Episode 3 | Mastering Investments and Retirement for a Secure Financial Future

11 Oct

In this episode of the Enriched Wealth Podcast, we’re excited to interview Daniel Nalder, Senior Associate at Strategem, to continue empowering you on your financial journey.

This time, we’re tackling crucial topics that can shape your financial future: investments, retirement, and aged care planning.

Join host Kris Tatt as he chats with Daniel to explore:

Building a balanced investment strategy that aligns with your goals
The benefits and challenges of managed accounts in today’s market
Key considerations for retirement planning and maximising your superannuation
Navigating the complexities of aged care financial decisions
Practical advice for protecting and growing your wealth over the long term

Whether you’re planning for retirement, looking to optimise your investment portfolio, or supporting an ageing loved one, this episode provides valuable insights and strategies to help you take control of your financial future.

Tune in now, and take the next step towards enriched wealth!

Transcript

Kris Tatt

All right.

Welcome to the latest episode of the Enriched Wealth Podcast.

Today I'm joined by Dan.

Dan, who's one of our senior advisors, senior associates of the Stratagem firm.

And so we're going to be talking to Dan a bit today.

Welcome, Dan.

Daniel Nalder

Chris, thanks for having me.

Kris Tatt

No worries at all.

So Dan, there's probably people out there that are listening that know you, there's probably other ones that don't.

Give us a bit of a background to you, who you are, how you came to Stratagem and we'll sort of go from there.

Yeah.

Daniel Nalder

Yep, no worries.

Well, yeah, as you mentioned, I'm one of our advisors here at the firm.

I've been being a part of the stratagem team for about 12 years now.

Excellent.

Actually started as a grad out of out of uni, and yeah, I've, I've stuck around ever since.

So yeah, it's been an enjoyable place to work, and I guess that's why I'm still here after 12 years.

Kris Tatt

Excellent.

Very good.

And you're now senior associate as well too, so on the leadership team at Stratagem.

Daniel Nalder

Yep, Yep.

Yeah.

I was fortunate enough to yeah, join the associate programme I suppose a couple of years or or so ago now.

And yeah, which has been a fantastic opportunity to yeah, be a part of the leadership team and get a bit of a bit of a different look at the at the business.

Kris Tatt

Excellent.

That's, that's really good.

You mentioned that you came out as a grad from uni.

So what did you study at uni that led you to come into a career of numbers and and financial planning and things like that?

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, so it's it's actually a bit of a funny story.

It was an accounting degree that I completed at uni, which I actually sort of fell into. I think it fell back to or went back to year 11.

I was enrolling in VCA and I actually enrolled in an economic subject, which the school couldn't didn't have the numbers to fill the subject.

So I got moved across to accounting and actually enjoyed it and enrolled or applied for an accounting degree at Latrobe and Yep, yeah, sort of followed a path from from there.

Kris Tatt

So by fate and chance you ended up in accounting, but you obviously not an accountant now.

So what?

What was it within the degree that you thought this is not what I want to do?

Was it when you got out and when?

I don't know if that's the path I want to take or.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, Yeah.

I think, I guess the accounting degree itself is pretty, pretty broad and we certainly got exposure to things like shares and investments.

And I think that that's sort of where I've seen the light, so to speak, and see what else is out there.

Nothing against accountants or anything like that, but I don't.

Kris Tatt

Know we love accountants.

Daniel Nalder

Certainly, certainly a good grounding.

And yeah, I guess it was some of the some of the exposure I got through that degree that, yeah, led me to to where I am.

Kris Tatt

So that real interest in that finance share space and that was sort of your early years of strategy were probably defined even more by that, weren't they?

So what?

What did you start off doing as a grad?

Daniel Nalder

Yeah.

So yes, I joined the, joined the investment services team essentially in an administration role and had quite a bit to do with the share dealing desk at the time.

And I'm so, yeah, got a lot of exposure to direct shares and share trading and investments as part of that role.

And yeah, which sort of continued to grow on me over time, I guess.

Kris Tatt

Yeah, great.

And we're going to come back to talking a bit about about investments ladder because it's a bit of an evolving thing that's going on at Stratagem with investments at the moment.

Exciting to talk about.

So we'll come back to that.

Want to talk about what?

So you're now seeing clients, you're a senior financial planner.

If you could put in a couple of words what financial planning is, because I think there's a few misconceptions out there.

There's a few things where, oh, is that what you do?

I had no idea, but based off what I just saw my children write for Father's Day, they still don't know what Dad does at all.

