Episode 10 | Interview with Brett Marchant | How to Build a Financial Strategy That Works for Life (Not Just the Market)
In this episode of the Enriched Wealth Podcast, host Kris Tatt is joined by Partner and Senior Financial Advisor at Strategem, Brett Marchant, for a candid and insightful conversation spanning almost three decades of experience in the financial services industry.
From early days in super administration and paraplanning, to asset management roles in London and now leading advice at Strategem, Brett shares his journey and the evolving landscape of financial planning. More importantly, he dives deep into what truly matters when it comes to building wealth—long-term consistency, transparency, and trusted relationships.
Key topics include:
The rise of managed accounts and why they matter
How emotional decisions impact investing (and how to avoid them)
Real client success stories that highlight the impact of strategic advice
The critical importance of understanding your risk profile and super structure
Why estate planning and aged care are just as important as your investments
Whether you're just starting your financial journey or preparing for retirement, this episode will leave you with practical insights and a greater appreciation for the power of personalised, human advice in an increasingly complex world.
Tune in now and start unlocking smarter financial strategies for your business!
Transcript
Kris Tatt
Welcome to the Enriched Wealth Podcast.
We're excited today to be joined by special guest Brett.
Brett's one of our senior advisors and partners at Stratagem and I've got him here today as a guest and looking forward.
So welcome, Brett, to the podcast.
Brett Marchant
Thank you, Kris.
Thanks for having me.
Kris Tatt
Mate, so you have been at Stratagem for how long they are?
Brett Marchant
Oh, it's going to be thirteen years.
Kris Tatt
In June.
Wow, 13 years is a long time.
It's probably longer than most Hollywood marriages, I'd say.
Brett Marchant
I think you're right.
It's certainly the longest innings I've had in my working life.
Yeah, certainly 13 years is a is a good inning.
Kris Tatt
Yeah, it is.
And, and obviously through the financial planning, wealth management side of the business for all that time, there's that sort of been the focal point, yeah.
Brett Marchant
Pretty much, yeah.
I've, I've done about 20 coming up 25 years in financial planning.
Yeah.
And I spent about five years over in the UK in funds management, Yep, which is financial services for nearly 30 years.
Kris Tatt
Wow.
So I want to dig into a bit of that journey.
So let's, let's wind the clock back just a couple of years.
So uni, what did you do at uni?
Where did you go?
What did you do?
What was the course?
What was the calling?
Brett Marchant
So I went to Deacon Uni in Melbourne Burwood and I started doing a Bachelor of Accounting degree.
Yes, but I think sort of towards the end of the first year I realised that accounting is probably not for me.
Yep.
So I needed to to pivot and yeah, moved across to a Bachelor of Commerce with a finance major.
Kris Tatt
Great.
And so you at that point, did you know you want to be a financial planner or is it more I just want to get more in this finance space and away from the tax and the the compliance and the yeah, it was.
Brett Marchant
It was more let's get away from the tax and.
Kris Tatt
Compliance.
Brett Marchant
No, look, I had a bit of an interest in personal finance, you know, stock markets, that sort of thing.
So probably in the third year, the last year, I sort of realised that, hey, personal financial planning was a fairly small industry at that point, yes.
So it could be a good growth opportunity.
Kris Tatt
For, yeah, you would have been in some of the formative days of that financial planning space, wouldn't you?
It sort of was really quite, quite different to how it looks now.
Yeah.
But.
Brett Marchant
I joined the industry in 96 and yeah, there weren't too many financial planners out there in in the mid 90s.
Kris Tatt
No.
Brett Marchant
So I think how the industry developed was.
Kris Tatt
It came from an insurance.
Brett Marchant
Background.
I was about to say yeah, came to the insurance industry.
So obviously the insurance is pretty much insurance, whereas financial planning is a bit more than just insurance.
Kris Tatt
So, and I think, I think it's, it's taken a long time to shift people's perception on what planners do, isn't it?
Because, because there's still probably a bit of, oh, they're just insurance salespeople and things like that where the insurance aspects actually quite a small piece of what, of what goes on these days.
And there's all these other facets to it as well.
So, so we've come out of uni first job.
Where did you?
Where did you land?
Brett Marchant
I landed in the superannuation administration team at Mercer, which is a big global consulting firm.
And yeah.
Kris Tatt
So yeah, cut, cut your teeth in a big place, obviously lots of exposure, lots of different things there as well, too.
Sure.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, no, it's a big, big wealth management firm at the end of the day.
And yeah, I remember first walking through those doors at 101 Collins Street in Melbourne thinking this is this is a good move, Really nice offices there.
I think it was on the 27th or 28th floor.
Kris Tatt
Nice.
Brett Marchant
So beautiful views to the South across the Yarra River and the Botanical Gardens.
So I was pretty happy there but spent six months in the admin team and then moved across to the financial planning team.
Kris Tatt
Great.
And so then started seeing clients started.
Brett Marchant
I wish.
No, I was.
I was only 22 years of age at that point, Chris.
So long, long, long time ago.
Kris Tatt
Yeah, only 10 years ago.
Brett Marchant
Or so, yeah, I wish.
Kris Tatt
I wish no.
Brett Marchant
A long time ago.
So no, Look, I, I, I did what a lot of people do.
You you sort of get your foot in the door somewhere and then you sort of work your way up the ladder.
Yes.
So I went, I went in as a paraplaner which your job is there to support the financial advisor or the financial advisors you're working with?
Yes.
So basically take as much work off them as as you can.
So I did that.
Kris Tatt
So you're writing plans, obviously.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, writing.
Kris Tatt
SOA has probably looked a little bit different.
Yeah, they were statements of advice which they look a little different to they did these days.
Brett Marchant
Statements of advice back in those days I would just call it financial plans, but yeah, it worked with a really good financial planner for a number of years.
So he ended up moving up to Sydney to, to lead our Sydney office.
And yeah, a new planner came in and I started working with him.
And then about four years into that job, I was offered a transfer to the Perth office because I was on my way to the UK.
And they offered, they opened a financial planning office in Perth and they needed someone from Melbourne to go across and help them out.
OK.
So I ended up going across to Perth for about 12 months and yeah, started effectively helped start the office over in Perth.
Kris Tatt
Wow, that's that would have been a great experience just being part of something that was starting out, seeing that that growth phase and and those kind of things as well.
Brett Marchant
Too It, it was, yeah.
Look, I'd, I think I'd only been to Perth once prior to that, and that was on a mystery flight.
So for, for those older viewers, you probably know what a mystery flight is.
