Nirlep Kalra founded Intelliplan in 2012 and acts as its Principal and provides a personal Financial Planning ideology to a diversified Client Sector. Planning, implementing and monitoring progressive and robust financial strategies whilst nurturing existing B2C and B2B relationships, and cultivating new ones.

Nirlep provides a very unique service in that he adopts an extremely client-centric approach to financial advice – believing that having a select few clients, instead of many, allows for a more thorough and effective advice framework.

What are the most important aspects/values you look for when selecting a Dealer Group?

Cultural Fit. For me, it all comes down to trust. Financial Advice is a high stakes industry - not only do we face greater mounting regulatory pressure but also reputational risk along with it.  

Obviously, we want to know our Licensee will still be around in the future but moreover, each Licensee instils its own brand which can ultimately leave an impression on my clients. 

I look at the people not just behind the licence but also the staff within the company - do they have any  ASIC breaches? Any claims against key staff? This begins to paint some sort of picture as to the integrity of the Group.

From there I like to know what is important to the Licensee and find out whether we align our 1, 5 and 10-year plans. Some focus on growth, others on support etc - I typically steer away from Licensees running ‘CAR factories’ and tend to prefer Dealer Groups who invest heavily in support. 

Also, intimate size is important too - My advice model can be quite complex at times and I really cannot afford to be buried in red tape and left waiting for drawn-out periods for simple queries. When you are an individual Principal of business, like myself, the value of timely support and responses is priceless.

Open APL is essential for me also. My job is to plan, protect and grow my clients’ wealth - I need as much discretion as possible to adequately achieve this for them. Without an open APL, my clients could receive the same service from any other planner using the same product menu - I lose my point of difference and I lose my value-add. 

What attracted you to the Walker Capital Private Wealth offer?

I’ve worked with Walker Capital for a number of years, both professionally but also personally as a client. Their commitment to both performance and advice really resonated with me and felt my clients could really benefit from their consultative approach - especially with regards to open APL.

Heavy investment into compliance and support framework. 

Although new and small it was quite evident to me that they spare no costs when investing into the people and processes in their advice framework.

Their compliance team gives me a lot of confidence - If I ever have concerns or queries, I can be in contact with Marija directly. This really helps the efficiency of my business and is something you just don’t get at some of the bigger Groups.

Resources and support – in my initial licensing discussions with Michael Walker he really impressed me with how empathetic he was to my business’ success. Whether I wanted to scale up or scale down he was quick to make resources available to me and even a budget for acquisitions. 

I felt Michael Walker could be more of a business partner than just the Licensee which can be a real asset for those looking to scale up.

How can Walker Capital Private Wealth best support its Advisors into the future?

Timely and thorough communication from regulatory requirements. In an industry such as ours, it is important for clear and concise communication of both the Licensee and Advisor obligations in relation to any new evolving advice standards. 

Walker Capital Private Wealth has been very good with this – in particular with the new FDS requirements.

 I’m hoping they can maintain this level of communication as the group grows.

As people from the southern states flock to the beautiful Sunshine State, the people of Brisbane need to ensure their assets are protected and in the best place to capitalise on the market growth.

From skyrocketing property prices, through to real estate investment trusts (REIT) geared to capitalise on the current growth, are your personal finances to maximise your returns in your retirement?

Financial planning is your roadmap to success

Ever wondered why some people are retiring comfortably up on the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Coast or Gold Coast beaches? Financial planning has more than likely quite a lot to do with it.

Seeking professional financial planning advice sooner rather than later can literally save you tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands during your retirement, not to mention providing more money to enjoy now – fun in the Brisbane sun!

Why see a professional planner now? Why not when I am closer to retirement?

It is a myth that a financial planner is something that you need when you are coming up to retirement. In fact, a Brisbane financial planner can provide you with the necessary advice, roadmap and goal setting that could open your eyes to so much more.

Thinking of an investment property? Maybe an annual holiday overseas with the family? What about a jet ski to punch over to Straddie? Well, rather than buying these on credit, or leveraging assets just because your bank manager says it’s a good idea, why not have an expert take a look?

A financial planner looks not only at the now, but the future, and everything in between. You wouldn’t get in the car without knowing where you were going, and your financial map is no different. Like your GPS, a financial planner in Brisbane can provide you with several ways to get to your destination, different risk levels, varying investment options, not to mention regular passive income streams to top up your annual salary!

Wouldn’t it be nice to have an extra $1000, $10,000, or even $50,000 a year? A financial planner can show you how.

