Life changing decision – am I mad?

Hi Kate,

Thanks for posting! It’s encouraging to hear that there are so many others in similar circumstances. I have a wife & 3 kids, mortgage, car payments and we are living off just my income. We made a decision long ago that it was important to have someone at home with the kids full time. So we barely make ends meet month to month. Now that we have built up a small amount of equity in our PPoR, I am trying to take the first step into getting an investment property.

All the suggestions I might give you have been covered by others in previous replies, but I just wanted to lend you some support in your endeavours, there are plenty of struggling families out there trying to do something with their futures on limited funds. Never forget that the most important assets in your life is your family. Do what’s best for them, they must take priority over your investments, your career, yes even your home. Not saying you can’t have it all, but when resources are limited, you have to prioritise. I can gurantee your life will be richer and more meaningful if you invest yourself in your family first, then give the material things their rightful (important) place somewhere behind those dear to you.

Kate, sometimes we do in the shortterm what then allows us the freedom to choose what to do more easily later. So you go to work for a bit, not too hard a call when you see that by working a year, you will then be in a better financial position to invest and cut back the hours.

Forgoing some quality time now may allow you to have much more quality time later.

Steve(Mortgage Manager) was right, most financial planners, by the very nature of the industry, will steer you away from active investing into managed funds and share portfolios where they get a commision on whatever you do. Especially banking FP’s, they are aweful and do not give one bit of intelligent investing advice.

To put your shingle out as a financial planner you have to(by law) be associated with an insurance office or financial institution. This sucks as you cannot truly perform your function to the best result of the client. I have completed my Dip FS(Financial Planning) last year and most of the guys that did the course were mortgage brokers looking to add income to their existing business.

Our case study, we all laughed at as there was an obvious thing to do that was not allowed by the “financial planning” guidelines. Pay off the PPOR with $100k inheritance and then use PPOR as deposits for property investing. This although agreed by all was the best option given the full picture, was not allowed under the guidelines unless a managed fund and total insurances were offered first. These items were deemed smarter than a true investment you control and manage yourself, so I was quite taken aback by the control being imposed over planners to do the right thing for anyone other than the person who has asked for your help.

It seemed a bit rediculous really, that the ASIC PS146 guidelines were so tight that you could not offer truly intelligent advice without breaching you licence. This is only one mans opinion, but it was confirmed in that class of 23 people who all agreed that what was expected of us in the case study was not the best thing for the client at all.

Be aware Kate that some of us in good conscience could not then put our shingle up. I act as a buyers agent for property and do not perform the full financial planning function as I am not associated with any financial institiution or insurance company.(Just so we are clear)

DD

PS146 Certified Financial Planner
Don’t sweat the small stuff,and it’s all small stuff!!