But yeah, my wife and I went over there for a mystery flight one day, but we really loved it when so when this opportunity came up to say, well, can you go over there and live there for initially it was six months, but we loved it so much we stayed on for an extra six months.
Great.
But yeah, it was great.
You know, mixing with different colleagues on the other side of the country and and helping them build the financial planning office from scratch.
Kris Tatt
Yeah, that's awesome.
And then from there, you said London.
Brett Marchant
Yes, London, Yeah.
So I probably need to acknowledge my wife Kylie on this one.
So, yeah, she'd already done a bit of overseas travel and yeah, she was really keen to, to live somewhere else and sort of dragged me along on, on the, on the adventure, I guess.
And yeah, my, my grandfather was Scottish.
So I got to go over there for, for four years on an ancestral visa and we ended up working in asset management over there.
So in the City of London, you know, London being one of the, the, the major financial centres in the world, Yeah, it was a great.
Kris Tatt
And it would have been a, it was probably quite not, maybe not necessarily at the right at the peak, but quite a height in the industry over there in terms of all of what was going on there.
You know, we'd just come out of the 80s with the bond markets in the crash and it was probably that 90s boom time.
So what, what, what was your how, how did it differ from your experience in Melbourne for people who might be thinking?
Brett Marchant
Well, we arrived late 2000 and I remember it very clearly because we, we arrived in November 2000 and we were very keen to get work.
Yep.
So we started putting the feelers out to recruitment consultants and they said to us, look, you know, no one's hiring this time of year.
It's, you know, six weeks out from Christmas.
Yep.
So we had to sort of travel the UK on the Aussie dollar for about 6 weeks.
So we chewed through the money very quickly, but in the new year, so early 2001, we ended up both getting jobs in asset management.
But yeah, I mean, the tech bubble had burst recently.
So that's where, particularly in the USA, lot of the tech companies got sold off in a very big way.
So they all fell by about 70%.
So a major stock market correction and that filtered through to the to the European and the London market as well.
Yep.
And so, yeah, that was that was the environment that I walked into.
But it was a it was a great introduction to asset management.
I worked in the client servicing team on the institutional side.
So rather than dealing with mums and dads here in Australia, I was dealing with big institutional.
Kris Tatt
Investors.
So really the other end of town a little bit in terms of size, volume, expectation.
They're just looking for you to get the best return for their money.
You're just a, in some ways, a faceless person to them.
They just need the deal done.
Yeah.
As opposed to that very personal financial planning space that you've been in here.
Yeah, of I, I started stratum coming into the JFC.
So probably similar sort of you cut your teeth in this environment where I think sometimes when you come in and it there's an event like that, it's like, well, it can only get better from here.
And, and if you've seen that, then the rest seems quite, quite easy in comparison.
So what, what were some of the things that you learned from from that time over there in terms of that asset management?
Because you just been really in the deep end in terms of markets.
Markets are, you know, very volatile.
You're you're coming in without that perspective of the last however many years of doing it.
So what what were some of the things that you learned in those in those early?
Brett Marchant
Yeah, well I came in pretty green to be honest because all I knew was the Australian market.
Yep.
And in particular the Australian financial planning market, which was very much much mum and dad type investors.
Yep.
So when you go to London, New York, Tokyo, these major financial centres in the world, you start to realise that, yeah, Australia is a is a pretty small slice in the world market.
Kris Tatt
Drop in the ocean isn't.
Brett Marchant
It absolutely.
So I remember having a chat to one of the fund managers early on and, and asking them about, you know, how do they invest into Australia?
What, what do they buy?
And the response was we don't buy anything.
So it, it sort of gave me a, a real indication about how big this financial market is on a global scale.
And now back in those days, BHP had a dual listing here in Australia and also on London.
So you could, you could get exposure to BHP via the London Exchange.
But Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB, all the big banks.
They, they wouldn't even touch them.
Yeah.
It was all about the UK banks, the European banks and the American banks, Yeah.
Kris Tatt
Which is something I think for investors here we need to keep in mind because so often, and I saw some stats the other week about SMSFS and their asset allocation and SMSFS usually have more of a bent to Australian shares than they do international shares.
And it they were actually saying that it's probably hurt some of their performance over the last couple of years because they haven't had that same exposure to the global market.
And I think sometimes when we look at asset allocation, we can forget that there is a whole, there's whole other worlds out there going on that's not Australia that we need to be thinking about when we're building that asset allocation.
And in and in in reverse, they're probably not even thinking much about Australia in terms of the investment opportunity.
So.
Brett Marchant
You're absolutely right.
Investors, whether they're retail investors or wholesale investors, tend to invest in their own backyard because they, they, they know Commonwealth Bank, they know Kohl's, they know Woolworths.
And again, this was a bit of a lesson when I went to the UK as well.
Over there.
They tend to invest in UK equities, yes, with a bit of global equities as well.
Yes, yeah, Very, very small exposure to Australia if any and also a fairly small exposure to Asia excluding Japan as well.
So yeah, very much European, US and Japanese equities was was the was the formula when it came to their portfolios.
Kris Tatt
OK, interesting.
And so how many years in London?
Brett Marchant
We ended up about 5 1/2 years.
Yeah, Well, yeah, I, as I said, I, I, I was there for four years on a visa and then they give you permanent residency after four years.
And then if you hang around for an extra year, they give you citizenship.
Wow.
So both Kyle and I managed to pick up citizenship.
Kris Tatt
After so you can you can go back anytime you want.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, I can.
Kris Tatt
That's that's great.
That's, that's really good.
And and what?
What was the call home?
Brett Marchant
Family.
Yep.
Yeah.
So my daughter Bella, who was about to turn 20, she was born in London, OK.
Kris Tatt
So does she have a London citizenship?
Brett Marchant
Board, well she's, yeah, she's born there so yeah yeah, she's she's excellent English by birth and yeah when we got home we got a, an Australian passport for her as well, right So yeah, we, Kyle and I were just living in a A2 bedroom apartment in in London and we've got this newborn baby pretty.
Kris Tatt
Small apartments over there, aren't they?
From what it.
Brett Marchant
Was pretty good actually.
Yeah, it was a little, it was kind of in suburbia, call it that in London.
So it was, it was a good size apartment, but we had some really great friends there and we still still keep in contact with some of those friends, but just no family.
Yes.
So the poor was yeah.
Now that we've got a newborn, we probably need to be, you know, close to mum and dad and and other other family.
Kris Tatt
Yeah, Yep.
And the support networks do change when kids come along.
That they do.
Yeah.
Where, where it was OK to have friends.