But don’t be fooled, a financial planner will also give you the hard truth about your financial situation, your credit score, your debt levels, and your retirement plans.

How does a financial planner work?

The great thing about most financial planners around Brisbane, is they come to you. They meet and discuss your personal finances. This includes insurance, superannuation, investments, mortgages, credit cards & debt levels, wills & estate planning just to name a few areas.

They will also work through your earning capacity, your life situation (married, children, single etc), the number of years you have left to realistically work in your job at full capacity – and then build out that roadmap, just for you.

Then on a regular basis, your financial planner can come to your Brisbane home, or one of the great cafés around the River City, and discuss your progress, make changes if necessary but all in line with meeting the goals and expectations you set out in your initial meeting.

Financial planning is not just for wealthy people, it is a profession that aims to create wealth for its clients. Not simply financial wealth, but the wealth of the shared experiences that you and your family can enjoy but knowing your (and your family) financial future is in safe hands.

As the most isolated capital city in the world, Perth residents have long enjoyed the fruits of the mining boom, the picturesque beaches and a lifestyle that is arguably the envy of much of Australia. However, Perth has also experienced the economic highs, and desperate lows due to its reliance on what it pulls out of the ground, with fluctuating house prices, cost of living, not to mention job securing often tied to Global Iron Ore and other precious mineral pricing.

In the 2017 ABC Documentary, Betting on the House, it was evident to viewers how unguided, inexperienced investment in the property market brought many people in WA to their knees.

With similar market hallmarks in the Western Australian’s mining industry – in part due to the trade war with China and the downward pressure on iron ore pricing & jobs – it’s timely to consider could a GFC-like effect impact the WA market?

Prepare for the unexpected

Financial Planners in Perth understand the risks of FIFO workers, the rewards and the opportunities that are out there for investors that put their money in the right place.

A financial planner can provide a path to success for your personal finances, regardless of if you earn a lot now, later or lose your job through industry cutbacks.

In a market such as Perth that has already seen the highs and lows, pooling your investments in one asset class such as shares or property has proved to be extremely dangerous – and for your long-term financial security, a Perth financial planner is key to getting this right for you.

Regardless of how old you are, have you got a will? Have your thought about how much you would need to retire? Have you through about purchasing a boat? Or have you seen a little apartment you liked in Broome that would be a great holiday rental, as well as a place for you to get away from the world? A financial planner based in Perth is the ideal piece of the puzzle for those looking to ensure their financial future is in good hands.

I understand money, why should I see a financial planner?

What happens if the mining ends? If you work in hospitality or tourism and run into issues, could you survive if it couldn’t get back up on its feet? What if you lost your job? Could you pay your mortgage?

A financial planner is not a ‘dooms-day prepper’, but a planner for all scenarios you might face in your future. They look at your life, objectively, working through what levels of debt you have, what income you make, how many years you could work and how much you need to retire.

But it’s not all about squirrelling away all your money and having no fun. What about a small boat to enjoy Rottnest Island? Why not. But too many people make the mistake of putting them on credit, not planning, saving and buying when the time is right.

If you want to be comfortable in retirement, get debt-free, and own your financial future – not be a slave to the big banks and their interest payments – then a financial planner in Perth is your next best step.

Melbourne is enduring extraordinary stressful and trying times at the moment. At the time of writing this article, Melbourne residents have endured over 250 days of lockdown. COVID-19 has caused entire industry sectors to be shut down or slowed down for over 12-months, parents having to home school, work, exercise and socialise within 4-walls, all the while the pressures of the home finances, mortgages, savings, and personal debt are never far from the thoughts of the people of Melbourne.

In Melbourne, like a lot of Australia, particularly those in lockdown, “many are seeing their incomes shrinking thanks to the loss of hours, rising unemployment and COVID-19 restrictions,”. Industry insiders state that there is alignment between high leverage, mortgage stress and high rates of COVID-19 infections.[1]

With all this in mind, spending time and money on financial planning in Melbourne may not be high on the agenda of many people, but it should be!

Why is it so important for Melbourne residents to financially plan?

We could have never anticipated the effect the pandemic would have had on our lives, let alone our personal finances.

Some people have done very well through the diversification of their earnings, housing price increases and access to purchasing shares at the bottom of the pandemic.

But there are many that have not endured the pandemic with so much positivity, with people losing work, and defaulting on their mortgage or loan payments as their livelihoods slip away due to lockdowns and pandemic flow-on effects.

