Community Spotlight: Why writing down your investing goals is crucial for success | Thanks to Sharesies

Bryce: [00:00:31] Welcome to get started investing. In this podcast. We cover all the basics that you need to start your investing journey. Are you joining us for the very first time? Is this the start of your investing journey? Well, before you dive into this episode with us, F8 is designed to go from the very beginning. So we strongly recommend that you scroll up and started episode one. If you're feeling brave and just want to dive in, then don't let us stop you. Here at Get Started Investing feed we unpack all the jargon and confusing bits. We hear your investing stories. With the goal of making investing less intimidating. And we want to 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: [00:01:06] I'm very good. Bryce. Great to be back for another beginner investor episode. Yeah, we spoke to Alana and Maddy a couple of weeks ago on the show and we're back with Maddy. We had so much to speak about that our follow ups with Alana and Maddy are now separate episodes. Yes, but it's great. It's great to hear how they're going. And the good news is both of them have taken steps from the last time we spoke. Otherwise, it would not be a great episode. No, but the good news is it is a good episode. 

Bryce: [00:01:39] Yes. So we're about to hear from Maddy. And thank you for shares who are proudly supporting this episode. Shares is is helping to create financial empowerment for everyone. Their vision is to give someone with $5 the same investment opportunities as someone with 5 million. Choose from over 8000 companies and exchange traded funds on the Australian, US and New Zealand share markets. And you can buy shares or portions of shares on the shares this platform from just $0.01 and you'll hear from the stories over the next couple of episodes that this has been a great resource, tool and resource for both Maddy and Alana. So get started investing is all about bringing to life the stories of our community. So without further ado, it's time to speak to Maddy. Hello Maddy. Welcome back to get started investing. 

Maddy: [00:02:29] Thank you for having me back. 

Bryce: [00:02:30] So last episode, Maddy, we firstly got to understand a bit about where you were on your investing journey and some of the key takeaways for us were that you really wanted to start investing to put your money to work. You'd felt like that you and your husband were really trying to work towards some sort of financial independence to give yourself choice, an option later on in life. And that's kind of led you to this point. And you feel like you're ready to sort of take that leap and you've got some cash saved up, but still feeling a bit, I guess, anxious as to what to do next. And correct me if I'm wrong, but that's sort of where we left the conversation. You were also keen to start having the conversation with your kids to also help them get started investing as early as possible. So is that a fair summation? 

Maddy: [00:03:17] Yes. Yep. Covered it.

Bryce: [00:03:20] So what has been progress since we last spoke? What are your financial goals? 

Maddy: [00:03:26] After our conversation, I kind of like I think I just did a bit of reflecting and went, okay, all this is still super abstract. It's very much still in my head. And I think to move forward and start making some of this stuff a reality, I need to actually think about what it is that I'm trying to achieve overall. And so I sat down and I just did a little bit of just like a good talk, like I just do to financial goals. And I kind of did a couple of headings. It's nothing amazing, but I just did overall what I wanted to achieve. And so for me, some of those things were like, you know, I want to remove all debt from my life, which is primarily my home loan, but inclusive of that, you know, I want to minimise debt. I don't like debt. It kind of freaks me out a little bit. You know, I want some more financial freedom. I want a diverse I want diverse investments, you know, because I want I don't just want to put all my money into shares, you know, I want to have a little bit of diversity, you know, and I guess as well, like, I've got kids and maybe I'll have grandkids one day. And so I want to be in a position where I can support them. I mean, I don't know. I don't know if they're going to be able to do things like buy houses and stuff on their own, you know? So it's just we I never had that and that's okay. You know, that's that's not a complaint. It's just it'd be nice to be in a position where I can be, I guess, a financial help. So, you know, having those, like having that ring down on paper, I was like, yes, brilliant. It kind of it gave me a little bit of focus. And then I kind of did a few other headings, which was, you know, what are the long term things I need to do to achieve those goals? What are the medium term things I need to do? What are the short term? So it's like draught and it's, you know, it's definitely a kind of a living document, but it's just great to have it there on paper. So, you know, for me things like initiating a margin of increase for my repayments on my home loan repayments is going to be helpful. And you know, making sure that I have the three month emergency fund and buying stocks like that in my short term. So all of those things I just kind of got the stuff that was floating around out of my head and I put it on paper, which was actually so helpful. I kind of was like, All right, this is really great. I have a plan now. 