Which is fine. I'm not holding that against them, but there is a bit of confusion out there.

So what if you could talk about what financial planning is so people get a bit more of an understanding of what would you define it as?

Daniel Nalder

Yep, Yep.

Well, yeah, it's a pretty, I suppose it's a pretty broad field.

And yeah, I totally get the confusion.

Some of my friends probably still think I'm an accountant based on going to the union doing an accounting degree.

But yeah, I guess financial planning is is pretty abroad we guess as planned as we help a wide demographic of clients.

I mean I've got clients from mid 20s right up to 90s.

So, yeah, part of that is sort of formulating strategies and plans to I guess help clients achieve their goals.

And that's a big part of what we do is I guess helping clients determine where they where they are now, where they want to go into the future.

And I guess, yeah, formulating strategies and investment plans to to help them achieve those goals.

Kris Tatt

Because I think that's a bit of a misconception.

Sometimes people think we're stock pickers that like, and so there's sort of, oh, can you tell me which stock to buy?

We probably start a bit broader than that, don't we?

So if, if, what when you talk about strategies, what kind of strategies are you sort of alluding to, what are some of the ways that you've sort of helped clients in that space?

Daniel Nalder

Yep, yeah.

So I mean strategies can range from anything around investment structures and I suppose having your funds in the most tax effective, tax effective environments.

But yeah, there's also, yeah, things like investment, investment strategies, I guess looking at at risk tolerances, the level of risk and I suppose the trying to balance that off with I guess achieving as high possible return with that risk as well.

Kris Tatt

Yep.

I think that that's a big one, isn't it?

Because I think a lot of people think it's all about getting the most return.

But in a lot of ways, I'll just try and explain that we want to see the maximum return, but the least amount of risk in that process as well too, don't we?

So when we're meeting clients, it's not about getting the most money for them.

It's about saying, well, how do we protect the nest egg as well, isn't it?

So there's strategies around that.

It's thinking through that asset allocation, isn't it?

That's really key to that process.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, 100%.

We're not here to make people rich quickly.

It's yeah.

Kris Tatt

And lose it quickly as well.

Why'd you?

Daniel Nalder

Exactly as I mean returns is one part of it, but then there's also I guess over time is actually get pretty well built building, building up investment portfolios with contributions and things like that as well.

So Yep, they're quite a lot to look up.

Kris Tatt

Yeah.

And, and I know you probably don't get in the insurance space as much, but there's you, you look at insurance as well as part of that.

And we're going to touch on a little bit later on, but you're also a specialist in aged care.

Yeah.

So you've got a really broad range of expertise you can help from from growth accumulation right through to those latest stages in life as well.

Yep.

Daniel Nalder

Yep, yeah, 100%.

Kris Tatt

Yep.

No, that's really good.

If there's one thing you wish your clients knew more about financial planning, what would it be?

What would be that one thing for you? If you could say to every client what this is, this is one thing I'd love you to understand about financial planning. What would it be?

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, that's, that's a good question.

And I think, I think maybe it is just understanding that it is, it is more than just purely just investment that we look at that there's plenty of other parts of aspects of your life and finances that we can focus on.

And, and I think even just having an understanding of what goes in into formulating a plan in the background with, you know, a client just doesn't come in and spend half an hour with us and we, we find all the solutions and away we go.

It's, yeah, a lot more detailed than that.

There's a, there's a lot of work that goes into, I guess, researching a client's background and, and I'm getting a really good understanding of, of, of their situation and I guess the, the strategies that we can, that we can put in place.

Kris Tatt

Yeah.

And I think that's that's the thing people don't always appreciate is that if you pull one lever that can impact four or five other levers as well too.

So making sure that when we're building those plans that we're actually not impacting the estate or we're not impacting other wishes and ideas for the client as well too.

So yeah, no, that's.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, absolutely.

There's a lot of trade-offs in, in what we do and, and sometimes there's, it's not always a black and white answer.

It's yeah, balancing the trade-offs.

So I guess get the get the most optimum outcome for the for the client and their needs.

Kris Tatt

No, that's, that's really good.

Can we talk, I want to talk about some, some examples because you've been around for a while now helped a lot of clients.

So what's, what's one or two stand out examples for you where you've, you've really helped a client? And sort of we can give a bit more context around some of the numbers and, and the, and just the idea of just some of the ways that we've helped clients over the journey as well.

We'd love to hear some of your stories.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, yeah.

So probably, I guess one that one that sort of happened, happened more recently.

