like Turkey.

• • A bilateral agreement between the UK and EU similar to the Swiss model, but this also requires payments to the EU.

• • A free trade agreement like Canada, but this took Canada 15 years to negotiate.

• A combination of the above while also relying on the WTO agreements.

The above options take time to negotiate, also the UK will also need to start negotiations with other countries outside of the EU (

for example it will not be able to rely on the FTA the EU has with Canada).

So the main takeaway is that UK will be part of the EU for a while longer, and we can expect the status quo from an economic perspective. So don’t panic and remember that this is the time when a disciplined investment strategy shows it’s true value.

Thanks for investing!

Important Information

The information on this website is general advice only. This means it does not consider any person’s investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. If you are an investor, you should consult your licensed adviser before acting on any information contained in this article to fully understand the benefits and risk associated with the Raiz product.

The information in this website is confidential. It must not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed to any other person. The information is based on assumptions or market conditions which change without notice. This will impact the accuracy of the information.

Under no circumstances is the information to be used by, or presented to, a person for the purposes of deciding about investing in Raiz.

Past return performance of the Raiz product should not be relied on for deciding to invest in Raiz and is not a good predictor of future performance.

Read Post

As
you may be aware, I wrote to the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, (4 March 2016)
about the ePayments Code, and how the banks were playing fast
and loose with the truth when telling consumers that their internet banking
login details should not be disclosed to third parties, such as Raiz.

This
is an important issue as most of our users provide their internet banking
details.

It
was Raiz’ opinion that the banks were overstepping the mark and now
correspondence I have received from ASIC would suggest the regulator, at the
very least, has sympathy with our point of view.

Without
going into all the details, this was positive news because of the following
points ASIC made.

1.
ASIC acknowledges that the messaging from banks about not sharing your login
details with third parties is from the early 1980s, when ATMs were introduced,
and is out of date in the new world of apps such as Raiz.

2.
ASIC acknowledged the potential value of third party services, such as Raiz,
having interaction with a consumer’s bank accounts.

3.
ASIC notes that the Government has accepted the recommendation of the Financial
System Inquiry to make the ePayments Code mandatory.  If this mandatory
adoption of the Code were implemented, ASIC would ensure that the Code, which
protects the consumer when providing internet login details, is “operated
appropriately” by banks. Although ASIC did not spell it out, we understand that
what ASIC is saying is that the banks are currently not “operating
appropriately” under the Code. But until the Code is mandatory they will not
act unilaterally while other areas of government, such as the Productivity
Commission, are reviewing related issues.

This
correspondence from ASIC indicates that the regulator understands the position
of Raiz and has expressed a degree of solidarity with that position in regards
to the misleading information being provided by some banks. We’re looking
forward to seeing how this develops and reaching a point where Australians are
free to engage with services such as Raiz without concerns that they are
breaching conditions set by their banks.

George
Lucas, Raiz CEO

Important Information

The information on this website is general advice only. This means it does not consider any person’s investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. If you are an investor, you should consult your licensed adviser before acting on any information contained in this article to fully understand the benefits and risk associated with the Raiz product.

The information in this website is confidential. It must not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed to any other person. The information is based on assumptions or market conditions which change without notice. This will impact the accuracy of the information.

Under no circumstances is the information to be used by, or presented to, a person for the purposes of deciding about investing in Raiz.

Past return performance of the Raiz product should not be relied on for deciding to invest in Raiz and is not a good predictor of future performance.

By Clayton Daniel

I
love it when a simple mathematical illustration can explain things clearly.
Think the Pareto Principle of 80/20. Pretty much a well-established fact you
will get 80% results from 20% of the effort. Simple, easy to understand, and
pretty accurate.

“People
are split almost down the middle 50/50 between savers and spenders”

The
same goes with standard deviations. We all know the bell curve, but the fact it
almost perfectly summarises the population in terms of whether they are a
Spender or a Saver is almost uncanny.

Based
around research from a range of sources and my own experience as a former tax
accountant and financial adviser, I’ve come to the conclusion people are split
almost down the middle 50/50 between savers and spenders. Half the population
spend everything they earn, and the other half manage to put some money aside.
It gets a little more interesting when you break those two halves up even
further between moderate and extreme.

