Where should we put our $$

My partner is now earning a healthy sum of money and saves approx 5k a month. These savings currently sit in the bank.
What is a safe, medium to long term place for him to put/invest this money that offers better returns than the bank? Set and forget style.
Thank you all

 

there is no safe investment
all investment involve some sort of risk, shares or properties.
while you working out what to do with the money

Safest return is paying off your mortgage that is equivalent to 6-7% return on 40% tax bracket

 

Exactly!!!
Have you paid off your mortgage yet!!!?,

 

For set and forget medium to long term id be looking at inner to middle ring growth areas in Brisbane with add value potential. Over the med to long term there's a very good chance it will do well. Houses of course. I'd personally stay away from units and TH if you can afford to.

But of course depends on your overall financial situation and goals.

 

Its clearly a sign of the times

Today is about protecting your capital

Fools rush in....without understanding market conditions and how credit squeeze is impacting on growth

Just keep researching and understand what is happening no rush

Keep digging

 

But I.....can't.....help...faaalling in love....with.....you.


(yes..yes I'm an insomniac i know)

 

If you have a mortgage, have a chat to someone like @Alex Straker about developing a debt recycling strategy.

 

Hi All,
Apologies just seeing these replies now.
No mortgage, no debt, no assets ( apart from minor things like cars/dirtbike/horse/dog lol )
The simple life right now but time to make our money work

 

What is your definition of safe? Some consider the stock market fairly safe others say its very risky.

My thoughts, short term there is a significant element of risk that your investment could go down in value. Long term that risk is reduced as generally the market over time tends to go up.

Had you invested your money in the ASX200 index on the 1st of Jan this year you would be up some 9% as of the end of Feb. Who knows what march will bring though.

I like the idea of splitting the monthly amount I have to invest between VAS & VGS at the moment. Though I like the look of VAS a little more than VGS right now. In case your not familiar with the two VAS is Vanguards Australian index and VGS is Vanguards International Index. International at the moment looks a little on the overvalued side being that its made up of 60% US market.

 

Since you have no clear direction of what you want to do, I would honestly reccomend finding a good financial planner and sitting down with them and having a chat about what your options are and what your goals are. Ask around for reccommendations in your area, and look for someone who knows about a broad range of investments (ie property as well as stocks and shares and such).

I think property is a great way to invest your money, provided you can find the right property. But not everyone want to be (or is cut out to be) a landlord. So you need to educate yourself about that side of things if you are serious about property investment. It is definitely not 'set and forget', even with a good pm.

Alternatively you could buy a primary residence for you and your partner to actually live in, and look at how to pay it down as quickly as possible, to allow yourself options in the future.

Otherwise you might find shares or even simple term deposits a better option.

 

Thanks Big Al, Vanguard is def something we are open to and I think a good start for sure.

 

Agreed re the FP, finding the right one I suppose will be the tricky bit. I did speak with one last year who quote me 2-3k is this pretty standard pricing do you know?

 

I have been working with a FP for the last 3 years. Over the last few months I have been questioning the FP value based on the fee I have been paying. I have been paying an annual fee of $8k. He recently agreed to reduce the fee significantly. Though regardless of the fee I am questioning whether he is the right fit for me.

@Alex Straker is a FP who is a member on here. I was recommended to have a chat with him recently. We spoke on the phone last week and I was very impressed with is knowledge and approach. I am currently in the process of analysing my situation with Alex to see where his service can add value to my journey.

 

Thats exactly it Big Al, I am a big believer in you get what you pay for and have no problem paying as long as it is of the value being charged. I also need to have an IP that I explicitly trust and who has aligned thinking and morals etc. Finding the right fit would be the hardest part I imagine

 

Totally agree. You need to feel comfortable that they are acting in your best interest rather than what will earn them the highest fees.

The fee you pay also needs to be considered in the context of the capital you have available for investing. $2-$3k is reasonable if you have say $1mill+ in play. But if you had $100k that's a 3% fee. Also factor in how complex you want to go with your investments. Do you want to buy individual stocks VS holding a few index funds VS holding actively managed funds?

I hold a mix of active managed funds and index funds. Though I am now moving in the direction of more index and less managed. I feel keeping it simple will net me the best performance while keeping my advise fees lower.

 

I cannot really advise you about the cost of financial planners sorry. But I think it is worth asking around. There are some here on the forum who may be able to give you a better idea of reasonable costs for what services.

There are some financial planners who are happy to do one off consultations (with one off fees) as well. Where they go over what kind of options you have with your financial situation, but when you leave its up to you to actually put whatever plan you want to follow into motion.
We have gone ourselves for this kind of consult. Happy that we know enough to do it ourselves, but just wanting feedback on where we should be looking at putting our money and how we should consider structuring finances if we did go certain routes. We were specifically seeking advice going into property investment at the time.

We plan on going back in another year or so, but this time will be looking into actually set up an investment portfolio with them to manage.

 

This is a great idea, a one off consult would be perfect but still comes at a price tag of 2-5k from what ive found. We are talking about only 30k or so to invest so 2-3k is a lot to spend on advice for such a small portfolio.
What I need to find out I suppose is the diff between ETF/LIC/Vanguard etc and what the average returns are on each. Anyone know of an existing thread on this? I will go do a search now