One of one of my clients who's who's sort of semi-retired, but I guess tinkers around a little bit with, with properties and, and sort of buys, buys some old sort of rundown properties and, and renovates and, and sales and I suppose almost flipping houses, so to speak.

But he, he realised some pretty big capital gains from the sale of one of these these properties recently.

And we were able to, based on his situation and where his super balance was, we were able to I guess utilise some, some, some contribution caps from prior years to maximise some, I guess his tax deduction.

We actually, we were able to bring his taxable income down by 10s of thousands of dollars, which, yeah, we were able to save a lot of income tax, which yeah, he was quite grateful for and also aligned with, we were able to, to increase his super as well.

So it's a bit of a bit of a win, win situation.

Kris Tatt

So we were able to one increase the Super balance to save the tax.

Yep, which means that in, in a sense we are retaining those capital gains rather than giving away a large portion to the tax man.

And not saying that we do anything outside the laws.

We always like to know stay inside the rules.

But if we know the rules, then we can maximise the rules.

And I think that's the thing. These rules change all the time.

So if we can maximise them, that's a, that's a great outcome.

And I assume the client was really grateful for what you're able to do.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

He was wrapped.

So yeah, we'll think whenever we can save someone quite a bit in tax.

They're they're generally pretty happy, yes.

Kris Tatt

Yep, I haven't heard anyone get frustrated with paying less tax.

So that's a good one.

Is there any others that stand out for you or any ones that, that you've helped that sort of just just in your mind is, is sort of that confirmation of why you do the job, because it's still a job.

But as part of that, we really get to help people.

And I think that's, they're the times that we get to go like the example you've given where it's.

Oh, that really means something to that client.

And you feel good about it as well too, because sometimes it can be a bit of a, a thankless job sometimes where?

Yeah.

So, yeah, go for it.

What?

Yeah.

Daniel Nalder

I think, I think another one was, was not necessarily so much what, what we did, but it was just the peace and mind we were able to offer.

So I had had a couple come in that were, I guess in the, in the early 60s and sort of thinking about retirement and then had certainly had quite a bit of concern around whether or not they'd be able to, to retire and, and, and leave out the lifestyle that, that they wanted to.

And I mean, we, we certainly did some work around consolidating a super and making sure that they're invested appropriately and some, some strategies around that.

But at the end of the day, the, the, the modelling we did was able to, to demonstrate that based on where they were, based on where we, where we sort of think they'll go, that they'll be able to sustain their, their, their lifestyle through retirement.

And essentially they could retire tomorrow.

Which funnily enough, they, they, they did pull the pin on work pretty, pretty well straight away.

But just the, just the relief that you can, you can save from a client when, when you can tell them that they can afford to retire and, and you know, they're not gonna run out of money and they can, they can sleep at night.

That’s certainly one of the the rewarding parts of the job.

Kris Tatt

Yeah.

And I think when I, I know for clients I've dealt with that, that modelling that we talk about, that financial modelling, it's, you've got these charts where you can, you can show how here's, here's what you're living off, Here's what we expect to get from returns from your investments.

It's never a perfect, perfect thing, but it's a really good guide to sort of say he's, he's how it is and you can pull it out in future years and show where you're tracking.

So that great example.

And I think that's the thing. The thing is, it's just giving people that reassurance that they can go guilt-free and have that holiday and do those things they need to do.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, absolutely.

Kris Tatt

No, that's really good.

So if we talk, we mentioned a bit earlier about investments.

I want to talk a bit more about that, and I want to talk a little bit about where we've come from because you've obviously been around stratum for a while.

So you've sort of got a bit of our ethos around how we invest and build portfolios for clients.

So I want to talk a bit about what we currently do and then, and, then where we're sort of heading.

And, and we, we hopefully it may actually be out by the time this podcast is, but we, we sort of want to talk about what's coming next for us and, and how that's evolving and, and how we're, we're, we're changing a little bit.

When I say a little bit, we're changing quite a bit around what we're doing in terms of investment management to bring a better experience for clients.

So let's, let's talk 1st about where we've been.

I'd love to hear from you.

You've been on the ground with that for many years now in many different ways.

So how have we built portfolios for clients in the past?

What?

What's sort of been that process for us?

Daniel Nalder

Yeah.

So I guess, I mean everything we, we do is, is, I guess is tailored as possible around the, around the client's needs.

And, and that's sort of being quite reflected in our, in our, the way we, we manage portfolios on behalf of clients.

It's quite bespoke and very tailored.