Irrespective of your current position, a financial planner can help during these uncertain times.

From the reduction of personal debt, refinancing of mortgages, Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) management, and access to investment funds and IPO’s, your financial planner has their finger on the pulse of all things financial – and they, like a personal trainer, are there to assist you in achieving your personal goals.

From your initial meeting, regardless of you own a property in Melbourne or not, they can and should show you how to manage your budget to get into the housing market, protecting your investment.

Financial planners help to keep you moving with the markets

Although no Financial Planner in Melbourne has a crystal ball, they most certainly are equipped with the skills, tools and expertise to advise and assist their clients to move with the markets – even in a pandemic.

This includes ensuring you have a diversified investment portfolio, that your insurances are all up to date, even looking into ‘income protection insurance so you can be sure your Melbourne property won’t be taken from you if you lose your job.

Moving with agility and the correct information allows you to stick to your financial plan or roadmap even if something as large as a pandemic, or as small as missed credit card payment causes you to financially deviate. Your financial planning regular reviews and ongoing updates ensure your long term financial security.

With so many unknowns in Melbourne right now, and so many people with stress from debt, mortgages and potentially lack of work and opportunities, a financial planner can ensure that you are not one of those – or if you are already there, that you have a path in front of you to effectively get back on-top once again.

Based in Melbourne and need some sound financial advice? Speak to a qualified financial planner today and get the surety you and your family need.

[1] https://www.afr.com/property/residential/half-of-mortgage-stressed-households-have-borrowed-to-the-hilt-20210929-p58vmd

There has never been a more important time for the people of Sydney to get a financial planner. The COVID-19 pandemic has left the people and businesses of Sydney in a precarious position at best – with a roadmap to a new normal. But what is the roadmap for your financial normal?

NSW accounted for the largest share of postcodes where households have overstretched their finances, in large part due to the soaring house prices, with “the average new loans in Sydney are often eight times income”. ^[1]

This leaves you and your family extremely exposed with more than two in five (42 per cent) households were experiencing mortgage stress in August – up by 42 basis points from the previous months.

In a US study, 35 per cent of all respondents experiencing relationship stress said money was the primary cause of friction[2], is this something that you want to have in your life with everything that the last few years have thrown?

How can a financial planner help secure your future?

By employing a financial planner, whether you are planning to stay living and working in Sydney for 1-week or for your entire life, a financial planner can help you create your roadmap to financial freedom.

Just like the roadmaps out of COVID lockdown, a financial plan will provide quantifiable benchmarks that need to be achieved by you, it will keep you accountable for your actions, but also not set up unrealistic expectations, roadblocks or provide unrealistic plans for your finances.

With so much mortgage stress in Sydney, not to mention the pressure on household expenditure, a small interest rate rise will likely send many people to a place they don’t want to be – and quite simply can’t afford to be. Even a small interest rate increase could result in individuals needing to remove children from private school, relocate to regional areas, or even cause separations in marriages.

A Sydney-based financial planner can sit down with you and your partner to assess your current financial position, earning capacity, how much tolerance to risk you have, your earning horizon (how long you must work) and set a range of realistic goals.

Thinking of buying a house? Why not - but not at eight times your earning capacity! Why not rent in Sydney and purchase a house in a growth region of Australia, rent it out and set up a long-term passive income stream and capital investment?

Why should I see a Sydney financial planner?

If it isn’t clear enough already, financial planning is about developing strategies to help you manage your financial affairs and meet your life goals – and the first step is to make sure you have access to the right advice.

Working with a professional financial planner can give you confidence and peace of mind that your financial future is secure”.[3]

Irrespective of the time you have left to work, your bank balance (or lack thereof), your marital status or your access to capital now – a financial planner can assist you to plan and ensure a positive future.

You wouldn’t get in the car without having a realistic map of where you are going? Nor should you move through life without a realistic roadmap of where you are financially now, and into the future.

Don’t end up like those two in five (42 per cent) households were experiencing mortgage stress or getting a home loan 8-times your earning capacity, which could come crashing down if the Australian housing market or interest rates see any form or adjustment.

Speak to a qualified, expert financial planner today, and live your Sydney dream now and into the future with the knowledge that you have set yourself up with a plan. Because in personal finance, a failure to plan is a plan to fail.