Run-of-the-mill
Spenders

By
that I mean, the first deviation of Spenders are your everyday, run-of-the-mill
Spenders. They are the type of person that runs out of money just before pay
day, and are relieved when the next pay cheque comes in. They don’t really get
themselves into too much trouble, but aren’t really interested in doing
anything to ‘get ahead’ other than focusing on the next pay rise or promotion.

Pay-check
to Pay-check Spenders

The
second deviation Spenders get a little more serious as these people start to
get themselves into a little bit of trouble. The first filter they gauge each
decision with is ‘what do they want’? The basic premise is if they can’t afford
something now, they will with next month’s paycheque. These type of people
carry around the $10-$20k debt in credit cards and personal loans and don’t
really think it’s a problem. The idea of putting money aside for the future is
redundant as they have ‘bills to pay now’.

Train
Wreck Spenders

The
third deviation on the Spenders are train wrecks. The problem is, by looking
from the outside in, you can never tell. These people make up the 2.5% of the
population that look amazing on the outside, but peer beneath that surface and
things are going to hell in a handbasket. These type of people are in
astronomical amounts of credit card and personal loan debt and really only have
two ways out, lots of hard decisions or bankruptcy. The problem is generally
too big to admit to themselves, and instead they focus on a mythical ‘big pay
day’ to solve all their problems.

The
Savers on the other side of the divide may sound like they have everything
together, but they too experience their own set of problems.

Save
to Spend Savers

Let’s
first examine the first deviation, the regular Savers. Interestingly, these
type of Savers only save to spend. That’s right, the majority of Savers are
really just delayed Spenders. These Savers will save for a specific purpose, be
it a holiday, a new vehicle, or a home. The purpose of their savings is to
facilitate the purchasing of things they want to spend money on without going
in to too much debt.

Savers
with Intent

The
second deviation Savers have a little more intent in their savings. It’s only
at this point do we finally meet people who are interested in putting money
aside for later in life. They will put aside the classic 20% of their salary to
build long term wealth, have no personal debt, but struggle to find the balance
between reaching lifestyle goals and not spending too much money. I understand
this issue, because if you are disciplined enough to stick to putting money
aside, it’s hard to turn that switch off.

Dollar
Saved is a Dollar Earned Savers

And
finally the third deviation or most extreme Savers are the one’s solely focused
on building wealth from a young age and put every single cent aside to achieve
that goal. They want to save every single cent, any money spent is money lost.
To them ‘a dollar saved is a dollar earned’. They are the kind of people who
never do anything social, and on the off chance you get them to join you, don’t
get stuck on a round of drinks with them as we both know you’ll end up carrying
them.

“The
mentality of each side means that once the grooves of consistent behaviour have
set in, it is extremely hard to change”

So
you have your Spenders on one side and your Savers on the other, and never the
both shall meet. The mentality of each side means that once the grooves of
consistent behaviour have set in, it is extremely hard to change. Not to say it
can’t be done, but it’s hard. And if there is ever any conversation around
change, it is always to move someone from being a Spender to a Saver.

“It’s
as if the answer to all of life’s issues can be solved as one moves from being
a Spender to a Saver….and here in lies the problem”

The
problem the Spenders will attest to here, is it’s much more boring on the
Savers side. And let’s face it. They have a point. It is. But I think this idea
epitomises the major flaw in our corrosively boring ‘personal finance’
education. It’s as if the answer to all of life’s issues can be solved as one
moves from being a Spender to a Saver.

“The
answer is not to go from spending to saving, it is to exist simultaneously
everywhere on the divide. To save like a vault and spend like a Rock Star”

And
here in lies the problem. What self-respecting Spender is going to hang up the
gloves and become a penny pincher? It’s not going to happen. In fact it rarely
does happen. So do we just leave it there? An endless array of personal finance
specialists, one after the other repeating this advice to no avail? Is this the
only answer? Or once again, have we all just taken this advice from people with
no real world experience?

“
The answer is not to feel bad about spending your own money, but instead to
have an amount set aside for guilt free spending”

After
managing the cash flow of people on all ends of this divide, I can tell you the
answer is not to go from spending to saving, it is to exist simultaneously
everywhere on the divide. To save like a vault and spend like a Rock Star.
The answer is not to feel bad about spending your own money, but instead to
have an amount set aside for guilt free spending. The goal is not to have ‘long
term savings’ as the word ‘savings’ is super boring and un-engaging, but
instead to have ‘investments’. And the goal is not to avoid travelling, but to
have a ‘lifestyle bucket’ to support your need and want to live the life you’ve
worked hard for.