And I think it's a great service that we offer.

But I guess just just the way the industry is set up very much how we rebalance portfolios is, is generally.

Kris Tatt

So we when we talk about rebalancing, what are what are we doing in those scenarios?

Daniel Nalder

Yep.

So basically part of the part of rebalancing is we, that we look at the the risk profile of the client, look at the level of risk that they're currently invested in.

And I guess we need to determine if we are taking on too much risk?

Do we have scope to increase the level of, risk and, what that entails is I guess making sure that we've got the portfolio so that up to optimise returns and I guess minimise risk, as we sort of mentioned earlier.

So that can come down to specific asset classes and holdings where we might be overweight in a certain asset class like Australian shares or international shares or whatever it might be.

So.

Kris Tatt

And a lot of the returns come from the asset class, don't they?

So it's not specifically a share; it's being exposed to Australian shares, isn't it?

Like that's where a lot of.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, correct.

We generally we sort of look at asset classes rather than rather than individual holdings as such because I mean part of our job is to diversify and we want to get a spread of investments across asset classes and also with within a certain asset class.

Yep.

But yeah, very much and this is just the way the industry's been is, is part of how we rebalance and then getting authority off clients is it's generally happens as part of the review cycles, whether it's on an annual basis or a quarterly basis or whatever that might be.

We basically sit down and rebalance I guess the portfolio at that point in time.

Kris Tatt

The other thing we do there is we probably review some of the individual investments as well, don't we?

So it's, it's, it's bigger than just a rebalance of the portfolio.

Daniel Nalder

Isn't it?

Absolutely, yeah.

So we're looking monitoring the, the investments and you know, if there's, if there's anything that's been downgraded by, by our research houses or upgraded, then we'll look to to make switches with individual funds or in some cases individual stocks and that sort of thing.

Kris Tatt

Just, and we're looking at managers in that scenario as well too, aren't we?

If there are fund managers that maybe are underperforming or aren't aren't getting the returns we need, we're we're looking at that as well too, is that that's.

Daniel Nalder

Correct.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah.

So we're looking at, I mean airport Pfizer made up of a number of, I guess, managed funds, active and passive funds.

And yeah, so we're always looking to ensure that those those investments are achieving what we, what we, I guess what they're set out to, to do.

Kris Tatt

Yeah, excellent.

So that's sort of been that's sort of been the ethos up until now.

These these custom portfolios each client comes in, gets, gets, gets that service.

But probably what are some of you touched on a little bit, what are some of the issues with everyone having a custom portfolio firstly?

Daniel Nalder

I guess the, the issue with it is and, and we've had some scenarios where there might be a certain investment that we decide we, we need to get out of this and, and to implement that across the whole client base is a timely, it's a time-consuming task.

We have to get out to every client, get their authority, to get out of that investment, get advice produced, signed off on and that sort of thing.

So that, that can take quite a bit of time.

We can't just pull the trigger on a particular day and go, all right, we're getting out of this and investing the proceeds into X investment.

It's so it's really, it's a clunky process.

Kris Tatt

It's, it's, we're not able to be very agile in that, in that scenario, correct?

Yeah.

And that, that, that can, that can be an issue in time, can't it?

So, yeah, yeah.

Daniel Nalder

That's right.

So it's, yeah, I mean, obviously on best endeavours, we, we get out to everyone as quick as we can.

But ideally, we if we can find a lever to pull the trigger for everyone at once, we get a much better outcome for our for our clients.

Kris Tatt

So let's, let's talk a bit about.

So we've been on a bit of a journey and probably been on it for the last 12 to 18 months.

Haven't we really started starting to think through how do we do this differently?

How do we do it better for clients?

And this is all around that idea of how do we, how do we get better at being agile and delivering to clients on, on a better, more regular basis.

So talk a bit about the, the process we've been on as part of that journey, because I think I think it hasn't been just a select something kind of away we go.

We've sort of really, really worked through that, haven't we?

You have been leading that project.

So that's that's why I'm looking to you for the for the insights on that.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, Yeah.

So we sort of I guess sat down as a team 12 or 18 months ago and we really had a had a good look at, you know, how, how we're currently doing things.

And I guess you know what, what can we do to to build on that and improve it.

And at the end of the day, we, we want to get the best possible outcomes for our clients.

So we went out and had a look at what's happening in the market with the latest trends, and I guess what our peers are doing and everything like that.

And, you know, really looking at ways where we can sort of stay at the forefront of I guess investment solutions for our, for our clients.