[1] https://www.afr.com/property/residential/half-of-mortgage-stressed-households-have-borrowed-to-the-hilt-20210929-p58vmd

[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/04/money-is-the-leading-cause-of-stress-in-relationships.html

[3] https://fpa.com.au/

In Australia, thanks to the mandatory employer superannuation contribution, we are all much better off in retirement. However, with the average balance of men 45 – 54 having $196,400 and the average woman in the same age bracket having $129,199[1], that hardly sounds enough to pay off your mortgage and live comfortably, does it?

Financial planners are not just there to plan for your retirement, but for a whole raft of situations in which we find ourselves moving through in life. From planning a holiday, planning to buy a property, invest in shares, plan for private school education, maybe even look to invest some inheritance to make it count in your future – and this is just a start.

With a high level of experience and a minimum post-graduate education in financial planning, financial planners are experts in how to reduce your household debt levels, increase your wealth and to set you up now for the future.

Financial planners – simplifying finance

A financial planner’s role is to become a mentor of sorts, to sit down with you from your initial consultation, set your objectives now, and into the future based on your current (and future) financial and personal circumstances.

A good financial planner becomes more than a service provider, they come along your life journey with you and provide advice as life changes.

Ever wondered why some people retire early? Why can they afford a family holiday each year and work the same job as you do? They plan their finances.

Aren’t financial planners for rich people?

No way! Financial planners are for everyone, and the money they charge is a tiny fraction of the savings and income they will generate for you and your family over the journey.

Sure, many wealthy people – in fact most – would have financial planners and advisors helping them achieve their financial goals.

But is doesn’t matter if you are on $25,000, $250,000 or $2.5 million per year, your financial planning needs to start somewhere.

What are the steps of getting into a financial planner?

Financial planners provide a full suite of services and advice from the initial planning stages, to assistance with the execution of wills.

However, it’s important that you come into a meeting with your financial planner of an idea of what you earn, how much your ‘realistic’ earning capacity is in the future, an idea of when you may wish to retire and a clear idea of how much you have in the way of assets, liabilities, and superannuation.

From here, the financial planners will work to set out a plan, set financial objectives and start setting you up for your financial future.

Failure to plan is a plan to fail, can you and your family afford to live on what you have now? What happens if you must retire early? Thinking you want a bigger house or a family in a few years’ time? Want a jet ski? A financial planner can help you get there sooner.

[1] https://qsuper.qld.gov.au/super/how-much-super-should-i-have

There are many positive benefits of employing the services of a financial planner. Although some people may think they are only for the people ‘with money’, this statement couldn’t be further from the truth – and why? Well, let’s start with a question.  

What is the present value of $1000 today? Simple right? It’s $1000. Although this makes sense…it’s not correct.

As any good financial planner will tell you the present value (PV) of any sum of money is the sum of all its future cash flows or future value (FV). No, this is not technical, financial trickery – you might need a financial planner to assist with getting your head around this concept.

Planning for your future

Financial planning looks not at what you have now but what you realistically can achieve in the future to make you and your family financially secure and comfortable, then works its way backwards from there.

Getting back to our question, a financial planner sees not $1000, but sees the sum of all the future cash flows that $1000 could generate if invested correctly for you over a defined period. Would you like $1000 now or $3000 in the future? Financial planning helps you achieve this.

What do financial planners do?

Accounting for the Financial Planning Association of Australia, a financial planner will be able to help you understand your financial situation, develop a strategy, and give you guidance on things such as funding your children’s education, helping with budgeting and tax planning, having enough money to live comfortably in your retirement, as well as with things such as debt management, insurance, estate planning and so on.^[1]

In terms of the benefits you seek, maybe you are looking to pay off your home loan quicker, pay down debt, plan for private school education, build an investment portfolio or plan for your retirement – this is all done through a set of steps.

What are the steps in a financial planning process?

There are three key steps to financial planning that every manager will work with you to achieve on an ongoing basis. These steps include the planning stage, the execution step, and the feedback step.

In the planning stage, your financial planner with work to understand your financial needs, review your income, your assets, and liabilities as well as your time horizon and risk tolerance. In this stage, your financial planner will set objectives, so benchmarks that you both want to achieve. Such as have $100,000 in investments outside my Superannuation by the time I am 50.

Based on this, the manager will then look to the execution stage. This stage focuses on implementation strategies to either pay down debt or have that $100,000 work for you to grow. This growth could be through a wide range of recommended investment instruments such as bonds, bills, funds, ETFs, shares and even term deposits depending on your individual circumstances.

Then finally, the feedback step, which is a regular review of your financial plan, your financial situation, and the performance of your investment portfolio. With potential adjustments to your financial planning strategy should that be required to hit your objectives set in the planning stage of the financial planning process.