Alec: [00:05:53] Yeah, that is that is so great. So good to hear. Writing down those goals and figuring out what steps you need to take to achieve those goals is often overlooked. People generally just jump straight into the investing side of it, but I think that's great. Now, obviously, you're not on this journey by yourself. You've you've got a husband and kids. Do you speak to your husband about these goals? And I guess, you know, for people like Brice, who's about to set off on a life together and get married later this year, how do you navigate, I guess, coordinating and aligning on those goals? 

Maddy: [00:06:29] I sat down and did this by myself. I mean, only because I'm it was stuff that was in my head and we're very much aligned. But I kind of wanted to sit down and go, This is what I think for our future together. These are things that I want to do individually, like things that I'm committed to, but also as part of a partnership. And he I was like, Have you done this? And he was like, No. So I was like, okay, have a look at mine. And, you know, what do you think? Are you on board with, you know, what I have here on paper? And he's like, yeah. I mean, he he suggested a couple of other things and that was actually really helpful. So I changed a few things because of that. And so we are both on the same page. And look, we talk a lot about money now. It was definitely harder when we were younger, when we first together, I think. A conversation about money is super important, but it didn't happen a lot. You know, we probably didn't have we didn't have a lot to talk about in the first place. Like, it's not like there was a whole bunch of money sitting there. I still think it's really, really important. I think it's important for people to have individual money, but I also think it's important for people to have shared goals. Just as a brief aside, when probably for the first half of our partnership marriage, you know, us being together, we combined all of our finances because it made more sense. And he was really terrible with money and I was just slightly less terrible. And so I kind of took control. But then after that, we kind of sat down and said, you know, we should separate our money. We both have a wage. Let's set up systems where we contribute to everything that needs contributing to like bills, but also just have our own money. I think that's smart. I think that's I think that's important. That's just me personally. I think it's it's good to have financial independence even within a couple. But I think you need to have shared goals because that's it's a big thing, right? Like money is a big thing. And if you're living a life to get, I think you need to be on the same page about the big stuff, generally speaking. So we kind of sat down and had a look at it. He made some suggestions and he's like, You know, because this is stuff that we obviously talk about quite freely, but like I said, had not put down on paper. So he was like, Yup, this sounds really good. I'm on board and you know, which is really great. And he's kind of doing some of his own research. So by kind of going away and doing different things that are going to help us reach these goals and coming back together and going, Hey, you know, I'll set up a meeting with this person to talk about a home loan or, you know, whatever. So it's yeah, it's good. It was.

Bryce: [00:09:17] Nice. Well, last time we spoke, you had downloaded shares these who are all about creating financial empowerment for everyone. And it feels like that's really where you're at with your husband at the moment. So has there been any progress on that, that shorter term investment front? Once you'd written those goals down, did you decide to take any any action on the investing side? 

Maddy: [00:09:41] Yes. So I decided that I should just bite the bullet and at least move my money from my at least some money from my savings account over to my wallet, because I'd set everything up on shares, but I hadn't put any money in the wallet yet. Awesome. Let's do it. And I was like, super pumped and then looked. My confidence took a slight knock when I moved the money over and accidentally did not put like the reference name in. So they had to contact me two days later and be like, Hey, did you send us some money? I didn't even think about it. I think I was just so gung ho. I was like, Have my money. And then that was fixed up really, really quickly. And it kind of just immediately went into my wallet and I was like, great. So the other thing I did was I downloaded a, a tracking spreadsheet, like just and this is new territory for me because I'm I love spreadsheets, but I don't know how to use them, you know, like people who will like make Excel work for them. That's not me. But I'm very I'm in admiration of people that know how to do that. So I was like, I don't know how to make one. I'm going to say someone else is made one. They have. And I borrowed it. I downloaded that and kind of I'm just was familiarising myself with that because it has a couple of different tabs, asset class and holdings and stocks. And I was like, Oh my God. So yeah, just familiarising myself with that. Yeah. And so that's number two.

Bryce: [00:11:16] Nice. And what was the purpose of the spreadsheet just to start tracking your investments and those sorts of things? 