So we, yeah, we, we looked at various structures that there's a lot of different options out there and we've, we've, we've learnt a hell of a lot through the, through the process as well, which is, which has been really good.

Kris Tatt

A lot.

A lot of meetings, a lot of.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah.

A lot of meetings, interviews.

And yeah, we went through a pretty rigorous, rigorous process to I guess ultimately, well, what we've, what we've done is we've appointed an external asset consultant that we can basically leverage off them too, to help I guess create a more efficient way of, of running our client portfolios with the, yeah, the main intention to, to get a better outcome for our, for our clients and, and those portfolios.

Kris Tatt

So, so we've gone through obviously a, a really good interview process.

So we've now selected an asset consultant.

So what what does an asset consultant bring to stratagem that we that we probably haven't had in the past in that area?

Daniel Nalder

Yep.

So essentially what, what an asset consultant brings to us is I guess, I guess take a step back currently with, with the way we manage our investments, we utilise a lot of research and, and everything like that to, to I guess determine the best investments for clients.

I guess what an external asset consultant does is takes that to the next level where we can actually tap into a team of.

Professional portfolio managers, we can get access to best in class investments, we can get access to institutional type products but still be able to deliver it to our to our retail clients essentially.

Kris Tatt

Excellent.

So we're able to get access to lower cost investments, a better range of investments, but also better and more timely research as well to where we're not driving the we're trying to drive the research.

We're actually sitting down with people who day in and day outlook at international shares.

Look at Australian shares is correct in saying that, yeah.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, absolutely.

So it just allows us more time to focus on, on strategy.

And when clients come in for for reviews and conversations, we can spend probably a little bit less time talking about specific investments and more time about talking strategies and, some real value add, I guess options that we can provide.

Kris Tatt

Right.

So, so we've, we've picked our asset consultant and So what for us the next stage is then to what, what, what, what, what does that mean for us as a group now, how does that change how we approach things?

Daniel Nalder

Yeah.

So what a, what a little, what a little entail is that.

So we're basically, yeah, we've engaged this firm to help us run our portfolios.

And I guess the sense of the structure that that we're implementing is, is what's called a managed account.

And what it allows us to do is still, still tailored portfolios around our client's existing holdings.

The beautiful thing about a managed account is we can transfer assets in and out.

So unlike a unitised product that say a.

Kris Tatt

Managed fund or something?

Daniel Nalder

Like a managed fund that a lot of people are familiar with where you just get units within the product the, the investor essentially owns the, the underlying investments, whether that is managed funds or, or shares or, or whatever it might be.

So basically it gives us some flexibility to transfer assets in and out which which can help with some, I guess tax optimization strategies and just avoids unnecessary transaction costs to move money in and out of such a structure.

Kris Tatt

We talked about in the past the, the structure we've had hasn't necessarily always been agile.

It's, it's been really good, but we've just missed that, that missing piece of being agile and being able to move with, let's say something happens with, with what's, what's going on.

We can, we can move quickly.

Like we just had a downturn recently.

And, so it's very hard to get agile with 300 and, and, and, you know, over 300 clients and, and all the things that we have to do there.

So how does this change change that nature for us?

Daniel Nalder

Yeah.

So, so it basically allows us to be more proactive.

So we can I guess rebalance portfolios on a more regular basis.

So is that?

Kris Tatt

Is that what quarterly, monthly?

Yeah, so so.

Daniel Nalder

It's basically it'll be at least quarterly and sometimes more often as needed depending on movements in markets and that sort of thing.

If there's a, if there's a sharp movement in, in say equity markets up or down, it allows us to, I guess, be agile and take advantage of, of, of movements in markets to take some profit or top up, whatever, whatever the scenario might be.

Kris Tatt

And those choices can roll out quite quickly across, across yeah, clients portfolios.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, exactly.

So once, once we've got a client within, within this structure, it allows us to basically make the make the transaction and and provide an update after the fact.

What rather than sending out a detailed advice document that the client then has to sign off on, it can take sort of weeks to go through this process.

Basically we'll, we'll have the ability to, to make a change and then basically provide the client with an update within 24 hours.

So they know exactly what's going on.

But yeah, we're able to sort of take care of it.

And I guess going back to that scenario where we want to get out of a particular investment, we can basically pull the trigger and, and do it across the, across the board today or, you know, instantly rather than, you know, can take weeks, months, whatever to, to get out to, to all of our clients.