Friends probably don't want to come over at midnight if you know something's going on or those kind of things as well.
Not not saying friends won't do that, just for saying family.
Family's usually the ones that are around in those circumstances.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, spot on.
No, it was a great, it was a great period of our lives.
You know, we travelled a lot of the world with British pounds in our pocket.
So back then it was a very strong currency as it is still.
So yeah, we we've seen a lot of the world, which we're very lucky to have done.
And but yeah, I think it was time to come home.
And as I said, yeah, that's, that's 20, not not quite 20 years ago, but yeah, close to it.
Kris Tatt
Yeah, wow.
And then say come back to Australia.
Where?
Where do we land?
Yeah.
Brett Marchant
Well, I ended up back at Mercer.
Kris Tatt
OK, there you go.
Brett Marchant
So, yeah, my one of my former colleagues who was, who was now heading up the the advice team, Yep, heard that I was on the way back to Australia.
So he, he made contact with me and, and you know, got me in for an interview and yeah, got it.
Got a job pretty much straight off the plane.
So yeah, it was able to slip back into Mercer into again initially a well, it was it was probably an associate advisor role, but yeah, about six or nine months later moved into a full time advisor role.
Kris Tatt
Perfect.
And and so then obviously you would have seen a lot of change there at Mercer in terms of, you know, when you first started in 96 superannuation was just this little bit of an idea the government had sort of started making employers do where by the mid 2000s and it actually started become quite a significant portion of of people's portfolios and it's continued to be so, so, so you're seeing quite a change, one, when you came back and then two, moving on from that over those next few years.
So how long, how long were your Mercer through that that?
Brett Marchant
.
So I spent another six years there.
Yep.
Yeah.
So four years initially and then came back and another 6, so 10 years.
But yeah, in terms of the change, it was massive because when I left in 2000, how, how financial advisors got remunerated for their work was very much Commission based.
Yes.
So you would, you know, you would lodge a, an application form with a, with a fund manager or a superannuation fund and you would receive an upfront Commission and then you would also receive a, a trail Commission.
So that, that was the environment I left in 2000 and when I returned in 2006, it all become fee for service.
So again, I remember the first conversation I had with a client to say, well, if you want me to do this work, it's going to cost you $3000.
That was a bit daunting at the time because when I left, it was all about, well, we're going to get paid by someone else, the fund manager or the superannuation fund.
So that was a massive shift in a in a fairly short period of time.
Kris Tatt
And I don't think people probably appreciate that we just we don't do commissions anymore like in in that finance.
If, if we're going to give investment advice, if we're going to give, you know, advice around super or things like that, it's not because we get paid or that's, that's a good deal for us.
It is literally you.
You pay us to do the work, but we're not, we're not here to to pick one because it it gives us a benefit in the background or anything like that.
Those days are long.
Brett Marchant
Behind long gone.
Kris Tatt
And it's, it's quite an independent process and I think quite a robust process because of that then.
And you would probably send a bit of that shift as well too, where I was like, oh, well, that means I'm not thinking about having to do this.
I've, I've got all of these choices because it's just about the client now.
It's just about what what we can put the client.
Brett Marchant
Into correct.
Yeah, it's full transparency now.
So again, if someone needs me to do work, we'll, we'll scope the work, we'll come back to them initially with the terms of engagement, which identifies their goals and objectives and, and the work that we're actually going to do.
And we'll, we'll, we'll let them know that this is the cost for us to do that work.
Yep.
So upfront, they know exactly what we're going to do for them and they know what the fee is going to be.
Yep.
So, yeah, very different to the the mid to late 90s, yeah.
Kris Tatt
And then from there, Mercer for six years.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, suspense.
Yeah, Six years at Mercer and then I was living, We moved out of Melbourne.
I, I got to the point, and again, this is many years ago, so there's probably a lot of people out there now that are probably feeling a bit like this.
But I got to the point where I was going off to work every day and I felt like I was just doing that to pay a mortgage.
And my son had come along around that time, so I was the sole breadwinner in the house.
But we had an average mortgage.
And back in those days, the average mortgage was $300,000, not 600.
Kris Tatt
And 50 showing you.
Brett Marchant
Exactly.
Not $650,000 as it is today, yeah, But yeah, Kylie suggested to me.
Now we've got two kids, we need a bigger home, you know, Let's do an extension which was going to cost 150,000 at that time or we move a house and that's probably, you know, a bit more.
So here I am in the background going, well, okay, I'm taking my mortgage from 300,000 to potentially 450 or $500,000.
That doesn't make sense to me.
Kris Tatt
Good, good, good financial.
Brett Marchant
Advice.
Yeah, yeah.
So I suggest I suggest.
Kris Tatt
I did say that to a client.
I said usually the best experiences are the worst financial decisions and the best financial decisions are, are some of the worst experiences.
So best financial decision is just never quit work, work until you work until they, they, they bury you.
But that's not fun.
So you got to find a bit of that balance of saying, you know, we're working for life, not life living to work, kind of.
Brett Marchant
Thing correct.
Yeah.
So look, I suggested to Kylie, hey, how about we move out of Melbourne?
Yep, to a place where I can still commute into Melbourne.
So we started looking around.
You know, we looked at remember looking at Ballarat.
We looked.
Kris Tatt
A little colder in Ballarat a.
Brett Marchant
Bit colder but we ended up in in the Mastodon ranges.
Kris Tatt
OK.
So the tropics in comparison.
Brett Marchant
So in in in particular Wood End.
So wood end is a beautiful spot.
It's about 600 metres above sea level.
Yep.
And yeah, it is a very cold place and I.
Kris Tatt
Beautiful spot.
Brett Marchant
That beautiful spot, beautiful village, beautiful people, very much a commuter town, but I probably didn't appreciate how cold it actually gets.
So we moved out and it was a good spot at the time because the, the kids were young.
My daughter just started primary school and my son was starting kindergarten.
So it was, it was a good, good period of our life.
It was a really nice spot.
And then I can still commute into Melbourne.
Kris Tatt
And you would have probably found was the commute that much different from being there and getting a direct training or?
Brett Marchant
It was a long commute, I think I did it for a few years, but door to door was about two hours.
Yeah, wow.
So I'd walk down the station, catch the train to Melbourne and then walk from the station to the office.
So door to door it was about two hours, so 4 hours commuting every day.
Kris Tatt
It's a long, long time.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, so I did it for a few years, but yeah, it got to the point where I kind of thought I'm a bit over this and wooden to Bendigo was only about an hour on the train, even quicker if you drive.
So yeah, at the.
Kris Tatt
Speed limit.