Maddy: [00:11:21] Yes, just to start tracking my investments, because I've put like a chunk of cash into my wallet, which I'm planning on spending. Also, I'm going to be contributing every week. We've kind of changed our budget and finances so that there's money that goes that gets put aside every week. And the sole purpose of that is to put it into investments. So think about how often. Yeah, like I'm I know that obviously there's a cost associated with, you know, buying stock. So, but yeah, that's already in place. So, and I just want to kind of track it, not to check it all the time. I don't that's kind of not where I'm at, but more just so I know. Okay, how much do I have, what I'm aware of, I put it. And if I start looking at individual stocks, do I already hold some of that in an ETF? So just yeah, it just kind of gives me a little bit of a visual aid, which I find really helpful. 

Alec: [00:12:18] Yeah, I think you're asking all the right questions and you know, from when we spoke. A few weeks ago to when we spoke. Now it's it's great to I guess here, you know, you've set some goals. You set yourself up with a platform. You found a spreadsheet that works for you. I guess for people wondering how you found that resource or where you found that resource. Can you talk us through, I guess, the process of of finding it?

Maddy: [00:12:45] I went to Google and I went investment tracking spreadsheets, lots of it. I think more than one popped up, but it was like one of the first ones that popped up and it's free. 

Bryce: [00:12:59] I think the important thing is, as Ryan said, that you've taken you're asking the right questions. And I think, you know, we've spoken about the importance of tracking and it can be as simple or as complicated as you like. And there are plenty of ways in which you can do it. There's plenty of resources out there, both paid and free. But but yeah, keeping across your investments in some form or another. I mean, even in your brokerage app, there's ways in which you can track the performance. But if there's other metrics that you're interested in as well and having those additional payments go in, then yeah, I think full credit for having that. As part of your research process at the moment, I love a spreadsheet as well, so I'm very much on that bandwagon. You mentioned they're putting money in regularly into the wallet and I'm pretty sure shares these have an auto invest function as well, which is just another great way to take the emotion out of the investing. And if you find a couple of stocks or ETFs that you were interested in and felt like just building up a portfolio over a period of time, then you can set up the transfer from your account into your shares, his wallet and then from the wallet it'll invest at whatever sort of cadence you choose. And I think that's a great feature as you start to just build that base portfolio of ETFs and stocks and something that I kind of wish I had a bit earlier in my investing journey, rather than maybe just spraying and preying on stocks left, left, right and centre. So look, I feel like there's been some some awesome progress and you know, writing down those goals makes it all clear and real. And we couldn't stress enough on the show as well, the importance of understanding what you want to achieve from your investing journey so that you have a sort of clearer idea of the types of investments that you should be making. If you say that you want to be a day trader, then what you're going to be investing in how you invest is completely different to wanting to build, you know, just a portfolio over a long period of time. So have you thought through and no stress if you haven't. But now that you've got the money in, have you thought about what type of investments might suit your your goals? 

Maddy: [00:15:10] I have a little bit like I think for me, I kind of was thinking I would go a little bit broad just as a first, you know, as the first kind of investment. I think choosing something that's pretty low key and not something that I need to feel like I need to check in and manage is probably the way to go for me. So definitely ETFs to begin with. Probably the first one would be there is that ASX 200 is at the Australian. 

Bryce: [00:15:40] There is a nice X 300. Yeah. 

Maddy: [00:15:41] Yeah. Something like that. Just something that I. Yeah. It's not, I don't like using this terminology but you know a bit of a safe bet to something I don't have to stress about something I can spread like that spreads the money around a little bit and I'm not kind of worrying about that too much. So I think I'm going to bite the bullet with something like that. And then I might stick to ETFs just for the next little while, because I think for me, like moving into individual stocks, I need to do a little bit more. I think I just need to be a little bit more how I go about it, you know, like I want to familiarise myself with the companies that I'm investing in. And so I don't feel like this could be wrong, but I don't feel like I have to do that too much with it's like I need to do it a little bit, but I guess it's yeah, it's a little bit different with the individual stocks. So for me, clean energy is something that I want to look into. And this is ethically maybe some people have their own feelings about it, but like anything to do with marijuana, because I think it's going to be big. Okay. And I know that some people will be like, okay, how I feel about that. And that's totally okay. But yeah, that that makes sense to me. 