So it's allows us to, I suppose, be fairer as far as we everyone's getting the, the the same result and it just just allows us to be, yeah, a lot more, a lot more agile.

Kris Tatt

And for clients too, they'll get to see more reporting through this process as well, won't they?

So if they're within this structure, they'll get updates on a much more regular basis as well too.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, Yep.

So what we're looking at doing is we'll, we'll have monthly updates that go to clients as well as quarterly updates.

And yeah, really keep the clients well informed of what's going on in their portfolios and I guess our thoughts on where things are going and what we're what we're looking to implement.

Kris Tatt

Right.

So, so from if, if I summarise it, we've got access to better investments, we've got access to better research within, more agile.

So we can move within 24 hours if we need to.

If something happens, we're gonna be ongoing maintaining portfolios on a more regular basis and then getting more updates as well.

So it sounds like a great outcome for clients and for you guys to be able to deliver that service that you want to everyone.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, absolutely.

We're essentially able to get, I guess, institutional quality or great investments for our clients, but still offer sort of that boutique tailored, tailored service for our clients that they're used to receiving over the years.

Kris Tatt

That's really great, that's a good outcome.

I love that.

And I think if anyones interested or wants to talk more about it, Daniel's there.

Our other advisors are there.

They've everyone's been through this process together, hasn't it hasn't sort of been a project that's set over the side.

All the advisors have been in this process and part of it because we really want to make sure that everyone 1 feels part of the process, but also feels like they're part of the portfolio construction and management of these as well, too, because we really want it to be a firm wide approach to what we're doing.

Daniel Nalder

Yep, Yeah, absolutely.

We've got yeah, hundred 100% buying from the team and yeah, really excited to launch this launch the managed account sway.

So the stratagem portfolio service.

It is.

We're, we're, yeah, not too far off launching, which we're, yeah, really looking forward to it.

Kris Tatt

Excellent.

Well that's, that's really good to hear.

I touched earlier on aged care.

Aged care is another area that you've actually gone off and done some specialist training on as well too.

What if, if I was thinking about aged care, what if you could summarise it?

Because I think a lot of times people think, well, aged care isn't for me, but a lot of times you're actually working with the children of people going into aged care.

So it's less about informing the person going into aged care and more about informing that next generation who who is dealing with an ageing, ageing parent.

So if you can, you just talk a little bit about aged care and then we can talk a little bit about how we've helped some clients along the way and just some of the things people should be thinking about or are real aware of as part of that process.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, absolutely.

So, I mean, I mean, aged care itself is, is as it's suggested, it's generally that that sort of care stage for I guess individuals that are sort of coming to their, generally it's their latest stages in life as their health sort of deteriorates and, and I guess can't, can't care for themselves, so to speak.

I mean, the, the aged care system's come a long way over the years that there's a, the government sort of introduced home care packages and, and that sort of thing these days.

So certainly, I guess people can stay at home for longer and, and receive some, some care.

But yeah, I guess the inevitable for some people is they do end up in an in an aged care facility.

And yeah, that can be a very stressful time for for families, particularly if they haven't had a conversation prior to it happening.

Kris Tatt

And, and might I say, because I, I've seen this first hand in my family and, and also with clients, it can happen very quickly.

It can sort of be someone has a fall, someone's in hospital and then all of a sudden someone's going to care.

It's not, it's not usually a planned out event.

A lot of times it's usually the the hand is forced by by something else occurring, isn't it?

Yeah.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, that's exactly, exactly right.

And that's a lot of the cases we see where, yeah, something's happened, there's been an accident or, or some sort of medical episode.

Yeah, client goes into to hospital and then, yeah, all of a sudden they find themselves in respite and, and the family's sort of scrambling to, I guess, work out what, what's next.

And how do we manage the whole transition into aged care?

And it's, it's not just there's obviously financial aspects, it's a bit of a complicated system, but I guess just mentally and it is a time consuming process.

But it yeah, it can be.

It's generally at a time of high stress for families and definitely their loved ones.

Kris Tatt

Yeah, which is what you don't need in those scenarios.

So a lot of times people feel like they have to drum up money straight away.

There is a bit of a lead time though, isn't there?

Like there is a bit of time to prepare or come and talk to someone like yourself.

It's not, it's not that you have to, it's not the forcibly.

There are time frames, but just want to talk a little bit around how that looks so that people can sort of go if something happens.

I've got time to come and talk to someone and do a bit of planning so that we're not making rash decisions or decisions that down the track we regret for whatever reason.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

And there's, there's a layer of layer of costs or there's multiple levels of cost for aged care And there's, there's always this common misconception that aged care is very, very expensive.