Brett Marchant
At the speed limit, of course.
Yeah, yeah, we don't, we don't exceed the speed limit.
But yeah, I sort of just, you know, went on to.
Seek, I think, I don't think it's changed its name in those years, but and there was a job for a financial planner at Stratagem.
Kris Tatt
There you go.
Brett Marchant
So I decided to apply for it and here I am 13 years later.
Kris Tatt
Rest is history.
Brett Marchant
Exactly.
Kris Tatt
No, that's really good.
And if we talk about your current role now, so obviously you've you've probably had a bit of a transition in in that time to now.
Where what, what do you do now?
What's day to day look like for Brett?
What are some of the things that you're you're seeing out there for people today or or dealing with for people today?
Brett Marchant
Well, look, I, I don't think a lot's changed over that 13 year.
At the end of the day.
And I think that's.
Kris Tatt
Something people need to remember is that for all the change that we've seen about legislation and things like that, superannuation still a great retirement vehicle share market is still running property always like a lot of these things haven't changed over a long period of time.
Maybe some of the facets have changed, but but a lot of it is still just that it is.
It is just getting good advice, get going into the good investments, managing, keeping an eye on them, making change when you need to.
There's not sort of, there's not sort of this whole new way of doing things that we didn't have many years ago.
It's.
Brett Marchant
No, you're right.
The the fundamentals haven't changed.
At the end of the day, if you're able to put a bit of money away on a regular basis into a good quality asset that grows over time, you'll do well.
Yes, What's probably changed a bit is behind the scenes in terms of compliance that that myself and all the other financial advisors have to deal with every day.
So that that continually evolves.
Kris Tatt
The choices change, too.
That's probably one thing I've seen evolve over.
Brett Marchant
The easiest way market.
Kris Tatt
'S grown where when I first started it was very hard to get into international markets like you could, where now there's an ETF for everything, there's a managed fund for everything.
You basically got all this choice.
But that creates a whole new set of confusion of of fan as well, yeah.
Brett Marchant
Absolutely.
Things have moved along in terms of the products.
Yep.
But yeah, certainly getting access to wider markets has become a lot easier.
And but yeah, look, I look after, I look after about 100 portfolios.
Yep, a number of my clients have multiple portfolios, but they're all a little bit different at the end of the day.
Yes, there's some fairly common investments.
Kris Tatt
Different goals too at the end of different goals.
So it's not, not, not everyone's looking for that risk on approach and not everyone's looking for that risk off approach either.
There's, there's a, there's a whole range of people in that midsection going, this is what I need for now.
And that changes here and it changes there, but it's it's walking through that with them.
Brett Marchant
True.
Yeah, look, I think my oldest client is about to turn 90 in a couple of months.
There you go.
And my youngest client is is probably about 25 S full range.
Yeah, the 25 year old goals and objectives are very different to the one year old, right?
And there's a lot of people in between.
But yeah, one of one of the first things we we need to understand is, yeah, what are your goals and objectives when it comes to investing?
One thing that we really focus on initially is what's what's your appetite to risk or what's your risk profile?
Yes.
So before you invest one single dollar, you need to understand what your risk tolerance is because you know, if you, if you're a balanced investor, for example, ideally you want to have around 50% in cash and bonds, defensive assets and shares and property growth assets.
But an interesting, just quickly, an interesting story on this one.
I remember doing a risk profile questionnaire for a client who just sold a business in town.
They're pretty conservative on paper.
They told me they were growth investors, so 70% in growth assets.
And when I showed them that pie chart and, and talk to them about the risk and the returns, they nearly fell off their chair.
They said, oh, that's just far too aggressive.
And I said, well, that's what you're telling us on paper.
So we, we brought it back to balanced 50% growth assets still still too aggressive.
And we ended up landing on moderate, moderately conservative, which is the opposite to what they told me.
So it's very important to understand what your risk.
Kris Tatt
Tolerance is I think that's a big piece.
Like I was, I was going through that with clients yesterday actually.
And we were, we were looking at where their supers invested at the moment.
And, and there's just probably a lack of good knowledge out there around what's the default option my Superfund puts me into.
And a lot of times it can actually be quite risky.
And so it looks really good because there's been some good returns here or something like that.
But it's because we haven't had a down market for a few years where I think if we have that down market, there's going to be a lot of people going.
I didn't realise that what that's what I was invested in.
I didn't realise I was taking on that risk.
I didn't realise that extra 1 or 2% meant I'm taking quite a haircut this year because of returns and things like that.
So I think it is people need to really understand their risk profile and obviously the best way to do that is sit down with an advisor and go through the whole process.
But there is a process to this.
It's not just about being at a barbecue and saying, Brett, what, what's, what, what share do I buy?
It's going well, What, what do you want to be?
What do you want to do?
Because I can tell you to buy a share, but it might take three years to come to fruition.
And you need the money in 12 months time to make a deposit on the House or, or this or that.
Well, that that's not going to work.
Or if that's your retirement money that you're relying on for a time.
And the last thing you want to do is see that disappear just because you've taken on unnecessary risk.
And so I think having appreciation for that process is is huge.
Brett Marchant
That's, that's a really good point.
Yeah, Interestingly, yeah, when I talk to clients about where is your super invested, they kind of know what fund they're in, yes.
And then I say well, what's the investment strategy or an investment option?
Sometimes they struggle with that, but then most people have no idea how that fund is actually investing their assets.
Yes, so.
Kris Tatt
There's a lack of transparency too.
Australian shares could look very different from one fund to the next.
We were looking at even like there's private equity now and that's sitting at quite high levels in some of these funds where it's like, we don't you don't know the companies in that private equity and they, they could be on the verge of bankruptcy or, or whatever, but you don't actually know.
I'm thinking of a, a large super fund that just wrote off a billion dollar property equity investment.
And it was like, oh, all these things happen.
And it's like, yeah, well, not, not for people who who who know what's going on with this super.
Brett Marchant
So, and I think, I think that super fund that you're talking about, their default option is the balance fund.
Yep.
And again, in our world, balanced is 50% growth assets, 50% defensive, but in their world, it's more like 80% growth assets, 20% defensive.
Kris Tatt
Which is, which is a huge allocation of growth assets like that is that's nearly on the aggressive side.
Brett Marchant
So that's all fine and good as markets have been really strong over the last couple of years.
But if we have a a major correction which will happen at some point, yeah, you know a lot of those members have they have no idea that they have 80% in growth assets.
Kris Tatt
No, and it's only when there's that downturn and then that negative return pops up and oh, I, I didn't realise that.
So what does day to day look like for you, Brett?
