From Zero to Investor: Alana & Maddy’s Journey | Thanks to Sharesies

Bryce: [00:00:31] Welcome to get started investing in this podcast, we cover all the basics you need to start your investing journey. Are you joining us for the very first time? Is this the very start of your investing journey? Well, before you dive into this episode with us, our feed is designed to go from the very beginning, so we strongly recommend that you scroll up and start at episode one. However, if you are feeling brave and just want to dive in, don't let us stop you here at Get Started Investing feed, we unpack all of the jargon in the confusing bits. We hear your investing stories with the goal of making investing less intimidating, and we have a good time along the way. My name is Bryce and as always, I'm joined by my equity buddy Ren. How are you going? Alec: [00:01:08] Very good, Bryce. Great to be with you again. Very pumped for this episode. Very excited. We are speaking to some beginner investors and hopefully breaking down some barriers. Bryce: [00:01:19] Sitting down with people at various parts in their investing journey always provides us with the opportunity to help break down some barriers and unpack sort of situations along the investing journey that really helped the Get Started Investing feed community. This episode is proudly brought to you by Sharesies, who are helping to create financial empowerment for everyone. Their vision is to give someone with five Dollars the same investment opportunities as someone with five million. You can choose from over 8000 companies and exchange traded funds on the Australian, US and New Zealand share markets. Buy shares or portions of shares on the shares, his platform from just one cent and Ren. We're going to chat to Alana and Matty in this episode who are both at different parts of their journey very early on in the piece. Just to get a sense of where they're at and to unpack some major barriers that they're facing, we know that everyone starts somewhere and that being a beginner has really never stopped you before you went through driver's licence. Alec: [00:02:22] Yeah, yeah. And if people haven't seen the shares, this ad being a beginner has never stopped you before. Do yourself a favour and go and watch them some of the best investing ads. Yeah, I've seen not that I don't mind plastering public transport, but I think we watch the shares these ads and we were annoyed because we were like, This is what we should have. Bryce: [00:02:44] We were inspired. Alec: [00:02:45] We were inspired. A little bit inspired. A little bit annoyed. They're very funny ads. So but I think they really capture the vibe of what we try and do on this show, which is stop. You know, everyone can be an investor. And the idea that we have of who an investor is needs to change. We need to break down those barriers and we need to think of investing as just an important life skill as driving a car or learning a musical instrument, playing saxophone, playing, you know, just just it's a skill that we learn and everyone can learn it and should learn it, such as these could us on the advertising campaign? Yes. I mean, we've spoken to a number of, I guess we call them real investors over our time and excited to crack into some again today. Bryce: [00:03:29] So we're going to chat with Alana and Maddie to kind of set the scene, get an understanding of where they're at on their investing journey, help them through some of the initial questions that they have. They're both really starting to think about growing a portfolio, but really feel like they don't know what next step to take. And then we'll check back in with them in a couple of weeks time to see if they've made any progress or if they're still facing the same barriers that they are in this conversation. Alec: [00:03:57] So what we should do at some point is actually embody the shares. These add and find a saxophone player who wants to learn to invest. We do the initial episode and we try and learn the saxophone and the saxophone player learns to invest and then we come back. That's it. OK, all right. Well, you take that as a maybe if we edit that out and we actually do it. Bryce: [00:04:17] So let's hear from Alana about her investing journey. Alana, welcome to the show. Alana: [00:04:28] Thank you. Bryce: [00:04:29] Right, very excited. We go a long way back. Well, these Alec: [00:04:33] days, yeah, I'm not looking forward to twenty five minutes of woolies here, so Alana: [00:04:38] they worry we never talk about Woolies me and Bryce. Bryce: [00:04:42] So that's actually very true. But Alana, when we reached out of it, when we reached out on Instagram to ask our community if anyone would like to come and sort of share their journey on the show, you put your hand up. And we're very appreciative of that because it's these sorts of conversations that always help our community, I guess, feel more confident where they're at. So let's kind of set the scene as to where you're currently at on on your sort of journey of investing. How would you describe your level? Where are you at? Alana: [00:05:13] I'm at ground zero, so I have absolutely no level of investing. I have just mentioned previously I 2018, I'd sort of jump on the bitcoin journey. No, I don't have a whole bitcoin I won't be seeing here. I got to leave it there. But that's that's as much as it goes. And that's as far as I've been. And I suppose that's where I'm like for me, I'm very black and white. I can't deal with the ratio between. I'd rather someone just tell me where to invest and I'll go do whatever repercussions will be. But that doesn't mean I'll jump off a bridge. If you told me to say I'm a deputy ground zero with regards to investing. And yet be five. I don't need to start sooner rather than later, for sure. Bryce: [00:06:05] You know, you've obviously followed Equity Mates on Instagram. And what's got you to this point? Why do you feel you want to start investing now? Alana: [00:06:13] You know, as the world we know and what we grew up on is very different to what our parents, my parents had one standard investment for a friend, and my mum said to me three months ago will forever be grateful to him for that. And I suppose to me, I thought in my head, I