It's actually in miles, it's actually quite a fair system.

And I mean, we're seeing some, some inquiries now to I guess adjust the OR there's a bit of a review into the system now because some of those facilities probably aren't making a lot of profit.

But yeah, there's, you certainly got more time.

You, you know, these facilities advertise accommodation deposits and that sort of thing.

But you don't have to necessarily stump that up to before you go in.

There's a bit of time and there's multiple ways that we can, we can, we can fund aged care costs.

Kris Tatt

And I guess that's where, where we come to, to the table to help clients is I guess a lot of the aged care advice we provide is around cash flow and just making sure that we, we can cover the day to So.

Yep, so it is.

It is, as you said, quite a fair system and you've seen probably a range of clients over the years with different asset bases go into care.

So it's not about you have to have a certain amount of money to go in, is it?

So for a lot of people, sometimes they worry that, well, if I don't have XII, probably can't get the care I need.

But it is a system that actually affords everyone the opportunity, isn't it?

Daniel Nalder

Yep.

Yeah.

The way the system's set up is that everyone should be able to get access to aged care whether they're, yeah, high net wealth or don't have a lot of lot of money.

The system's set up Yep, for everybody.

So it's just a matter of how we actually funded and what that looks like.

Kris Tatt

Yep.

And, and, and if you talk for a couple of minutes around some of the decisions people have to make when they go into aged care and one is the, the house is 1, isn't it?

There's usually, there's usually a house that they've been living in.

So do they have to sell that right away?

Is there a, is there a, a, is that does that impact what they're doing?

I know there's Centrelink tests and different things like that.

So what, what?

What are some of the things that people need to be mindful of that that decisions have to be made about?

Daniel Nalder

Yeah.

So I mean, a lot of the time we do say, and it's generally when the last member of the couples left, I'm not going to care and they've got this here.

So a lot of the times it can make sense to sell the house to, to I guess cover the the cost of the bond.

But yeah, there's, that's not necessarily a master's otherwise around it.

And I mean, we've got to take into account a lot of considerations depending on the, the actual individual's health, you know, what, what their sort of outlook is.

And, and I mean, we never know, we never really know what, what that looks like.

But I guess we can sort of provide some solutions based on different time frames.

So I guess the individual and their general power of attorney or the kids can sort of get an understanding of what the different outcomes might look like.

But there's a lot of other things to consider as well.

Sometimes it makes sense to to utilise superannuation from a I guess an estate tax point of view.

If there's some taxable components in super, then it may make sense to use money out of super to I guess take or reduce the tax and legislative risk in relation to their superannuation balance.

Depending on what strategies we implement, it can affect age pension and that comes back to the house as well.

Depending on how long you might keep the house for can then affect your age pension entitlement down the track.

Sometimes there might be a protected person or a spouse in the house.

So it's balancing off a lot of tradeoffs to again, make sure that clients comfortable and we can get the cash flow right to yeah, make sure they can sleep at night and don't have to to stress.

Kris Tatt

Well, I'm glad, I'm glad you've done the training, got the expertise, Daniel, because there is, there is, there is a bit there to think about.

And I think that's the thing people need to be conscious of that.

It may not be you going to aged care.

It may, it may be your, your parents or even grandparents.

And so it's, it's really being able to understand what's going to happen for them as well too.

And sometimes it is just being able to have those open conversations with your love.

Isn't it around?

Yeah.

Daniel Nalder

Absolutely.

Every client's situation is different.

So it's, yeah, what what we do for one person might be different to someone else.

So it's, yeah, highly recommended to do sit down with an advisor when the time comes or even start the conversation prior to that just to, yeah, I guess give that Peace of Mind that when the time does come, yeah, we can put some strategies in place to make sure that the transition's as seamless as possible.

Yep.

Kris Tatt

Excellent.

Now I'm going to ask you a couple of questions that that went on the list.

Daniel, I did give Daniel a couple of questions beforehand.

I'm going to ask him a couple outside the square, but I think I think you should be right to answer them.

You will know them for people out there that listening that might be thinking about a career in financial planning who are sort of saying all this all actually sounds quite interesting.

I want to get more involved.

What some of the things that you would recommend they do as a starting point, Obviously a degree is one of them, but are there other, are there other things they can be thinking through?

What are some of the things they should be interested in if they are going to do it?

What's it like day to day?

Is it sitting watching the stock market go down, up and up and down all day?