When people hear financial planner, they've probably got visions of four screens with markets going on and, you know, shouting down the phone, buy and sell.
But but what?
What does it actually look like day to day?
Brett Marchant
Yeah, it's not like that.
It was a bit like that in the UK.
Kris Tatt
Yeah, I could imagine.
Brett Marchant
On the trading desk and find manager desks, they have, you know, multiple screens in front of them and you know, lots of activity, lots of noise.
Now look, my my day usually spring out of bed.
The first thing I do is, is look at my phone and have a look at what the international markets have done overnight.
So the US stock market is about 65% of global equities.
So whatever happens over there really drives what happens in other parts of the world.
Yes.
So it's always nice to know what the S&P 500 did or what the NASDAQ did overnight.
Kris Tatt
Which I think is to why we get a lot of U.S.
news.
And I think some people think, oh, is that just because the US talks the loudest?
And it's like, no, the US is quite a big impact on everything.
Like when it's 65%, that old adage of when the US sneezes, Australia catches a cold is still there because it is.
It is very much a down.
Brett Marchant
The line, it's a dominant stock market.
So yeah, that's kind of what I first do.
And then when I get into work, it's a case of just trying to work out what I need to do to get through the day in terms of check my calendar, what's coming up, make sure I'm prepared for the review meetings I've got today or the next day.
And having a look at what, what new business work I need to be working on as well.
So yeah, pretty much just making sure that we're I'm looking after my existing clients and then doing the work I need to to bring on new clients.
Kris Tatt
As well.
Yeah, excellent.
And so when we when we talk about.
So let's talk about investments for a minute, because I think too, sometimes people come to a financial planner thinking that we're these investment experts that sit there and read investments all day.
But if we did that, we wouldn't have time to sit in front of the clients.
And So what, what, what have you seen shift for Stratagem over the last few years in terms of what we do around our investments, where we get our investment research from and things like that?
Brett Marchant
Yeah.
Well, that's, that's certainly evolved over the last 13 years as well.
So, yeah, when I when I turned up 13 years ago, each portfolio is very much a bespoke portfolio.
No portfolio was exactly the same.
So there was a lot of work to maintain that.
Yep, more.
Kris Tatt
But not.
Not necessarily for better returns though was.
Brett Marchant
It no, no, no.
But yeah, we, we were relying on on, on a third party research to, to build portfolios and the managed portfolios.
But of late and this is just not Stratagem, but also the industry is moving towards what's known as managed accounts.
Yep.
So this is where you, you a financial advisor group such as Stratagem partners up with an asset consultant.
Yes, because they're, they're the people that you've just mentioned in terms of they live and breathe investment markets.
Whereas I kind of view myself as a bit of a bit of a generalist.
Yep, I do a bit of investment stuff, but I also do a lot of strategic work, superannuation advice, aged care work, aged pension or Centrelink work, estate planning.
So I'm a bit of a generalist.
So we've we've recently adopted managed accounts and our asset consultant is, is the investment specialist that we lean on now.
Kris Tatt
And I think that's one of the things is we, we know our limits and we know when we need to bring in those experts in different areas.
And I think this is one of those things where we know running bespoke portfolios, the compliance changes over the years has just meant that it's harder and harder to be agile in those scenarios where a managed account means we can be agile and give a great outcome for clients without also drowning in paperwork, drowning in compliance costs and things like that.
And so really it's about how do we get the best outcome for the client in this scenario.
And I think to bring on those asset managers who are day to day knocking on doors with managed like fund managers and different things and saying, what are you doing?
Where's how's this work?
What are you doing here?
They're the kind of things that that that we, we want to lean on experts for not we don't have the time to do that plus actually help the people who need it on top of it.
So I think that's.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, no, that's, that's absolutely right.
How, how I've been describing these managed accounts to clients recently is that and I've been going back to my days in the UK.
So the the second firm I worked for in the UK was Citigroup Asset Management.
So it was people.
Kris Tatt
Might people might know that.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, they might know Citi or Citigroup.
So at the time Citigroup asset, well, Citigroup was the largest financial services company in the world.
Yeah, I worked in the asset management division.
Yep.
And obviously he.
Kris Tatt
Was saying a lot of zeros.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, there was.
There's some big numbers.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I was the account manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, so EMEA, OK, so you know, some of my clients were central banks in Asia, central banks in, in Europe.
And yeah, we're talking big numbers.
But yeah, this, this whole managed account investment structure is a bit like institutional investing.
Yes.
So you know, your big institutional investors, they don't go directly to the fund manager.
They come through a consultant, the asset consultant.
So you know, if, if the Central Bank of China, for example, wants to invest money, they go out to a consultant, say, look, we want to invest a certain amount of money in this particular asset class.
Can you come back to us with some recommendations?
And that's exactly what these managed accounts is for us now.
So we're we're leaning on our asset consultant to give us some good ideas and help us manage those portfolios going.
Kris Tatt
Forward and I think too, as the choices got bigger, the noise has got so much stronger as well too.
Like there is just so much out there that can and can't impact things.
And it's like if you chased every rabbit hole, you'd be forever chasing noise.
And I think that's one of the things like you've got a chart, I know I've seen you.
If you want to talk a little bit about that chart that you show clients around the markets, like if you had $10,000 here, what it looks like now, can you see the JFC in the middle of that?
Can you see the tech stock bubble and things like that, like over the long term, you know, it's about being in the market, invested in the market, but it's about picking those right areas.
But also too, because we've got all this extra noise, sometimes we think, well, this is all all going to impact us when when it may not.
And that's where that additional expertise comes in to go.
Now let's cut the noise here are the great investments because of of of what what they bring to the market.
So, yeah, do you want to talk a bit about that chart?
So I think that's a, that's a.
Brett Marchant
Good chart.
Look, I'm not going to take responsibility for putting it all together.
It comes out of Vanguard.
Kris Tatt
But, and we'll include that that in the show notes as well too, that that I think that that's just a good little summary.
Brett Marchant
One there so Vanguard's one of the largest fund managers in the world, but every 12 months they update their their long term performance chart so it gives an indication of what the asset classes have returned over one year, five years, seven years, 15 and even 30 years so yeah if.
Kris Tatt
Long time frames.
Brett Marchant
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So yeah, it's a good, good ass.
It's a good chart to refer to.
And you know, I think Aussie shares have delivered around 9.2% every year for the last 30 years.
US equities have delivered about 10.2%, but they've had a terrific run pretty much since the the bottom of the global financial crisis.
But yeah, certainly more recently.