thought, Why don't you tell me about this? Like, So you know why I have to have this conversation now and now? I'm at that point where I'm not. I need to invest, and nowadays you can invest in property all you want, but you need all that money and funding behind you. Yeah. And obviously coming from the UK, you have to start all over again from scratch. So for me, this is actually a nice opportunity via my feet without having to do all the legwork. And that's why I want to start investing to also have that ability and long term to top up. I say top up my super, but have that available, but also to give to my kids and give them that opportunity, God willing. Have some. Don't worry, there's not many maids running around just yet. I think the world's ready for that. But yeah, just just to have that opportunity and flexibility and potentially to happen as people, I say, you've got in. It's when and if at all, then happy with it. Bryce: [00:07:35] Yeah, yeah, I love that. Alec: [00:07:36] Yeah. So you've made the decision that you want to get started. How have you found that experience? What of what have been some of the challenges or I guess, the barriers that you're facing? Alana: [00:07:47] The main thing is I don't understand it, right? And it does. I can listen to the podcast and I'm not afraid of being too severe, but I understand the concept. But what it comes down to the company is what's the right company to invest and to to invest? Why am I just kind of guy? I switch off like, I get bored. Like, it's not. It's not amazing. I don't know where it's going at all. So I think, you know, is it safe to put your money into it and onto an app? You know, is it going to be so hard that defrauded some of the take it all from me or all those sort of things you never know? I think it's anything in life, but I think there's been a few barriers is just, I don't know. And it's taken that leap into the unknown. And that's it's like going to the gym, right? Like this, it's hard. But once you get go at once, you get the hardest thing is starting. But once you get started and you get a momentum, then you can't go. I think it's the same applies here. You don't know who it takes. You just get so depressed over it. Have every reason not to. But then once you get started and start playing around in the sandpit, then you probably get going and start to understand it more. Alec: [00:09:01] Yeah, 100 percent. I think that gym analogy is the perfect analogy. You think about the first time you ever walked into a gym and there's a whole bunch of people that are bigger than you lifting weights in ways that you don't know or sitting on machines and moving them in ways that you don't know how it works. And then you think back to that person and now you walk into a gym and you sort of know how everything works. And it's it's relatively simple. And I think. It's a good analogy, but it's just, you know, getting people to do that first work out. Take that first step is is the real challenge. Alana: [00:09:33] Yeah, definitely. Bryce: [00:09:34] Let's go back a step. You mentioned that you want someone to just tell you what to do. Have you thought about like a financial adviser? And if so, how'd that turn out? If not? Is there a reason not for doing that? Alana: [00:09:49] No, I haven't. And to like it sounds all too serious for me and more money you like. Yeah. You know, I think there's a lot of I'll pay someone to tell me where to invest more money. That's more than money. Guide someone to tell me what to do it. And then, yeah, I also sounds really serious. Like, I don't want to have the expectation that I'm going to use that whole thing with my kind of subscription fees or space. Yeah. You don't know how much you actually can get out of it, and that kind of puts me off with that because I don't understand. It Oh, Bryce: [00:10:20] no, that's a fair call. I think for a lot of us that it definitely feels like that the cost of paying for financial advisor feels hard to justify at this stage. Hmm. Let's sort of talk about some of your immediate barriers to see if we can try and get you going. Alana: [00:10:36] So I downloaded the shares that just have to choose and see what's what, and I got some good stuff on there, like learn the basics and that got me up to, you know, the understanding. Some like what does the ASX mean, you know, like how you talk about it all the time. Just try to understand what does it made within those things that was critical. And to read that, I suppose one thing that I would say the things about look at it is also good about saved best for like first time, how much just thought invested in. So two things that probably let's start at Bryce: [00:11:09] the how much to invest, because I think this is a question that so many members in the community always get stuck on and for a long period of time, everyone thinks that you kind of need to be rich to start investing like you need thousands of dollars to make investing worth it. And that's certainly not the case these days. You mentioned shares is there and they have the ability to invest with as little as one cent into companies in the US and Australia and New Zealand, and there's micro investing apps out there, for example, raise that let you start with sense as well. So there's no like perfect dollar amount, and I think you touched on it. The most important sort of, I guess behaviour from my experience is actually just getting money in the market, playing in the sandpit, like you said, and that could just be with 10 or 20 bucks. So you get a feel for how the app works or you just understand what it's like to have money in the market. And then next minute, you'll be Warren Buffett. Alana: [00:12:06] Sure. I mean, I think that's a few years down, but I get that ball get out. Alec: [00:12:17] What's wrong with being Alana: [00:12:18] Ren bold, by the way, like I'm a woman and Alec: [00:12:25] not fair enough? Yeah. Look, I'm going to torture this gym analogy a little bit more. And it's like, you know, people are like, I need a lot of money to start investing. It's, you know, you go to the gym the first time you're not doing, you know, a full workout and you don't know how everything works, but you can just duck in for five minutes and do one exercise. And