“Automation.
Automation is key”

But
here is the hard part. How do you hold two opposing thought patterns – both
Spender and Saver – at the same time? If you were lucky enough to read my last article for Raiz you will know the
answer. Automation. Automation is key. Remove your fallible self and the
inefficient use of your own time and decision capacity and outsource to
automation.

Stop
wasting your time managing your own money and let technology do this for you.

Clayton Daniel, Financial commentator and
author of upcoming book Fund Your Ideal Lifestyle

Important Information

The information on this website is general advice only. This means it does not consider any person’s investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. If you are an investor, you should consult your licensed adviser before acting on any information contained in this article to fully understand the benefits and risk associated with the Raiz product.

The information in this website is confidential. It must not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed to any other person. The information is based on assumptions or market conditions which change without notice. This will impact the accuracy of the information.

Under no circumstances is the information to be used by, or presented to, a person for the purposes of deciding about investing in Raiz.

Past return performance of the Raiz product should not be relied on for deciding to invest in Raiz and is not a good predictor of future performance.

Read Post

By Superfitdad

You might not be into investments for any number of reasons. Maybe you don’t understand the vagaries of the markets and prefer to stay away from things you don’t understand. That’s perfectly understandable. Maybe you’re more into property, since “there’s no better investment than bricks and mortar.” Again, perfectly understandable.

But, I’m telling you right here and right now, if you’re in Australia (or most anywhere in the world), there’s an element of the investment markets that you simply CANNOT AFFORD TO IGNORE because you have a (in)vested interest in it.

This is something so simple and so basic that it’s almost invariably overlooked. And yet it takes just 5 minute to review it and see if you’re making a simple mistake that could end up costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

That’s right: fixing this one thing up – the one thing that I’m betting you haven’t looked at recently (because it’s tucked away in fine print on the statement that you barely look at, let alone understand (I’m just starting to get my head around it) – could literally save you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Or put those dollars in your pocket.

Do I have your attention?

Good.

Now, what is it?

Your. Superannuation. Fees.

Really?

Yup, those measly 2% or 3% fees tucked away in a corner of your annual super statement, which, as we’ve established, you probably don’t read because those things are about as user-friendly it’s as if they were written in Arabic. Or Latin.

These fees can eat away at your retirement fund like a cancer, compounding and growing as your pot grows. And you’re (probably) letting it happen around you. So if you do one thing and one thing only in regard to anything I’ve ever written, it’s this:

See how much you are paying in fees and assess whether the fund manager deserves your money based on their performance.

Why This Matters?

The illustration above makes it clear just how the fees can mount up if left unattended.

Assuming you (and your employer) have saved wisely for 40 years, your fund could end up being “worth” circa $1m. Except you’ve been paying an itty-bitty 2% annual management fee to your superannuation fund manager – regardless of their performance – so all you’re left with is $630,000.

The scoundrels have taken $370,000 in fees. Compare this $630K with the guy who has been paying 0.5% as an annual management fee. He’s left with a pot of $890,000. That’s 41% more at retirement (or $261,000). That’s a lot of cruises. A lot of pina coladas.

Worth checking out what you’re paying, huh?

You might be thinking that if your fund is performing well, returning maybe 8% per annum or more, then it’s worth paying a little extra in fees. You’re damn right, it might be. But, often it’s not.

High fees don’t always come with high returns. And if you end up accepting high fees for poor or average returns, well, you’re getting mugged off paying for schmick offices and coffee waiters.

Remember this: you can’t control how the market performs. But you can control the fees you pay and your approach to risk.

Your Task Now (yep, right now, don’t put it off)

Promise me this one thing. You’ll go and check the annual management fees you’re paying and take whatever action is necessary.

 Superfitdad

Important Information

The information on this website is general advice only. This means it does not consider any person’s investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. If you are an investor, you should consult your licensed adviser before acting on any information contained in this article to fully understand the benefits and risk associated with the Raiz product.

The information in this website is confidential. It must not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed to any other person. The information is based on assumptions or market conditions which change without notice. This will impact the accuracy of the information.