But yeah, now I, I talked to my clients about taking the long term view when it comes to investing.
As I said, determining your risk profile is really important.
And then, you know, one of the golden rules to invest in is do something, just do something, right.
So I'll use my daughter as an example here.
So she finished school a couple of years ago and she's now working full time.
And I've said to her, look, can you put away $70.00 a week into a long term investment plan?
So we're not talking a lot of money here.
We're talking $10 a day, right?
So some people in our office spend more than $10 a day on coffees.
Yep.
So if you can, if you can save that a day and invest that over a long period of time and in putting into an investment vehicle that earns 9 or 10% per annum, you're going to have a lot of money in the years to come.
Yeah.
So I've said to her, if you do that every fortnight for the next, I think it's 40 years, she'll have about $1,000,000, right.
So you're sacrificing $10 today to have $1,000,000 in around 40 years time.
So that's just the power of compound interest, Yes, so the longer.
Kris Tatt
I think it's the eighth wonder.
Brett Marchant
Of the world, yeah, I think Albert Einstein even said that.
There you go as well.
So yeah, compound interest.
Kris Tatt
Smarter men than us, mate.
Yeah, very much so.
Brett Marchant
Yeah.
So if you can put a little bit of money away for a long period of time, it starts to add up.
Kris Tatt
And I think that was one of the things like when I got stratagem, I, I used to like look at client portfolios.
And my first question was what do they do?
And it was, there was a range of professions.
And what I learnt quite quickly on was that it's actually around what you do in terms of investing, not what you do in terms of a job that that matters for some of this.
And, and you know, we've got very successful clients in, in lots of different industries, lots of different fields and lots of different vocations.
And it's around how how they've been with and applied themselves, not not necessarily that they that they were all, you know, star performers in XYZ.
It was that they were actually great at just chipping away on on a regular basis.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, no, that, that reminds me of a situation that I saw many, many years ago prior to Stratagem that I I was chatting to a chief executive officer of a company down in Melbourne.
Yep, this is probably 15 years ago and he was earning quite a lot of money at the time.
But he also revealed to me that he had a $50,000 credit card debt.
And I said to him, how do you accumulate $50,000 a debt on a credit card?
And he said, I say yes too often.
So yes to the overseas trips, yes to the BMWs, yes to eating out, yes to the updated the wardrobes.
So he says yes a lot.
And then the following day, I was chatting to a factory worker that was earning probably 1/3 of what this CEO was was earning even, maybe even less.
And when he showed me his balance sheet, he was miles in front of his CEO.
And the reason and their their incomes are very different, but their savings habits were very different as well.
Kris Tatt
It's that contrast, isn't it?
Love to talk about a couple of examples of clients that you've helped over the journey as well.
I mean, you've seen many clients and helped in many different circumstances, but there's probably a few that really stand out to you as ones where it was like we're able to help, help them and create value for them in a way that that just was unfathomable otherwise.
So I'd love to hear a few of those stories from you on just some of those clients that you've really helped.
Brett Marchant
Yeah.
Well, there's been a lot over the years, but yeah, there's a few that stand out for various reasons.
Yeah, a couple came to Stratagem probably about 10 years ago now and there's still a client of ours.
But their their understanding of financial matters and in superannuation investments was fairly limited at the time.
So it was very much an education piece to start with.
Kris Tatt
Yep.
And do you find that a lot with clients like there is, there is a real, it's not just do this, but it's actually, let me explain to you the benefits of let me explain to you how this works and things like that.
And people actually go away feeling more informed than when they start.
I think there's there's a real power to that.
Brett Marchant
Yeah.
No, that's that's where I tend to start.
And I know you you like the whiteboard and I and I do as well.
Kris Tatt
Love the whiteboard you get.
Brett Marchant
Up on the whiteboard occasionally and you know do a few diagrams, but.
Kris Tatt
A picture is worth 1000 words.
Brett Marchant
It is, it is, yeah.
But this situation does stand out a bit because there are already an existing client of stratagem tax and accounting.
OK, but they were new to the investment services team.
So yeah, I got in front of them.
I, I sort of understood their their circumstances and what they had invested and and I again started to educate them about.
OK.
Well, where do you want to go?
This is what we need to do.
But it was very much a consolidation exercise initially as well because I think combined they probably had about 6 different superannuation funds, right.
And so we take.
Kris Tatt
Six different sets of fees.
Brett Marchant
Six different sets of.
Kris Tatt
Six different investment profiles.
Brett Marchant
Benefit statements, there was just a lot of paperwork and yeah, they weren't exactly sure what was going on.
So we consolidated all that and we we made a significant saving on an annual basis.
Kris Tatt
On fees, you can miss a real picture on their, their their wealth as well too, can't they?
Because they're going off feel like when they got this in super, but they forget they've got six different accounts where if it's all together, you actually get a bit of picture of of where it's at.
So save them quite a bit on face.
Brett Marchant
Saved significant amount on product fees by consolidation, consolidating.
They wanted more control and flexibility over their superannuation as well.
So a self managed Superfund suited them, Yes.
And again, they've had that for 10 years or more now.
And another aspect of this was that she, she inherited a lot of shares from her, from her parents.
So there was a big share portfolio sitting in her name and her tax bill on an annual, her personal tax bill on an annual basis was, was starting to get up up there as well.
So we decided to transition assets out of her name into the self managed Superfund.
Kris Tatt
Love it because I think that's another key piece, isn't it, for advisors when we're looking at strategic pieces that where, where's the structure at?
Where are you?
Where are you paying tax unnecessarily?
Are you building wealth in the wrong vehicle, essentially putting the handbrake on the ability to expedite that growth and and really utilise what you've got?
Brett Marchant
Yeah, correct.
So you know, moving assets away from marginal tax rates into superannuation where it's taxed at a maximum of 15% in accumulation phase or in pension phase zero.
So, yeah, we did the long term forecast on if you do this over the next 10 years, gradually drip money into the Super fund, keeping aware of the contribution caps.
Yes, yeah, I think we worked out there was something like $100,000 tax saving to them by just moving assets from 1 entity to the other.
And then as I said, there was significant cost savings on the product as well.
Kris Tatt
So let's roll through.
So coming and getting that advice shifted them from paying unnecessary fees, paying unnecessary tax, essentially 100 grand of tax savings, but then you've also got the product fee savings as well.
And then you've got the fact that there's that compounding interest scenario where that 100 grand is also reinvested.
Those fee savings are reinvested.
So it it's just an exponential calculator work of benefits that come from getting the right advice and putting you on the right track.
Brett Marchant
Yeah.