with shares these in a bunch of these online brokers, you can just put a dollar in a cent in into a company that you know and and sort of say how it all works, but that's pretty new. Like even when Bryce and I started in when we're at uni, sort of, what, ten years ago now? Yeah, we're getting older like that and Baldauf and we had to save up five hundred bucks. That was the minimum. So it's pretty cool how quickly it's all. It's all come down and these platforms are making it more accessible Bryce: [00:13:13] to bring the other point you mentioned like what the ASX you've heard about it, what is it and you you touched on earlier, you know, the not knowing what company to buy and kind of where to start and another great sort of a product that has emerged. They called ETFs exchange traded funds, and the ASX is essentially the Australian Stock Exchange. It has all of the publicly listed companies in Australia listed on the stock exchange and what these ETFs do or exchange traded funds, is you can invest in essentially a basket of stocks, which gives you exposure to 200 stocks or 300 stocks in one trade. And that really allows you to get diversified exposure across a number of different companies without you feeling like you need to be Warren Buffett and choose one stock. So it's something that's become really popular with beginner investors. And, yeah, happy to talk through that more bit. Does that kind of make sense? Alana: [00:14:10] Yeah, yeah. So I suppose that kind of leads into my question. I was going to say how many. So obviously it doesn't matter how much, but then how many of each say, if I go to one particular to invest, then? And any country I will study box for one or how many is worth buying in, I am. What would you say to two people? It doesn't. Bryce: [00:14:30] Actually, quantity doesn't really make a difference if you put 15 or 500 and you're still going to get the same like percentage return. Yes. So personally, I've never invested based on I want 10 shares in ANZ. I've just said this is my investment amount that I'm prepared to put into the market and I'll get what I get. Yes, I mean, if you're I'm sure professionals might look at it a different way, but $20 or 200 or 2000, there's no like magic answer for that. It's just get the money in and and start building that, that portfolio. So I think getting sort of stuck on how much is the right amount and and how many is the right amount. It shouldn't be something that you're concerned about. Alec: [00:15:14] Yeah, I think everyone starts with one investment as well. That's, you know, however, however experience you are, you start with one with the attacks of Bryce was speaking about, you don't need to go beyond the one because, you know, if you buy an ASX 200 ETF, there's basically 200 companies in that. So you've bought a little bit of 200 things. So you know, Warren Buffett, we mentioned him before and his beautiful hair line. He when he dies, he's said he wants 90 per cent of the money. He leaves his family to go into just one thing an American ETF that tracks five hundred American stocks. So for him, you know how, how many investments he's leaving for his inheritance? Well, it's mainly just one. It's one ETF, and that's enough for him. And if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for the rest of us. Alana: [00:16:08] Yeah, that's amazing. I suppose that comes with Chantelle's of Salchow then. Sorry to share you. They don't like auto invest, which kind of for me, when I saw it, I thought, Oh, like sigh of relief. And they've got like two different options. They have like, create your own order that is superior range of biotech ETF. And then it says prebate orders. And they've got the responsible order, which has four investments and they've got global order that has two. And you could clip it over. They give you the four what's in the order kind of thing. You could also invest in it. I suppose to me that that takes away that because I was scrolling last night for the ETF and I did everything that's on hand about 2000, and I was like, Oh, that kind of looks good. Oh yeah. Let me read a bit about that. That's our stuff. That's what I was looking at and have pretty good guilty, guilty of all possibilities. They do buy risk and then you go into companies where it's technology or whatever you want to go into. Yeah, that's how I recognise that name. You know, an arsehole because I recognise it. And then also you can filter by half of the increase. You know what they've made and stuff like that. Bryce: [00:17:20] One of my biggest learnings as as a how I invest and, you know, my emotional state and behaviour towards investing is to try and get myself out of the road as much as possible. And an auto invest feature like this is a really great way to take the emotion out of investing because it's so easy to have like paralysis analysis and have too many stocks to choose from. And then the market might go down so you don't invest and you make all these emotional decisions. But I try and automate as much of my investment investing as possible because then it's kind of out of sight, out of mind. It just takes away. You've chosen a couple of investments and then, you know, in a year's time or in two years time, you've you've probably got a larger portfolio than if you had just tried to play it yourself, if that makes sense. So yeah, there are other other brokers and platforms as well that allow you to do an auto invest feature. But I think it's a great, a great feature and it's something that we often speak about on the show, as if when you get paid, transfer that money straight to your broker account and then have that order invest feature on into an ETF or two in a way you go. I think it's it's great. Alana: [00:18:37] I feel like you're reaffirming what I was thinking, so I thought it was good to have this conversation with you is all about getting it up by chucking a bad one in there just for the hell of it, you know? Bryce: [00:18:50] Well, let's also be. Let's also be clear that like, you're not going to get everything 100 per cent right. I think what's the stat Ren like? Even good, funny fund managers get like seven out of 10 stock picks wrong or something like that. So I think also knowing that there's