Alec: [00:16:57] The great news is with so many of these platforms shares these and and a number of the other online brokers, you're not just limited to Australia and you're right, there are I think there are a few listed marijuana stocks in Australia, but not a lot. But with shares these with some of those other platforms, you can invest in the US. And if there's one market that has fully embraced pot stocks, well it's probably not number. Number one is probably Canada still. There's a lot listed up there, but the US there's a number of ETFs and a number of stocks. So, you know, where of of you hear that investing is global and it's great the platforms allow us to to look outside of our conservative borders. Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:17:41] I think it's just great as well that your investing in what interests you or what you know and and you said they're sort of a safer bet. And we definitely want to reiterate here at Equity Mates that there is always risk in any type of investment. So what there are ways in which you can reduce your risk by considering things such as. 

Alec: [00:18:01] Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's on a spectrum. Yeah. So safer. 

Bryce: [00:18:04] Safer. 

Alec: [00:18:05] Safer than prices. Spec stocks. 

Bryce: [00:18:07] Yeah, most effective marijuana stocks. No, I think you're certainly you're certainly on the right track there. And Alec and I, you know, when we sit down and talk about what are some of our biggest lessons or if we were to do things differently when we started, we started with the individual stock approach. ETFs weren't even really a thing. 

Alec: [00:18:29] They were a thing that we just didn't know about. 

Bryce: [00:18:30] Yeah, they weren't anywhere near as big as they are now. And if we had our time again, I think we'd certainly revisit how ETFs played a role in our portfolios at the beginning because we certainly learnt some hard lessons by choosing individual stocks early on in the piece and not not really having the acumen to understand what we were doing in the early days. But yeah, and that comes, and that comes. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't stress about it. 

Alec: [00:18:58] So maybe we're getting towards the end of our time here. But last episode when we spoke, you mentioned that you were trying to get your kids into investing and that is something that is often asked in the Equity Mates community. Not so much asked are Bryce and I who don't have kids and would be useless trying to answer that question. But a lot of a lot of people are finding, investing and saying, you know, they wish they knew about it when they were younger. They wish they knew about it when they were kids and trying to get their kids interested and motivated to really understand their money and start investing. So if we had a drum roll sound effect, I'd be playing it now. But the big question is, how did that conversation go? 

Maddy: [00:19:39] So it's kind of funny because I had a I had a conversation with both my eldest son and his partner, and they are 22 and 21. And I had a conversation with my daughter, who's 17, just doing, I hate to say my conversation with my my son and my I guess would be my maybe my daughter in law. It was really positive. Like they're very focussed on, I guess building a future and that includes, you know, doing things with their money. And I'm really excited to finally be at a point in my life where I'm able to actually provide them some financial literacy, particularly my son, and go, Look, these are some of the things that I'm doing, and I think you should at least, you know, hear it out and look into it for yourself. And so he's really open to it. I mean, I did I did tell him, you need to listen to the Get Started Investing feed. Oh, yeah, he's really open to it. And I think because both me and my husband are having this conversation kind of at the same time, he's because he's also thinking about because they've been like meticulously saving their money. They really want their own house. So, I mean, I have to just give them points for just their absolute sheer determination to save, save, save. But yeah, I'm trying to also give them other alternatives and guidebook. That's I mean, that's awesome. I'm really, really proud of you. But also, here's something else that you can be doing, which in the long term is going to be really, really beneficial as well. Like this is not me saying go buy a house, this is just me saying think about other ways that you can be using your money that's going to work for you. So they're really, really open to that. That went really well, and I think that they're going to explore that, which is really great. I'm really happy about that. My dog, my daughter is look, she's not in tie in and I think she's going be 18 in like eight months. I think we're going to buy her some stocks for her 18th birthday, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I wish someone bought me stocks for my. 

Alec: [00:21:42] Mother, although when I was 18, I don't know if I would have really got it. Yeah. Yes. But I like the. I like the ambition in time. 

Bryce: [00:21:50] You would. 

