Reading Time: 3 Minutes
Strewth, just finished cleaning my daughters vomit.
Yep, you read that right.
Nothing says winning like an ol fashioned midnight cleaning job.
Quick shower, change pillow, change bedsheets and FINALLY she’s down again.
Unfortunately for me, all that excitement has got me all riled up, so why not punch out a blogpost?
Funny thing is, whilst I was cleaning – I had a random thought.
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve been thinking about investing.
You see, dear reader – last time out, I mentioned that we were going through some personal shit.
That shit is still going on, and will for a while – but if you’re going through hell – keep fucking going right?
Nothin’ gonna keep us down.
And tonight, whilst I was wiping up bile and chunks of strawberries, it seemed like an opportune moment to get back on the investing bandwagon.
I was thinking what I would be investing in for my kids, in the short, medium and long term – provided we had the means, and the know-how.
And since I’m waiting for the laundry to finish…
Short term (1-2 years)
This one is tricky, mainly because well, kids don’t grow up in the short term do they?
And if we’re thinking short-term, you gotta have pretty good timing to get in at a decent entry point.
Luckily for us, Trump just had his will-he, won’t-he tariff moment, which completely roiled stock markets – down around 20% for the SP500 and NASDAQ (they’ve bounced back a bit).
My uneducated opinion is that Trump is a businessman first, politician second – and therefore he won’t… because it’s bad for business.
We most likely will see a rollback on a lot of the tariffs to a more agreeable level, failing that – the market will just absorb the tariffs and we will reach some sort of equilibrium again (i.e. continual of the uptrend).
That’s my two cents anyway.
So what to do?
Probably just chuck some money in the FAANGS and leave it there. Those bad boys are absolute money spinners, just wallowing in cash. Case in point, Apple and Alphabet sit on about $300 BILLION.
Extreme pick
Bitcoin – because it’s a risk-on proxy, has finally reached institutional adoption, and like a cockroach, refuses to give up.
Medium term (3-5 years)
Ahh, I’ve never really liked investing for the medium term – because you either smash n grab, wham bam thank you ma’am – or you leave it under the mattress and revisit in a decade or two.
That’s always been my investment philosophy anyway.
But since life changes, and we might be investing for an end goal in a few years, thinking about the medium term does work.
If my time horizon was a few years – I would pick an asset class which I am fairly confident in, has historically performed well and just dollar-cost-average into it every month or so until times up.
This set and forget strategy should smooth out any market volatility, although personally I would prefer a longer time horizon to smooth out even further volatility.
So what to do?
Probably just regular DCA into stocks or ETFs and take the brain-work out, irrespective of whether the market is rising or falling. This is because historically speaking, stocks have trended up.
Mind you there’s been moments of blips here and there, and if you’re unlucky enough to be caught in one, well… that’s investing unfortunately, think longer term!
Extreme pick
Start your own business.
Honestly, 3 years is a long enough timeframe to have a rough idea whether something will work or not. The upside is unlimited, and personally – having started mine in the last year, it sure beats making someone else’s dream come true.
And if it doesn’t work out, a few years out of the workforce is not a fatal career mistake, you can always get back into paid employment.
Like what Adidas always tells us – just do it.
Long term (10 years+)
For me, this one is the easiest.
I would buy property for my kids.
Something with a bit of land, in one of the major capital cities, borrow as much as possible, and just let time do its thing.
In 20 or so years, when the kids (hopefully) are mature enough to manage money, I can almost guarantee said properties will be worth more, much much much more.
And if it isn’t worth more? Then either there’s been something catastrophic (WW3), or Australia is no longer an attractive place to live.
But for the moment, we live in one of the most desirable countries on the planet – and that doesn’t just change overnight.
Extreme pick
Apart from buying even more property, probably a tiny sliver of the portfolio will go towards bitcoin, like I said before – it’s a fucking cockroach, nothing seems to be able to kill it.
If it turns out it’s one giant ponzi, then that’s OK, we live another day – but if it turns out it’s not… well…
~~~
I hope there’s some value in this post for you guys, it’s so random how the mind works isn’t it?
One minute you’re panicking about vomit in your toddlers hair – the next you’re thinking about buying a property for said toddler.
And wouldn’t you believe it, the washing machine’s done its job already.
Until next time amigos!
Sponsor’s Note:
Lately I’ve been writing more and more commercial transactions, and it’s allowed me the chance to talk the shit with many business owners and get a microcosmic feel of the economy.
That’s one advantage of being both an accredited commercial broker as well as residential – means that I get to see quite a lot across the lending spectrum.
From standard PAYG first home buyers, to low-doc loans, to those with sub-prime credit scores.
It really keeps one on their toes cos you never know who you’re gonna talk to tomorrow, and more importantly, help!
So if you have a commercial or business loan, and wanting to have a review of your situation – don’t be shy! Drop me a line or contact me anytime.
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P.S. Every post is the personal opinion of yours truly, please seek your own personal financial advice regarding your own personal circumstances.