going to be some investments that don't go so well. But if you're scrolling through and you see names that you recognise it or thematics that you're interested in, like that's always great places to start, but that research process. But just get that money in, put 10 bucks in or something. Alana: [00:19:17] Yeah, it's awesome. Bryce: [00:19:18] You mentioned at the top as well, you know, how do you know the app safe from to? And all that sort of stuff, and I can understand that if you're a fan in the crypto game, there's there's a there's a lot of there's a lot going on in the crypto space, but compared to the broker space here in Australia, it's certainly nowhere near as common these these apps and platforms falling apart or getting, you know, into into trouble. Alec: [00:19:42] So I think the main thing is there's two there's two ways that these brokers are set up, which is different to crypto. The first is chess sponsored. And basically what that means is even if the broker collapses the ASX, no like has the shares held in your name, so the broker can collapse, but the shares are still yours and the broker? It doesn't matter. You can just transfer them out of the broker that's collapsing to another one. So that's one model. The second model is custodial, and basically the broker is backed by 100 billion trillion dollar financial institution like a state street or a Citibank or something like that. And they basically take custody of the shares and and hold them on your behalf. And so either way, you're either the ASX is recording it or like a big institution like Citibank or State Street is recording it. Well, I guess that's a little bit different to crypto, where you know, there's been some famous crypto brokers fall over over the years because the broker just holds it on your behalf. Bryce: [00:20:45] Yeah, yeah. There's plenty of other stuff that we could cover that we can have a chat about some resources that I reckon you could tap in as just a kind of help you along. You know, obviously doing some some googling obviously helps. Obviously Equity Mates as well shares, these have some great resources on their website and there's plenty of other great sort of I know you don't like books, as you mentioned, but podcasts, but I think a lot of this is a great point to perhaps leave it. I hope that I think we've been able to at least encourage you to start playing in the sandpit, and we'd love to check in in like a couple of weeks time just to do another sort of 15 minute catch up to see if you actually have made any investments. And if you haven't, oh good. And we can chat through wire because, as I said, these sorts of conversations really also just help plenty of other people who are in the same boat maybe take that first step as well. So if you came, we'd love to. We'd love to leave it there and then connect in a couple of weeks. Alana: [00:21:41] Yeah, for sure. I think why not? Let's do this. Let's go the whole hog properly. I love that. Bryce: [00:21:47] Let's do it Alana: [00:21:48] if Bryce: [00:21:49] you have any questions. In the meantime, obviously, just shoot him through and we can we can have a chat, but we'll pick it all up in a couple of weeks and see what investments you've made. If there have been any. Alana: [00:21:58] Yeah, for sure. Alright. And thank you Bryce: [00:22:02] So Ren, plenty of questions there from a lot of that often get raised from all beginner investors. How much should I be investing? How many units should I be buying? Is my money going to get stolen from the fraudulent accounts that I'm putting them in? So look, they're all really good questions. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to checking in with Alana in a couple of weeks to see how she's overcome those. Alec: [00:22:24] And I don't think we spent enough time unpacking why those questions didn't apply to bitcoin. So reflecting on that conversation, I think that's where we should. We should go next time. Yeah. But yeah, good conversation. Very excited to check back in. But Bryce, we now turn to our second investor that we're speaking to today, Maddy. Bryce: [00:22:49] Maddy, welcome to Equity Mates. Maddy: [00:22:51] Thank you for having me. Fangirl moment Bryce: [00:22:55] So, Mary, when you reached out over Instagram, I really loved sort of how you position yourself and the story of getting to this point of your investing journey. So for everyone in the Get Started Investing feed community, can can you perhaps just let us know a bit about who you are and how you would currently describe your level of investing and where you're currently at? Maddy: [00:23:18] I feel like I've come to this quite light like a lot later in my life. I guess I'm good with money only because I've been forced to be good with money. And you know, that's just that's just been my life experience that I've often not had a lot of it. And so any money that I've managed to make or get, I kind of try to be really, really smart with it. But it's also meant that I guess I haven't had a lot of education around money. And so my knowledge base around how to make it work for me has been pretty much, you know, put it in the bank and save it, which is not amazing is what an amazing way to make money. I'm definitely a beginner. I feel like I'm finally kind of just starting to get a feel for it. I'm only just at a point now in the past, maybe five years or actually have some money and I can go, What am I going to do with it? Like, How am I going to be smart about this? Bryce: [00:24:13] What has led you to this point? Why do you want to start investing? And I assume when you say you're good with money, you've got that, you know, great money habits in place and you've been able to, I guess, save some some income and feel like now you want to put your money to work, what has led led you to start investing? Maddy: [00:24:30] So it's kind of all started because me and my husband tend to take a leave together like holidays together. And every time we get to the end of it, like we just get really sucky and I'm like, Oh, I wish we didn't have to go back to work and we could just hang out forever, you know, lack of anyway. But from that, because of that, I guess for me, it's like, Well, how like how how do we make that