Is it problems?

So like what, what, what are some of the elements that you find you're dealing with on a daily basis in financial planning that maybe uni didn't get you ready for or that, or that you were like, I didn't, I didn't think this was going to be part of the job, but it's actually it.

That's a big part of it, yeah.

Daniel Nalder

Yeah.

So I guess, I mean, we're, we're all to a certain degree generalist, you know that there's a it's quite a broad field that that we that we deal with in, in the financial planning industry.

But certainly that there's the scope to to specialise in certain areas.

And we've and then we've got Adam on, on the team that specialises in insurance and and myself and Michael that specialise in, in, in aged in aged care.

So that there's a, there's a lot of aspects within financial planning, you can't actually specialise if you have a particular area that you that you are interested in.

But yeah, in, in saying that, I guess it's still to a certain extent need to have a bit of a general knowledge of, of, of, yeah, markets and, and, and investments and different structures and superannuation and that sort of thing.

But yeah, it's, it's really the Sky's the limit with, with where you want to where you want to go to that there's advisors out there that are very, very specialised in, in what they do and just look at yeah, very specific strategies and issues.

And then yeah, there's, there's other firms that are, yeah, provide a lot more general exposure.

Kris Tatt

And day to day for you, what do you find?

Are you doing day to day?

Is it?

It's not all just watching the stock market or researching the next managed fund or things like that, is it?

Daniel Nalder

No, no, that's right.

I think, yeah, with the client base I've got to get exposure to a broad range of issues, so.

Kris Tatt

You do a bit of travelling in that too, don't you A?

Daniel Nalder

Bit of travelling, get out to the country a little bit and occasionally down to the end of the city in Melbourne.

But yeah, as I said earlier, I've got clients that range from mid 20s into their 90s.

So yeah, they've all got different issues.

And yeah, not every day is the day is the same.

So we get exposure to, yeah, a lot of different areas, which is which is what I love.

And yeah, get to get to build a lot of relationships with a wide demographic of of clients.

Kris Tatt

Yeah.

And you and, and financial planning isn't sort of a silo profession, is it?

Like you, you're dealing with other professions as well.

So who who are some of the other professionals that you sort of bump into as part of your process?

Daniel Nalder

Yeah.

So it's, yeah, again, it's financial planning's just just part of, part of clients overall, I suppose situation.

And we're obviously being in with an accounting firm.

We work alongside accountants pretty closely.

And then that's not always in house.

We do have clients with, with other relationships.

Solicitors is, is a big one.

I mean, a fair chunk of what we do is, is based around, you know, estate planning and, and making sure we've got things covered, covered for the future.

So we work, work pretty closely with, with solicitors at times, mortgage brokers and, and, and yeah, I guess the other specialised areas as well.

Just to, you know, as I said, sometimes we're a little bit of, a bit of a generalist and, and we need to, to, to bring other, other professionals in to, yeah, get the, get the best outcomes for our clients.

Kris Tatt

Yeah, I certainly don't think we're in a position to write wills or during power of attorneys.

So, no, I think, I think that's one of the key things is that we're not here to, to, to be that, to be everything for the client.

We're here to make sure that the client gets everything they need, and we'll bring in those people as we need as part of that process, Yeah.

Daniel Nalder

Absolutely.

And yeah, it's to, to be able to work with, with a lot of different professionals.

It's yeah, you get exposure to a lot of other aspects in, in the client's life, which is, yeah, just makes our job easier and we're able to tailor, tailor solutions around that.

Kris Tatt

That's really good.

If if you could leave, leave listeners with one one last thing to think about or 11 take home message, what would be something that you you'd like to to remind our our our listeners or our viewers about?

Daniel Nalder

I think the, the biggest thing is just just don't put off what, what you can do today.

So just the sooner you can take action, whether it's, you know, building a building a retirement plan or building wealth or whatever it might be, the sooner you can get onto these things generally the the better the outcome will be in the in the longer term.

Kris Tatt

And, and I, I wholeheartedly agree with that.

I think too often we hear we should have done this 5-10 years ago and, and it's Yep, get onto it and get it sorted.

Yep, Yep, absolutely great.

Well, Daniel, it's been a pleasure having you on today.

Thank you for your insights.

Thank you for your thoughts around investments.

Exciting to hear about the investment solutions we're bringing to Stratagem to increase that, that client experience and what we can do for clients.

And, and just yeah, everything that you've done today, it's been great.

And for everyone out there, don't delay.

If you need to take action, take action today.

Thank you.