This week on Equity Mates

Hey there Equity Mate,

Have we hit peak retirement?

That was the question that KPMG asked this week as they shared new data that showed Australians are retiring later. In both 2022 and 2023:

• Men are retiring at 66.2 years old, the highest since 1972

• Women are retiring at 64.8 years old, the highest since 1971

Over the past decade, the retirement age for men has increased from 63.3 to 66.2 and for women it has increase from 61.6 to 64.8.

As we read this data, it was just reinforced why we invest. Investing when we’re young will give us choice when we’re old about how we work, how we live and when we retire.

So if you want to buck the trend and be able to retire earlier than these numbers, join us on the lifelong journey of investing.

To help you take your next steps on your investing journey, here’s the content we released this week. Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts so you don’t miss any future episodes.

Equity Mates Investing (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

• Monday - Move over Magnificent 7, meet the Magnificent 11, Bryce’s small cap investment & Compounding continued

• Tuesday - Buy or Sell with Adam Dawes

• Thursday - Investing in music, Pimp my Portfolio & Troubling financial advice

• Friday - Expert: Joe Wright - Three ways to invest in resources | Airlie Funds Management

Get Started Investing (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

• Tuesday - Your savings account should be paying 5%

Your questions, answered

Luke asked via email:
I'm thinking about starting a side hustle. What are the financial considerations I should keep in mind?

We put Luke’s question to Dylan Pargiter-Green, Director and financial advisor at Bold Wealth. 

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

Time is money! This is something a lot of clients will bring up, whether it be an additional revenue stream to build toward a financial goal or monetising an existing hobby or passion. 

We like to think about our human capital, like we do our investment capital. Your time and capacity to earn money is your most valuable asset. A side hustle can be a great way to earn a few extra dollars, but you need to ask whether the money you make from the additional time spent hustling is equal to or greater than the additional value you could generate through working your main gig. 

If you’re early in your career or still studying, working on different projects that give you new skills and might earn you an extra pint or two at the pub that night is a great call. You might discover a niche that you love and can build a career in.

If you’re a lawyer on a 6-figure salary, it’s unlikely that selling your grandmothers’ relish at the local farmers market is going to be a good investment of your time (Sorry Gran).  It’s very wholesome though.

Making money isn’t the only thing we do with our time. Spending time with family and friends, enjoying a pint at the pub or training for the marathon you’ve always wanted to do aren’t things that are likely to earn you money as a side hustle, but they’re incredibly valuable to our social and mental wellbeing. Think about the trade-off, earn what you need, save well, and do the things that make you happy.

Finally, the best side hustle is the one you don’t have to actively participate in to pay you a passive income. The best advice I can give someone here is to start investing early, build a capital war chest and reap the benefits once it’s built and humming.

If you have a question you’d like answered, hit us up at [email protected] or if you’d like to chat with Dylan 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

A Long-Term View of Markets

This article takes a look at the US stock market over the past 125 years and considers how much it has changed in that time. And it was full of interesting insights.

For starters, it is amazing how much the US stock market has come to dominate the global market.

And in the US, the make up of the market has changed massively over that time (how about rail’s dominance in 1900!! Now it doesn’t even feature as a category)

This article is full of interesting charts and we don’t have the space to include them all. But the takeaway is clear: despite plenty of reasons for financial panic - world wars, pandemics, political upheaval and recessions - the stock market has continued a long and unending grind upwards driven by new technologies, new ideas and new companies.

Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

New data on Moderna's cancer vaccine sends stock rising

A vaccine for cancer? We should be clear just how far away it is. But recent data out of a Moderna clinical trial suggests it may be one step closer.

The pharmaceutical company saw its share price jump 6% earlier this week after announcing the results of an early trial of a personalised cancer vaccine for patients living with a particular type of carcinoma. What had the market excited was Moderna’s comments that they believe the treatment could, in time, be used for a variety of cancers.

This particular vaccine uses mRNA technology, which we all become very familiar with during the rollout of COVID vaccines. At the time, the discussion was the mRNA was a breakthrough technology and would unlock a whole new collection of vaccines. Cancer and malaria were two of the diseases identified as having potential future mRNA vaccines.