happen? I mean him, particularly, I actually really love my job and I don't have any intention of leaving it. But would I like to be a little bit more choosy and be able to spend some more downtime with my family and with him? Yes. So that's kind of where the thought came from, like, how do we make more money so that we have some more freedom and spend some more time together and do the things that we really want to do together? The thought process for me, particularly because he's a little bit he's different, like he's he researchers will be staff and he has a self self-managed kind of super fund. So he's kind of like, I guess, maybe not so much. But yeah, I think for me, it was more like, how do I create wealth because I have some resources now and I don't want to waste the opportunity. Like, I'm very aware of the fact that I'm in a position where I do have some resources or I just don't want to get like further down in my life and go, Why didn't I take a chance or why didn't I make this work for me instead of me works at it, which is kind of where I'm at the moment. Nice. Alec: [00:26:02] Love that. Yeah, it's a very relatable, I guess story, you know, talking about having good money habits, but really focussing on saving and I guess not quite knowing where to start with this big bad world of investing. Also, very relatable, wanting more money and wanting to take very long, longer holidays. So I think we can all relate to that. Maddy: [00:26:24] Yeah, yeah. Alec: [00:26:26] But I guess when you when you sort of turned your mind from focussing on saving to focussing on investing, how did you find that? Were there any particular barriers that you did face or you still are facing that you're trying to work through? Maddy: [00:26:40] Yeah, definitely knowledge not having the knowledge base or any skills, but definitely not having the knowledge like not even knowing where to start. I mean, that was kind of why I typed into Google Beginner Investing podcast because I was like, We're like, Where do I even begin? You know, my like? I said, my husband has more of an idea like he does like his own research and stuff like that. But he I don't think he's an amazing teacher. And so, you know, when he starts to talk to me about it, I kind of just like my eyes glaze over and that's I just I needed some knowledge because I just felt like I don't even know what I'm doing like. When I thought about investing, I thought it was gambling. Do not. I mean, I kind of just thought it was like gambling, you know, I guess that comes from my only knowledge being like, like a wolf of Wall Street types, you know, like, you're like, Oh God, this is really intense campaign and the yelling. And I'm not sure. Like, Yeah, one hundred percent was the barrier. It was me going, I don't even know where to start. I don't understand how investing works, any of the teams, I think Alec: [00:27:47] on that game. Boiling point, the other thing that we often speak about is when a stock market crashes, it is the first story on the news. Like every newspaper, every TV radio is talking about the stock market crashing. But what is never reported is the slow grind back upwards and then beyond where it crashed from because it just doesn't make good headlines. Maddy: [00:28:07] It's kind of boring. Bryce: [00:28:09] That is a barrier is perhaps one of the biggest barriers that people face in our community or when we ask what was the or what was the biggest myth, I guess, is also the other part that comes out. It's that you didn't need to know as much as we didn't need to know everything to get started. And there are plenty of ways to learn. Companies offer plenty of resources. I think what you did started by started Googling is a great way to get started. Companies like shares is on their website, have great learning tools and resources. And yeah, how did you actually overcome that barrier to actually get to this point now and know that it's not like gambling and doing a bit of googling? Like, do you feel like you have a base knowledge now that you can take that next step? Maddy: [00:28:53] Sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So for me, it was and I'm not trying to sound like a sap. This is just the reality. For me, it was literally just listening to your podcasts. You know, I love reading, but I don't love reading like non-fiction. So, you know, if someone wants to give me a book about investing and I read this site two months ago, I would have been like, Oh, I am not doing that. Like, No. But I listened to I listened to books as well. But I also listen to podcasts like my thing is at the end of my workday, I'll get up and I'll cook or I'll tidy up or whatever, and I always just pull my uncle down and pick something to listen to and say when it was very deliberate when I typed in podcasts because I wanted to be able to just listen and I wanted it to be, I wanted it to be foundational stuff I really needed. Like, talk to me like I know nothing. And it was really, yeah, it was great. I found your podcast and I just listened to it like three or four times a week. I just started listening to it and it really helps. Like, I talk to my husband and I was like, I know what a dividend is. That's great, babe, you know? And that was really exciting for me, actually. Like, I felt really excited to learn something new and I guess something that I never thought that I could wrap my head around. Like, I kind of I've always had this idea that you need to be into finance or like, good at maths, and I'm sure there's part of it. But I, you know, like, I just I thought, maybe it wasn't for me. So it was kind of so exciting to go, Oh my God, this actually is understandable. And it's not hard. Like I get. I understand what you're saying. So yeah, I'm super super, super helpful. Probably moving forward. I'm still only getting started like I've only I think I really just got to understanding Crypto 101, which is like March last year. I'm like a whole year ago, Bryce: [00:30:54] and I wouldn't worry about trying to get your head around that at the moment. Maddy: [00:30:57] But I just sequentially like, I just play sequentially. I'm sorry, but that's kind of where I see. But I guess moving forward, I know you have other podcasts and stuff