Under no circumstances is the information to be used by, or presented to, a person for the purposes of deciding about investing in Raiz.

Past return performance of the Raiz product should not be relied on for deciding to invest in Raiz and is not a good predictor of future performance.

Read Post

by Clayton Daniel, Financial Commentator

Around twelve months ago I
surveyed some 25 – 40 year olds as to what they wanted out of life and what
they wanted to avoid. I expected the results to reflect everything I had ever
read about Gen X and Y wanting to be rich, retire early on a passive income,
kick up the heels or go travelling around the world. The results however did
not reflect that expectation.

Instead of early retirement,
people wanted job satisfaction. Instead of wanting more money,
people wanted more time. Instead of perpetual travel, people
wanted something to show for their hard work.

“[Baby boomers] were taught safety and security was
purchased with the ownership of assets…..we have now seen the concept of
ownership go from the domain of security, to the realm of responsibility”

I was amazed at the findings. Had
I been lied to, or had no one simply done what I had done – gone to the
demographic and asked? What I realised is that over the last twenty years, a
lot has changed. In fact, that is an understatement, everything has
changed.

The baby boomers grew up with
parents from a war torn era. They were taught safety and security was purchased
with the ownership of assets. And that’s what the baby boomers did. They
bought. From homes to cars to fancy appliances. Ownership guaranteed freedom.

“Ownership takes time, it takes hard work, and it
removes instant gratification”

Gen Y on the other hand have
grown up in an economy of uninterrupted growth for the last 25 years. Add in
the growth of technology, and the boom of the sharing economy, and we have seen
the concept of ownership go from the domain of security, to the realm of
responsibility. Why own a car when Uber can pick me up from anywhere and take
me to anywhere I want to go. I don’t have to find parking, I don’t have to own
a depreciating asset, I don’t even need to worry about sobriety. More
convenience for a lower cost, where do I sign?

“Our brain is not built to handle so many things
competing for our attention”

This idea of access over
ownership has been a massive shift in the way we interact with the world.
Ownership takes time, it takes hard work, and it removes instant gratification.

And there is so much to be
instantly gratified by these days. Whether you Tinder your way through the
weekend, Netflix binge your new favourite series, or stream a new album on
Spotify, whatever you want these days you can have it. Immediately.

The problem is, these new
services comes with a time cost. And despite the amazing complexity of our neo
cortex to create fully functioning and (mostly) rational humans, we still
haven’t outpaced our 200,000 year history. Put simply, our brain is not built
to handle so many things competing for our attention.

Even a couple of hundred years
ago it was simply:

a) Is there food?

b) Is there water?

c) Is there shelter?

If all three are checked, you
were good.

These days our tick boxes are a
lot more complex. Does your boss like you, did you choose the right career
path, and is there kale in your green smoothie?

“You adapt, and create shortcuts to get big results
from little changes. And my pro tip is automation”

Our brains are so exhausted by
these open loop questions, when you add on the fact we are working longer than
ever, and filling every other second we aren’t indulging our senses with a
social media hit, it’s no wonder some of us are feeling under the pump.

But this is modern day life, you
can’t avoid it. And saying ‘let’s go back to the old days when it was better’
is redundant advice. Instead you adapt, and create shortcuts to get big
results from little changes. And my pro tip is automation.

“Once we remove ourselves from needing to make
every single financial decision, we can free our minds up to focus on what we
should be giving attention to”

Research tells us all these
distractions and interruptions require us to make decisions every day. And each
of these decisions saps you of your ability to make good decisions. It’s called
decision fatigue and explains why over the course of a day, your decisions get
worse. Judges make worse decisions in the afternoon compared to the morning,
people buy useless extras at car dealerships, and we are susceptible to
‘impulse purchases’ at the checkout. Therefore, the lower amount of decisions
you make, the higher your ability to make good decisions.

“One of the best things you can do with your money
is to set it all up on automation”

So when the results of the survey
I conducted came back, I realised what people needed was a way to deal with
modern life. With so many things competing for your attention, how is it
possible to make the best decisions? What I found was the more decisions were
set to automation in the background, the better the results were for every
other part of life.

Once we remove ourselves from
needing to make every single financial decision, we can free our minds up to
focus on what we should be giving our attention to: performing better at our
jobs, making time with family, and finding new experiences.