Maddy: [00:21:52] We're having heart because she's learning how to drive, so we're kind of having conversations about it in the car. At a time in her life where she's working, so she's starting to earn some money. So we've had some conversations around budgeting in terms of savings and emergency funds and all that kind of stuff. So she's really good with that and now we're just trying to have that, just trying to have that next conversation with her about thinking more long term and that it's an interesting concept because you're not really thinking long term. At 17, you're definitely thinking what? I want to go and spend my money and you know, I'm living at home, so I don't have to worry so much about it. So I think that's going to be a longer, more ongoing conversation. But she's open to it. And then the youngest one obviously is five. So I'm just doing it for him. But he is we talk about it as in like when we have the pocket money. Like I said last time, he knows that he's got a yeah, yeah, that's a saving and a grow. And I guess the next step for me is just doing a little bit of research on what that looks like. I think I listened to one of your episodes the other day. I'm not sure. I can't remember who you were talking to, but he had started putting some money aside for his kids and he was doing it under his name. But he brought up some interesting points about kind of tax and all that kind of stuff. So I just I think I just need to do some research and go, how am I going to do this in a way that is going to ultimately just be beneficial for him? 

Bryce: [00:23:25] Well, it sounds like, again, certainly on on the right track. And yeah, as a five year old, having those conversations could be it couldn't be in a better spot. 

Alec: [00:23:36] Yeah, yeah, yeah. And look, we with our solid investing email, we sometimes poll the Equity Mates community on social media and then publish the results in that email. I'm thinking for next week's get started investing email, we should poll the parents of the Equity Mates community and get some advice that you can then, you know, use when you speak to your 17 year old when your next driving. Yeah I, I'm trying to think about myself at 17. I probably would have been very hard to convince that this money that I'm earning I should put away for future me rather than spending it on current me. But it's a worthwhile conversation to to have. 

Bryce: [00:24:17] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. 

Maddy: [00:24:19] Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:24:20] Well, Mattie, we are at the end of the interview and I just want to thank you so much for sharing your journey over the last couple of weeks with us. As I was saying, I think there were plenty of people who will resonate with your story in Equity Mates and get started investing community. It's always great to hear from people who are who are in the thick of it and getting on with their investing journey. And I think from our point of view, you're doing a lot of the right things that we often talk about on the show. So I just a big congrats if there's one sort of key takeaway that you've had over the last three weeks or one one sort of lesson, what might that be?

Maddy: [00:24:59] I guess conceptualise like however it works for you, take it out of your head and put it on paper, or whether that's a list or it's a spreadsheet or something. I think understanding what it is that you're trying to achieve in the long term will then provide you with some direction. Because before I just felt like I had this idea of what I wanted, but I had no direction. So being able to put it on paper and I don't for me don't worry about realism. Like I just, I think, like do that whole get it all out of your head of everything that is that you want, put it on paper, and then you can start mapping what it is that you need to do to get to where you want to be. I think that for me was the biggest thing because I was stock right at the beginning going, Oh, I've got money and I've been listening to you guys and I want to do this. But I felt really unable to move forward because I didn't have a goal in place, I guess, which backed up my decisions, if that makes sense. Having these goals meant that moving some money over to my wallet to start spending. I know why I'm doing it. I'm doing it because there's these end goals that I want to achieve. And so it kind of made it less scary. And it just means that everything I do now when it comes to finances is focussed on the end goals and the things that I need to do to meet that. So it was so helpful. So helpful. 

Bryce: [00:26:27] Awesome. Well, I love that. I think that's a great place to leave it all the best. And we look forward to hearing how your investing journey is going in in a couple of months time and you're definitely on the right track. 

Alec: [00:26:39] So and I'm sure I'm sure this conversation will be very helpful for a number of people listening. So thank you for, you know, I guess letting us unpack where you are on your investing journey. 

Maddy: [00:26:51] No, thank you. It was really great. I kind of feels like I was guided a little bit, you know, like in a really great way. It just took me. From the very first step to the next step. So yeah, it's been fantastic. 

Bryce: [00:27:02] Thank you to shares these for proudly supporting this episode and for helping to create financial empowerment for everyone. If you would like for more information on what shares you do and to check out their promotions, head to shares is dot com dot aew, but Ren will pick it up next week. 

Maddy: [00:27:18] Thank you. 

Alec: [00:27:19] Sounds good.