like that. So but yeah, it was really more just about getting me on that base level of knowledge, which just helped so much. So, yeah, I don't feel like that's a barrier anymore. It just was initially, you know, when Bryce: [00:31:22] we reached out to the community for for these episodes, we did reach out sort of saying, Come on and share your journey and let's try and break down some some barriers together. So let's do that. What is at the front of your mind at the moment with that sort of next step for you? What do you feel like you're really trying to break down now? And I think Ren and I'll try and use our own experience if we can. Obviously, we're not experts, and there is very much to do your own research disclaimer here with what we might say, but we can have a chat. So yeah, what? I guess one key barrier that you're trying to break in and let's go from there. Maddy: [00:32:00] So probably that there is a little bit of work behind it and I'm not afraid of work, but it's it's about taking the next step. I feel like I have the foundational knowledge and skills, but the next step for me, I think, is about doing some of the work and going, OK, well, what do I want to invest in and what does that look like short term and long term? And that's just not a lot of work, but it's something that I need to think about. Like, what am I going to invest in? You know what? What is my ethical standpoint on investing in stocks? You know, what am I really passionate about? Like a kind of my job to do, like a mind map exercise, you know? And that's fine. And maybe I don't have to do that, but I feel like. I have to do that if that makes sense, like I feel like I need to because I'm fairly new. I guess that's just the way I feel like I. I need to do some of that before I did my toe in the water. Bryce: [00:32:58] Let me ask a question. So have you found a platform that you want to use and have you put any money into the market yet? Maddy: [00:33:08] I have it, so I downloaded charges and I created an account, and I really like it. I think it's super easy. Like, it is a super easy app. It kind of walks you through the steps. Yeah, I just found it like, well, like online shopping. Easy, super easy. It's like, like, Oh God, I could put so much money or Ren. Bryce: [00:33:33] And I did do an experiment once that we've tried to work out if it was faster to buy socks on Amazon or an Amazon stock and it was faster to buy an Amazon stock. So yes, it is as easy as online shopping Maddy: [00:33:48] because I was like, Oh my God, so look, I really like. I really like that platform. I think because of its its ease of use, I feel like it's definitely targeted at me and people like me, which is great. But I haven't. I haven't tried anything else barrier. Maybe like I have the money sitting in the bank doing just nothing, and I know that that's such a waste every day. I guess my biggest barrier to moving it over into my wallet and start spending, aside from doing a little bit of work and getting my head around, what I actually want to invest in is maybe my own psychology, which is probably not something that you can help with too much. But probably it's a it's a big thing for me to overcome to just go, it's okay. Like, let it go. It's it's all right like you. You have the information, you know that it's going to do what it needs to do. You're definitely not going to check it because you're just going to be lazy once you put it in there. So don't stress about it. Just let it go. So, yeah, it's a psychology thing. I think sometimes for some people, especially me, when I don't have it, when you've not had it and then you like, Get it, you're like, Oh, I don't know if I want to give it. Yeah, exactly. Always. Alec: [00:35:00] Yeah, yeah. I think for everyone, the psychology is such a such a key factor and probably the biggest cause of investing mistakes, whether you're making your first investment or you're a professional managing $100 billion. The psychology is different, but your brain gets in the way a lot. Totally. So you mentioned before the barrier of there's so much choice out there, and it's getting to the point where it's just the choice is overwhelming. And then we talk about the psychology here. I think we can sort of tie those two in together because for me, the biggest and most important thing is knowing why I'm investing like what my goals are like if I yeah, if I am like, I want to triple my money in 12 months because I'm trying to go to Europe and I want to do four weeks on a yacht in Croatia like Bryce is doing later this year. But oh, it's like all or nothing. I'm very short term in my thinking play. Or it's like longer term, I want to retire early. I want to build flexibility into my life. Like that leads to a very different outcome. But it also leads to a very different mindset like your psychology has to be different. You have to be willing to take on more risk. So I guess for me, it's like being very clear about what my goals are, what my time horizon is and then try to make rules on the back of that. And then when I feel my mind wandering or getting excited by the latest cryptocurrency that you know, everyone in the office is speaking about or whatever, you go back to those roles and you stick to that psychology. So I guess, have you have you thought about investing goals Maddy: [00:36:37] a little bit, but nothing concrete, you know, like, I think I've only ever thoughts short term because I'm not sure what I actually want is even within my reach know with my level of knowledge at this point in time. So yeah, maybe I am my own worst enemy. Bryce: [00:36:53] I think you touched on it earlier, though you've recognised where you mentioned that you feel like you might be a little too late to the party with investing, but I can. That's just totally not true. And I think a first psychological barrier there's there's time in the market is is much more important than trying to figure out when's the best time to get in. So the fact that you're now contemplating it and just to sort of touch on and close out that that second comment you made around feeling almost paralysed by not knowing what to buy, which ETFs, how to think about yourself as a as an ethical investor and how to match that all to your