“[Raiz] hits the spot on two fronts, access and
automation”

After implementing this theory
for a few years and seeing the results, I am convinced; one of the best
things you can do with your money is to set it all up on automation. I
don’t know when my rent is paid, how much I have for my next holiday to New
York in August, or whether my long term asset base is getting larger, all I
know is it is. Why? I don’t control it. It’s all on automation.

In no small way, this is why Raiz
has been as successful as it has been. It hits the spot on two fronts, access
and automation. It’s easy for me to see my investments as I can access them
right on my phone, and secondly I don’t have to do anything, the money is
deposited into my account with every purchase. For more information on Raiz fees, click here.For more information on Raiz fees, click here.

Avoid decision fatigue and
outsource to automation. Go spend your time on things that matter.

Clayton Daniel, Financial Commentator

You can start using Raiz at any time by clicking this link!

Important Information

The information on this website is general advice only. This means it does not consider any person’s investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. If you are an investor, you should consult your licensed adviser before acting on any information contained in this article to fully understand the benefits and risk associated with the Raiz product.

The information in this website is confidential. It must not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed to any other person. The information is based on assumptions or market conditions which change without notice. This will impact the accuracy of the information.

Under no circumstances is the information to be used by, or presented to, a person for the purposes of deciding about investing in Raiz.

Past return performance of the Raiz product should not be relied on for deciding to invest in Raiz and is not a good predictor of future performance.

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The buzzword “mindfulness” seems
to be everywhere at the moment. Whether you are using a mindfulness app or practicing
mindfulness through meditation and yoga – the trend of mindfulness is hard to
miss.  Mindfulness is usually discussed in terms of achieving spiritual
and emotional awareness, often ignoring the more practical applications it can
provide.  Financial mindfulness will lower your anxiety, focus your
approach and save you money.

The principle behind being
mindful in May is spending 10 minutes a day practicing meditation, and at Raiz
we believe this should be applied to being mindful with your money. With the
End of Financial Year just around the corner, May is the perfect time to
concentrate on being mindful about spending and saving.  This May
designate some time to not just develop a financial plan, but reflect on your
saving goals, research into investment options, and be mindful about what you
are spending your money on.

You can become a master, rather
than a slave to your money with these easy tips:

1.
Track your expenses manually:

Instead of painfully examining
your bank statements at the end of the month, try tracking your purchases
manually as you make them. A good way to do this is to write down what you
spend whilst you are making the transactions.  Awareness starts in
realizing how much and what you’re spending money on. By getting in the habit
of tracking your expenses, you’ll become more aware of your purchases and what
they mean for your overall financial health.

2.
Set a waiting period:

It is so easy in the digital age
to buy something without considering if you really need it. With PayPal and
Paywave shopping can be such a mindless activity, and it’s not till you receive
your bank statement that the guilt sinks in.  To stop yourself from
spending in a vacuum, set a waiting period of at least 24 hours to decide if
your purchase is really a necessity. The age old advice of ‘sleep on it’ can
really make a difference when it comes to impulse purchases.

3.
Realise what the trade-offs are:

It is easy to spend money if you
are not aware of what you are sacrificing in the long run.  For example,
spending $100 eating out a week, or buying an unnecessary item of clothing may
not seem like a big deal, but in the long run $100 can go towards paying off a
stressful debt, or starting a saving fund for a well-deserved relaxing holiday.
It may seem difficult to practice self-control, but challenge yourself
for the month of May. Bring your own lunch to work, or meet a friend for a walk
in the park on the weekend rather than for a drink.  

Make May your month to reflect on
and develop your mental and financial health!

You can start using Raiz at any time by clicking this link! For more information on Raiz fees, click here.

Important Information

The information on this website is general advice only. This means it does not consider any person’s investment objectives, financial situation or investment needs. If you are an investor, you should consult your licensed adviser before acting on any information contained in this article to fully understand the benefits and risk associated with the Raiz product.

The information in this website is confidential. It must not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed to any other person. The information is based on assumptions or market conditions which change without notice. This will impact the accuracy of the information.

Under no circumstances is the information to be used by, or presented to, a person for the purposes of deciding about investing in Raiz.

Past return performance of the Raiz product should not be relied on for deciding to invest in Raiz and is not a good predictor of future performance.

Read Post