No, it was a great, great solution initially.
And as I said, they're long term clients, great clients as well.
But look, there's been a lot of clients over the journey to where I've rebalanced portfolios and taken a bit of risk out of the portfolio.
Kris Tatt
Which is how do you go with that conversation?
Because I remember leading up to the GFC, like I came in just as the GFC was starting to occur and there was a lot of people saying I don't want to sell.
I've seen 30% the last three years.
I don't want to sell anything, so it's very hard sometimes to book the gains that have been made.
So how do you go with that conversation?
Brett Marchant
Yeah, well, I'm old enough to be to have witnessed a few ups and downs over the journey, right?
So yeah, global financial crisis, what kicked in late 2007?
Yep, and dropped 50%.
The Aussie market dropped about 50% and it bottomed out in March 2009.
Yep.
But prior to November 2007, I think it was four or five years, the Aussie stock market didn't deliver anything less than 15% every year.
Huge.
So it's 15/25/20.
Kris Tatt
But if we go back to that long term, well above the.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, yeah.
So well above average returns, but unfortunately what a lot of people do in those sort of situations, and I'm, I'm kind of seeing a bit of that now, is they chase returns and as you say, they, they, they don't want to back away from those really strong returns, But it's not a normal return.
You know, as I said, the long term normal return from the Aussie stock market's about 9 percent or just over.
So yeah, there's there's been a lot of rebalance, rebalancing of portfolios over the years to say, look, you're just taking on far too much risk at the moment.
And yeah, I like delivering these sort of returns to you.
But you know, if you've got 80% in growth assets when you're risk profiles, yes, you should have 70 or maybe even 50, you're taking on far too much much risk.
So when things do come off, you're going to see it in a very big way.
How about we take a bit of risk out of the portfolio and just bring you back to your comfort zone?
And that's what it's all about.
I want to make sure my clients are able to sleep well at night.
Kris Tatt
And how many times have you been out of call the top of market, Brett?
Never.
How many times you call the bottom?
Brett Marchant
Never.
Kris Tatt
So, and, and this is, this is where I see this sometimes there's this, that there's this belief that we might have this crystal ball or that we know what's going on.
And it's like, no, no, no, we follow rules because trying to fault chase a crystal ball will never work.
Like no one's ever rung a bell at the top.
No one's ever rung a bell at the bottom.
Everyone's always known with hindsight where it is.
And I think that's the that's one of the things is don't, don't try and chase the bell on either end.
Just go.
I need to have those principles that I keep putting in place day after day, week after weekend.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, stay, stay, stay true to your investment strategy or risk profile no matter what the what the market conditions are doing.
Because yeah, if you try and time the market, yeah, you might get it right, but nine times out of 10, you're probably going to get it wrong.
But yeah, we've seen some really strong returns of late.
And yeah, there's conversations happening now where I'm suggesting to clients that, hey, maybe we have a look at the growth that you've seen over the last 12 months and maybe just, you know, pull that off the table and bank it.
And, you know, just, there's nothing wrong with sitting in cash for a for a short period of time.
You don't want to be in cash too long, but there's nothing wrong with taking a bit of bit of profit off the table and just parking it.
Kris Tatt
Yep.
No, I think that's that's wise advice.
And two people forget sometimes that cash in the hand also gives you options.
So like during the JFC, I remember people who held probably probably too much shares at the end of the day.
Then when they, if they, if they, if that's their retirement money and they need to live off it.
All of a sudden when they need that money, they're being forced to sell things in a down in a down market rather than actually having cash on the side, which goes, I've got cash here.
I don't need to touch those shares.
I don't need to sell that to do what I need to do.
And, and I think people forget that side of it is that if you're all in, you've got nowhere to go.
There's, there's no, there's no options.
There's no, there's no cash out to the side that that emergency fund or whatever that means that you're not forced at the wrong time to do.
Brett Marchant
That, that's, that's exactly how I'm positioning portfolios at the moment.
Yep.
Let's let's have a have an attractive cash balance and ideally, particularly when you're in pension phase, you want to have at least one year or maybe even two years worth of pension payments.
Yep.
Sitting in cash.
Yep.
Kris Tatt
And that can click term deposit, yeah.
Brett Marchant
Yeah.
Any, any liquid, liquid assets that you can get, you can get your hands on pretty quickly because yeah, as, as you just mentioned, yeah, if, if we do have another significant downturn where markets drop thirty, 4050%, you don't want to be forced to sell assets as they are falling.
You want to just ring fence your cash and just have all the other assets sitting to the side and you can just let those assets go down.
And we know history's shown that they always bottom out and they always recover.
Kris Tatt
Yeah.
Brett Marchant
But yeah, another, another just more recently I'm, I'm just about to present some advice to a couple of new clients tomorrow.
Great.
So this is, this is fresh in my mind.
But yeah, they, they, they got a fairly significant superannuation with a retail super fund.
Yes.
And they're in a geared shift share fund.
Wow, right.
So their risk profile suggests that should be in a growth fund.
So they should have around 70% in growth assets, not 100% and geared.
Kris Tatt
So we're talking 120 a 130%.
Brett Marchant
Depending on what the gearing strategy is behind the scenes.
So they're taking far too much risk on their superannuation.
So again, markets have been really kind of late.
So their balances have gone up significantly, but they're now entering retirement.
So I'm just finishing off the advice this afternoon.
I'll present tomorrow.
But yeah, their fees are, are combined they're about $28,000 a year fees.
So I'm suggesting look, let's let's move away from that particular retail superannuation fund.
Let's let's go to a managed account structure.
So full transparency on how, how you're investing and the the fee outcome I think combined is about $11,000 per annum.
Wow.
So again, the, the, these clients are sort of, you know, 64 and 62 I think.
So if you translate that annual saving over another sort of 2025 years plus, yeah, it's a significant saving.
Kris Tatt
And more transparency, reduce risk to the portfolio, able to sleep at night because if you're in a GID scenario and that's what you're living on, there's a real risk that what what happens if we have a market correction because it's going to be twice that on the gearing side.
So you're going to have negative on negative returns.
So well that, that's great.
Just thinking forward to have you've talked, we've talked a bit about how the industries changed a little bit about where we're at the moment.
What do you see the next 5 to 10 years for the advice space and where it's going?
What kind of clients will be seeing those kind of things?
Brett Marchant
Well, look, I, I, I think it's a really positive industry to be part of because yes, we've seen a lot of advisors fall the way of late because of I.
Kris Tatt
Think nearly what nearly 50% of the advice are based.
Brett Marchant
Disappeared.
It's a big number, yeah.
