Check out the latest episode where James explains the different conversations he is having with clients now that their is talk of inverted yield curves and recession.

This episode states how getting advice deflects the noise and allows clients to live a more certain and confident financial life.

As many of you may know, I can certainly talk faster than I can type, so it was almost inevitable that I would start a podcast. A relaxed vehicle in which you can play in your car or with headphones as you go for a run. A podcast has really become the thinking persons escape from the daily humdrum and have a chance to listen to topics that interest you.

So as an independent reviewer of managed funds in the world, the S + P Spiva scorecard is like the bible of fund performances. They collate and compare the universe of available funds and indicate their performance against their respective index benchmarks.

So following on from my 2 bobs worth last week where I tried to provide a distinction between Financial Planning and Life Coaching, this week I want to reflect on my experiences and explain how I work with my clients by focussing on less. Yes, that’s right. I have taken a road whereby I try to be inch wide and mile deep in regards to how I work with Financial Planning clients.

I have really gotten into some podcasts over the last 12 months. They are an easy way to take in content on a whole range of different topics. Obviously, I listen to financial planning podcasts as well as related topics such as property, sport and comedy. These are all topics that I am interested in.

Not many investors in Australia would know of a bloke named Jack Bogle but he passed away last week.

Let me share my thoughts on how this great man changed investing in managed money for the better.

I came across this video which while it is based on the U.S. market, still relates to our own markets in Australia.

I wanted to showcase this because even after the Hayne Royal Commission, there will still be financial services providers who will continue to gouge fees from your retirement capital.

You don't know how good it feels to be able to write this heading. It's really important to understand that you have to be careful calling yourself an independent Financial Planner in the current environment. There is so much that needs to be done and ticked off before you can call yourself this term. The fallout from ASIC is immense if you have not got all your ducks in a row. Let me explain what this means to us and to our current and prospective clients.

Farm Management Deposits are a risk-management tool to help primary producers deal with uneven cash flows. Uneven income is common in primary production businesses because of things such as natural disasters, climate and market variability. The FMD scheme allows primary producers to set aside pre-tax income from primary production in years of good cash flow to draw on in years of lesser cash flow.

I was reading Ben Carlson's - A Wealth Of Common Sense blog last week and he has highlighted 50 ways that the world is better than it used to be. Out of all the points that he stated, this was the point that stuck out most for me.

A frequent question I get asked when talking to prospective and current clients is, " what would happen if you died?"  A real risk of placing your trust with a wealth management firm is having your plans go into a tailspin if the inevitable happened to your trusted financial planner.

This is how I answer this question. 

SMSFs will potentially be affected by the Federal Opposition’s recently announced intentions to remove the ability for excess imputation credits to be refunded (albeit with clarification that pensioners and some self managed super funds (SMSF) may be exempt from this change).