goals. I think one of my biggest learnings when I got into the market and something that is has become very clear through a lot of the other members in the community, is that literally putting in a tiny amount of money into. Anything really is probably what will break that psychological barrier for you. Yeah. And then once you are literally in and you've given away that small bit of money that you've had in your bank account for so long and realise that it's all okay, then I feel like you'll start figuring all those other questions out as you go. You don't have to know who you are as an ethical investor. You don't have to have a top 10 list of ETFs to choose from all those sorts of things before you start. Otherwise, you'll never really get started. So that's something that I've kind of just learnt and observed over and over the years. And there are many platforms that you mentioned shares is they let you invest with super small amounts of money. I think as little as a cent, there's micro investing platforms. There's other plenty of platforms that allow you to get into the markets with tiny amounts of money. So that would probably be my don't worry necessarily about creating a portfolio before you even have money in the market. Maddy: [00:38:46] Yeah, yeah. And it makes sense, I guess. Yeah, I Alec: [00:38:49] was just going to say, if you're thinking about taking a holiday next year and you've been saving for it, don't put all of your holiday budget into the market and you get a triple and then you are to blow out on the holiday because, yeah, we always speak about investing being a long term game. And yeah, you never know what's going to happen in the next 12 months. So I think those short term goals are really important to building good money habits, but you never know what's going to happen in the next six or 12 months in the stock market. Bryce: [00:39:17] Have you thought about ETFs and those sorts of things like, Maddy: [00:39:19] yeah, I feel like that's probably the easiest path. Bryce: [00:39:21] Yeah, nice Maddy: [00:39:23] to start with, anyway. You know, I think I'm probably down the track and I might go individual and diversify a little bit. Bryce: [00:39:31] Well, let's put it this way. Warren Buffett, one of, if not the most successful, yeah, was the most successful investor of all time, you know, in our eyes, anyway, probably. Arguably, he has said that when he dies, he wants to have all his money put into an ETF that just tracks the US market or something along those lines. Alec: [00:39:53] Ninety nine percent of his Bryce: [00:39:54] money, 90 percent of his money into an ETF that just tracks the US market. So I think that goes to show that everyone dreams of being able to pick amazing stocks and do really well. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with just taking those ETF market returns over. Yeah, over 10 years. So, yeah. What other sort of things are you thinking through at the moment? You mentioned on our call prior to this that you had a couple of kids. I'd say, where where are they at with investing and the conversations you're having? Maddy: [00:40:23] I've got three. I've got my eldest is 22 and then my my daughter is 17 and my youngest is five. So I hope and I think I have passed on some good kind of money management strategies to each of them, like even my youngest now has. He gets pocket money and he has spending saving and grow money so the money will go into investment. Yeah, yeah. So because I want him to from this age, like, I want that to be part of his money management strategy growing up that it's not just like traditionally it's spending and saving, it's it's also putting some money aside to grow like to make it work for you because I didn't know because I didn't know about this stuff when my other kids were younger, I just did the kind of spending saving pocket money thing. But now that I'm learning and they're still, you know, they're still young, like twenty two and seventeen. So I guess I'd be really for me, I would really like to give them some strategies so that they're not doing this later in life so that they're doing this like as early as possible. I mean, my 22 year old is already saving for a house because it has a massive deposit like he's very focussed, he knows what he wants, and that's really gross. So any way that I can give that to them or encourage them, you know, so I'm thinking, like, what should they be doing at this age, you know? That will help set them up for the future. Yeah, that's kind of what I want to ask you guys. At 17, at 22, like what really is some good strategies or things that they should be considering to set themselves up now? Alec: [00:42:08] Well, I think to to start with your youngest and the story there of splitting the pocket money into thirds has a lot of echoes of Bryce key in it. Bryce: [00:42:18] And that's exactly what my parents. Alec: [00:42:21] Yeah, he's really yeah. Bryce: [00:42:23] And I bought my first. I bought my first parcel of shares in year six. Very cool because of that exact philosophy of spend, save, invest. Alec: [00:42:31] Yeah. And I think, you know, as a as a kid and then as a teenager, you probably saw what money in the stock market did and how you had more of it. You know, when you're 18 and when you're 12. That's a really useful thing for a young kid. But I think the main thing is just getting your 17 and your 22 year old to just understand what the stock market is, because once you understand what it is, it's so exciting. And yeah, I think, you know, I grew up in a household where you saved, you bought a house, and that was the the extent of your investments. Then you paid it off for the next 30 years. And there's nothing there's nothing wrong with that. And you know, generations of Australians have built meaningful wealth in the Australian property market. So there's nothing there's nothing wrong with that. But for me, when I was living with Bryce in Canberra in a share house and learning about the stock market, and you just realised the opportunity to invest in some of the smartest people and the biggest companies working on really hard problems and building really exciting things. And all of a sudden, you know, 20 year old Alec, who was really only