So as as education standards have been raised, a lot of advisors have thought, well, you know, I don't meet that and I can't be bothered meeting that.
So I'm going to exit and do something else.
So anyone coming into this industry, I think it's, it's a great growth area and we've got a couple of young, young guys in our team, which I think I've got a great career in this business.
And but yeah, I think at the end of the day, I, I say to clients, what I do is a relationship game, right?
So if a new client comes into stratagem, they've got to feel comfortable with the business, but they've also got to feel comfortable with the people they're dealing with.
Yes, it's a relationship game.
So, you know, you can go next door to the next advisor and you can pretty much get a similar statement, advice that will tell you how to structure things, how to invest, all that sort of stuff.
But at the end of the day, it's a relationship game.
So I think as technology comes on board even more, I think that relationship aspect of what we do will just continue to grow.
I think most people want a face to face relationship with an advisor.
They don't want to be dealing with a computer.
And look, some aspects of what we do, you know, that the computer might be able to take over a little.
Yeah.
But at the end of the day, when I, when I have a look at my client base, I mean, if I said to them, you know, you're not gonna be seeing me anymore, you know, I'm gonna have some sort of technology solution for you, they they wouldn't be happy with that.
They'd be looking.
Kris Tatt
Siri 3 point 1.2 give you the advice going forward?
Yeah, and I think I think probably one of the things I've seen in that technology space, which is interesting, is that that it's, it has biases.
It still has problems that that haven't been solved yet.
And I think sometimes it's people really want someone that can talk to someone that can call up and we'll actually understand them on a on a emotional level as well, because a lot of what we deal with is quite emotional.
Like when people are going in retirement, they're, they're essentially saying goodbye to the life they've had for 30 years, 40 years, but they've got out of bed each morning, gone somewhere, done something.
All of that disappears.
The income from that job disappears as well.
So there's a lot of change that they're dealing with.
And you, you really need someone that can guide you through that process.
And I think that's a lot.
I know that's what we see on a regular basis is people either getting ready or entering retirement because that is where that is where there is, we can help them the most and that is where there is the most change for them as well too.
And they essentially go from I've worked all my life to build these assets to now these assets are going to fund my.
Brett Marchant
My life, the rest of your.
Kris Tatt
Life, yeah.
Brett Marchant
Yeah, no, I, I have a lot of clients that that say to me, you know, thank you for what you do for us.
We really appreciate it.
And and again, it's that that personal touch, it's that relationship, but it's, it's a real growth area.
Look, at the end of the day, we have an ageing population here in Australia.
More and more people are starting to retire.
They need to lean on someone that can help them through those retirement years from an investment perspective, but also from a, from assembly perspective as well.
You know, if, if you're eligible for an age pension, you know, you, you can, you can apply for that.
But we've found more recently that it's, it's quite, a, quite a involved process.
Yep, and then looking even further on, aged care is becoming a fairly big aspect of what we do as well.
And, you know, we've got a couple of aged care specialists in the house, so if anyone and.
Kris Tatt
We've seen.
Brett Marchant
It there, we can drink them there.
Kris Tatt
It's not necessarily the person going into care that we're dealing with, but the kids who are having to deal.
Brett Marchant
With family members.
Kris Tatt
Have mom and dad now going into care and what's the best financial outcome for them?
What's going to make most sense for them?
What, you know, are they going to have to be forced to sell a house or all these things that come up?
Yeah, it's a lot.
Brett Marchant
Yeah.
So there's a lot going on and and sorry, just another client.
Kris Tatt
Yeah, go for it.
Brett Marchant
Outcome, which which is worth mentioning here too is estate planning is another aspect of what we do as well.
So.
Kris Tatt
What happens when I'm not here?
Brett Marchant
Yeah, Yeah.
What happens to your assets?
But one that's been getting a bit of media attention of late is the taxable component of your superannuation.
So again, a a good news story on one of my clients is that I I pointed out to her that look, if you pass away, your kids will inherit your superannuation, but the tax man will take about $250,000 tax before they get anything.
Kris Tatt
It's quite a hidden cost.
Brett Marchant
Isn't it?
Yeah.
So it's, it's the 15% tax on the taxable component or the 17% tax depending on who get how they get it.
So yeah, just just recently we we made a significant, we sold down assets inside the Super fund.
We made a significant lump sum withdrawal.
So the assets are no longer in the superannuation system.
So there's no taxable component.
And then we've invested that into an investment bond, which is a which is a again a tax friendly investment only taxes a maximum of 30% as opposed to a higher marginal tax rate.
And if this client does pass away, well, the kids get the entire.
Kris Tatt
Balance, yeah.
Brett Marchant
They get the entire balance so the tax man doesn't step in and take $250,000 away from her hard earned cash.
Kris Tatt
Yeah.
And I think those those hidden taxes people just aren't always aware of.
And it's like there are strategies to mitigate this, but you need to get on the front foot and and start working on that otherwise.
Brett Marchant
Seek advice.
Kris Tatt
Yeah, exactly, Brett.
I'm just conscious of time.
Have you got any last take home messages for anyone listening out there?
Anything that you want people to just sort of remember?
Is that that that that final piece of advice for them in this space?
Brett Marchant
Yeah, I think it comes back to the education space for me, Chris.
Again, a lot of what I do is, is educate my clients.
So yeah, just have an understanding about where you're at, where do you want to be and what do you need to do to get there?
Yes, and just like what I told my daughter to do something, and as I said, it doesn't have to be big.
It's not like you have to invest $1000 a month.
You can invest $70.00 a week.
But if you do that, over time it develops into a big balance.
But yeah, do something.
Another one that I always talk about is pay yourself first so that that comes back to superannuation.
You can salary sacrifice some of your superannuation and some of your income into superannuation.
So you'll pay 15% tax as opposed to a marginal tax rate that could be in the 30 or 40% range.
So yeah, do something, pay yourself 1st and you know, just just understand what's going on and, and seek advice if you, if you need to because yeah, from my experience, you know, we can identify some issues that we can help you with.
Kris Tatt
Great, Love it.
Thank you so much, Brett.
It's been a pleasure having you on.
It's been great to hear the journey hear hear how you're helping people along the way with all of this as well too.
We're going to include your contact information in the show notes, right?
Being being at a strategy of alumni.
Obviously you're on the website as well too, so people can jump on and see you there as well.
But it's been great having you on the show.
Thank you for coming on.
And yeah, to everyone out there, make sure you go and get the advice that you need.
So thank you.
Brett Marchant
Thanks, Chris.
Kris Tatt
Thanks.
