This week on Equity Mates

Hey there Equity Mate,

We hope you’re having a great long weekend. Last week was a massive week of news - so here’s a few points to get you caught up:

• For the third consecutive month, Australia’s consumer price index (the key measure of inflation) has come in at 3.4% for February

• China has dropped tariffs on Australian wine (more on that below)

• After 2 years of hearings, 4 reports and a $250m fine, Crown Melbourne has officially been allowed to keep its casino license

• ASIC was successful in their first ‘greenwashing’ case, after they sued Vanguard for misleading environmental claims in one of their funds

• Sadly, one of the fathers of behavioural economics, Daniel Kahneman, passed away at age 90

• The company behind Donald Trump’s Truth Social went public and currently enjoys a market value of almost $8 billion

To keep up with everything happening in markets, make sure you’re listening to Equity Mates Investing and Get Started Investing. Here’s what we’re releasing this week:

Equity Mates Investing (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

• Monday - Lump sum or DCA, the latest on Ozempic, & a baby Berkshire?

• Tuesday - Expert: Sam Gordon - Rentvesting, Equity Recycling & what is going on with Aussie property?

• Thursday - Truth social or Reddit, Pimp my Portfolio & book club

Get Started Investing (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

• Tuesday - Your savings account should be paying 5%

Your questions, answered

Rosie asked via email:

All of my friends are going to London for 2 to 3 years. I want to do the same, but I also want to own a home in Australia. Can you discuss strategies for balancing these aspirations financially?

We put Rosie’s question to Glen Hare, co-founder of Fox & Hare. Glen is one of the trusted advisors in the Equity Mates network.

To book a call with Glen and the team, click here.

[This is an excerpt from our latest podcast with Glen] Great question. In short, you can do both, but you've got to have a plan.

I have observed people go over to London or the States or Hong Kong or whatever it may be. They do 2 or 3 years overseas. They come back and they're in the same financial position they were when they left.

When you're overseas, what's really important is to have a really good time. Like you're in London and you're the gateway to Europe. Get it out of your system. But don't forget about when you come home.

So if you're planning on this, but you want to come back and you want to buy your first home in Australia… and you think you're going to need$100,000 to $200,000 [deposit], make sure when you're over there, you've got a strategy to send money back home so that when you come back that deposit is there.

Don't lose that discipline around that regular savings pace. And also sending money back on a regular basis has two chronic impacts. First, it quarantines the money to some extent. It's out of sight. It's out of mind. The second is from an FX perspective. If you're over in London saving pounds and then in three years time you bring back $100,000, you're transferring your £50,000 to $100,000. You're doing that in one fell swoop.

So it comes back to the goal. What do you envisage your life looking like when you come home. That can be really hard to think about when you're about to head over to London. But don't lose sight of the future - future you will thank you.

If you have a question you’d like answered, hit us up at [email protected] or if you’d like to chat with Glen and the team, click here

This email is thanks to Australian Property Scout

The Scouting Australia Podcast is your go to platform for all the latest strategies and information for your success in property investing.

Hosted by Equity Mates regular property expert Sam Gordon, he unpacks everything from Real Life Investor Stories, Weekly Property News Bulletins, Investing Strategies and much more.

Listen in to The Scouting Australia Podcast  on all your favourite listening platforms and start your property education journey. 

What we’ve been reading

China's government officially abolishes heavy tariffs on Australian wine

We’re sure there’s one group of Australians that have particularly enjoyed this Easter long weekend - Australian wine makers (and investors in the Australian wine industry).

That is because, late last week, the Chinese government announced they would be ending tariffs on Australian wine exports.

Back in 2020, when the Sino-Australian relationship was at its lowest ebb, the Chinese government announced heavy tariffs on the $20 billion of Australian wine that was being sold into China.

These tariffs were up to 220% and almost ended Australian wine sales in China with the stroke of a pen.

The company that was most affected by these tariffs was Treasury Wine Estates (ASX: TWE). The company lost almost half its value after the Chinese government’s tariffs.

The company has proven quite resilient despite the loss of its largest export market, and now with China re-opening will hopefully be able to recover the market share it lost in the past few years.

The bigger question for Australian exporters is how much should they trust China’s market going forward. Sino-Australian relations are improving, and with it, Australia’s access to the world’s second most populous nation. But China’s leadership has proven willing to use trade as a tool of economic and political coercion before. Exporters should be ready for it to do it again.

 The flying AirCar backed by internet star MrBeast is taking off to China

China wants to be on the cutting edge of auto manufacturing. Over the past decade, that has meant helping electric vehicle makers like BYD take on the world. For the next decade, that might mean making flying cars.

Yes, you read that right. Chinese manufacturers are trying to get ahead of the curve with flying cars. The latest move has been Hebei Jianxin Flying Car Technology buying the Chinese rights to the AirCar (pictured below).

Early testing suggested that the AirCar, created by Slovakia-based KleinVision, can become an aircraft after 2 minutes and 15 seconds of driving on the road. It is said to achieve an altitude of 8,000 feet (for context, New York’s Empire State Building stands at 1,250 feet).

It might sound like science fiction, but the days of flying cars are slowly edging closer. It is not just the AirCar. Organisers of the Paris Olympics are gearing up to introduce an electric air taxi service at the games. And Alef Aeronautics, one of many startups working to build flying cars, reports that they’ve already received 2,800 pre-orders for their $300,000 flying car.