thinking about buying a house one day, realised that this opportunity is so much more exciting then than buying a house and that then I sort of was captured by it and started started. My investing journey started by losing all my money in my first investment, but was still excited enough by the opportunity to keep going. So I think, yeah, you know, it sounds like you're 22 year old has got great money habits saving for a house deposit. And I think for me, the big thing is, how do you get people excited and understanding the opportunity? And then hopefully that is the motivation they need to sort of go from there. Bryce: [00:44:18] Yeah, I think you're a five year old son will be thanking you when he's 21, if he keeps getting that money in the market. I mean, as I said before, there are plenty of platforms now that you could probably set up an account under his name. I'm not sure if Shady's has a kids account. I know they do have an auto invest feature, but if you had that $5 just going in over the next or however much you're giving him going in over the next 20 years, his 21st birthday present will be loving life. Well, yeah, Alec: [00:44:43] the great thing. Yeah. So when when Bryce was six, what you as a year? Six Oh, when what user? I don't know. Early, early 2000s will call it the the minimum parcel size was five hundred bucks. And so, yeah, you know, Bryce investing the third of the money that he was putting away for investing, he had to accumulate five hundred dollars before he could start years. Luckily, he was getting serious amounts of pocket money away. Maddy: [00:45:16] Your bank Bryce Bryce: [00:45:17] 50 cents Alec: [00:45:18] due to my bet. But the great thing is, these days, so many platforms now allow you to start with sense. So you know, Bryce, if he was in year six today, could be putting his pocket money away every week. Or however, often he got it. So I think that's the great thing for your five year old. It's that they don't have to save up that initial $500 Bryce: [00:45:40] and you get access to not only Australia, but Aussie stocks. New Zealand stocks. The game's changed America. Yeah, America. The game's changed since when we started investing. And yeah, I think starting with shares is or if you get your kids to to have a look at some of the micro investing options, the raise, the superheroes, the, you know, the other options out there as well. You know, everyone's an app guy these days. Alec: [00:46:05] App focus. I'm not, I don't know, I still I still use my browser. So you know he does it. Bryce: [00:46:13] Where are there any other burning questions? Maddy: [00:46:17] No, I mean, no, not for now. I think probably I just need to take the next step, which I will and play around and go from there. And I think probably as I start to do more, I'll probably start collecting some more questions. But I think for now, I think that's like, Yeah, it's been really great. Thank you. Bryce: [00:46:37] We would love to kind of just check back in in a couple of weeks time. And if you have the time and the mental energy, I guess, to have a play around on on shares, these or whatever platform that you decide to go with and see if you can take that next step, we'd love to hear how you kind of thought through that. And and maybe some of the resources that you used to do that and, yeah, just really get a sense of what it was like to take some of that cash that you've put into your bank account and put it into the market. And I would stress it obviously doesn't have to be a lot at all if that's something you'd be willing to do because I know that so many people at this stage in their investing journey and hearing others take that leap of faith is always really encouraging. So we'd appreciate it. Maddy: [00:47:22] Yeah, definitely. I'd love to. I love to come back Alec: [00:47:25] and I'm sure plenty of people are listening if they've got kids, especially sort of older kids, and they're trying to convince them to get excited about investing. If you speak to your 17 year old and your 22 year old and you figure out any hacks or any tips on how to really get them engaged. We'll definitely be hitting you up for those because I'm sure plenty of people are wondering the same thing that you're wondering. Bryce: [00:47:51] Well, Matty, thank you so much. I know you've shared a lot about your journey, and we certainly appreciate it and good luck over the next couple of weeks. If we check back in and nothing's changed, then so be it. That's that's how everyone takes their journey. But we we're looking forward to chatting again in a couple of weeks. Maddy: [00:48:08] Yeah, me too. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. I really, really appreciate it. It's been great. Bryce: [00:48:13] So Ren similarly to Alana, Maddy is at that early stage of her investing journey and really looking to get the confidence to put some hard earned cash into the market. And we've all been there. Totally understand what it feels like to let go of your blood, sweat and tears. Alec: [00:48:30] Yeah, I'm very excited to see what Matty says about her kids in the next one because we got a lot of questions about investing for kids. Obviously, not a life experience that we've had something that you're going to be experiencing, so. But, you know, obviously something that we can't really speak to with any authority. So very interested to speak to Maddie again in a couple of weeks and hear what her experience has been like it and also how she's found getting into the market. Bryce: [00:48:59] So thank you to share this for supporting this episode. You can head to our website shares is dot com dot our you to find out more information on what they do they are running a promotion for for those that are starting as well. If you'd like more information on that, head to shares is dot com w slash promotions and there's an information there. If you're looking to start your journey with shares is so remember being a beginner never stopped you before. I love that tagline, and it's obviously clear that Alana and Maddy are trying to embody that right now, and we're very much looking forward to picking up their story in a couple of weeks time. So Ren, as always, great to chat and we'll pick it up next week. Sounds good.