Financial planning is not something that is exclusive, on the contrary, the people that can ultimately benefit from it the most is every one of us. Planning your financial future is essentially setting yourself up now, to not put that $1000 into your pocket, but to invest into something that ensures the future and retirement you deserve.

[1] https://fpa.com.au/what-is-financial-planning/choose-cfp-professional/

So what did we learn from the recent Cryptocurrency market bubble?

Nothing – in short.

Nothing we did not already know...

The first thing to understand is that cryptocurrency is not the first bubble market and won’t be the last.

History repeats itself. As long as there are market participants engaging in the free trade of an asset – financial bubbles will inevitably ensue – some fortunes made with many more lost

A brief history of some notable financial bubbles is below…

• Tulipmania 1636-37[1]
• South Sea Bubble 1700s[2]
• Railwaymania 1840s[3]
• Japanese Asset Price Bubble (1986-1991)*

Japan’s bubble was characterized by a rapid acceleration of real estate prices (and subsequently stock prices) and an overheated economy. All of this was fuelled by a Bank of Japan monetary policy error, lowering interest rates and allowing uncontrolled money supply and credit expansion. The euphoria phase was characterized by Japanese citizens, traditionally great deposit savers, shifting money from savings accounts into the capital market.[4]

*Eerie similarities between the Japanese Asset Price bubble and the current US and Australian Economy – I will examine this more closely in my next article on Modern Monetary Theory

• Dot-Com Bubble 1995-2001
• Cryptocurrency Bubble 2018 & 2021

Here are the 5 stages of financial bubbles every investor should familiarise themselves whether they knowingly or unknowingly decide to participate in the next one:

Stage 1. Displacement

An event or innovation occurs that sharply changes expectations. This phase is typically grounded in reality and good intentions.

The idea for distributed digital scarcity-based cryptocurrency was genesised in the 1990s by Chinese computer engineer Wei Dei. This idea was refined and some say mastered on 18 august 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto with the mining of this bitcoin block.

The genesis block of bitcoin ledger read: The Times Jan/03/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks

The time-stamped quotation of the Times headline and an ode to the quintessence of bitcoin – a decentralised alternative to the current central banking system.

A well-intended sentiment which in time would only grow in popularity over the next decade.

Stage 2. Boom

Prices rise slowly at first, following a displacement, but then gain momentum as more and more participants enter the market, setting the stage for the boom phase. During this phase, the asset in question attracts widespread media coverage. Fear of missing out on what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity spurs more speculation, drawing an increasing number of investors and traders into the fold.

Stage 3. Euphoria

Valuations reach extreme levels during this phase as new valuation measures and metrics are touted to justify the relentless rise, and the "greater fool" theory—the idea that no matter how prices go, there will always be a market of buyers willing to pay more—plays out everywhere.

Common for investors to disregard investment strategies and submit to the hype where high valuations are perceived as asset success which is a misnomer.

Many crypto investors telling themselves in 2021 “this time it’s different”…

Stage 4. Profit-Taking

The smart money begins heeding the warning signs and is selling positions to take profits.

Stage 5. Panic

Reality sets in, investors panic, and prices reverse course and descend faster than they increased.

Why do bubbles happen…

I could take this opportunity to dump an excessive amount of academic research as to why financial bubbles occur- referring to the different types of behavioural and cognitive biases which drive them.

However, I would much rather impart a concise explanation of market bubbles from Warren Buffet followed by some practical steps on how an everyday investor can survive the next one…

"People start being interested in something because it's going up, not because they understand it or anything else. But the guy next door, who they know is dumber than they are, is getting rich and they aren't," he said. "And their spouse is saying can't you figure it out too? It is so contagious. So that's a permanent part of the system."[5] -Warren Buffett October 1, 2008…

Key Lessons to Learn from the Crypto Bubble:

1. Risk-weighted Asset Allocation

The foundation to successful investments is diversification – not just across asset classes but across risk profiles also.

Conservative investments such as property, bonds, Bluechip stocks, should always make the majority of anyone’s portfolio.

Even our managed investments – like our Swing Strategy – which is although high-performing, should only be a 10% allocation of the client’s portfolio due to its assertiveness.

Even I could not ignore the potential for high return in the cryptocurrencies earlier this year – and when many of my clients discussed it as a potential investment I simply told them ‘no more than 1% allocation of your portfolio or only as much as you’re a prepared to lose’.

2. Avoid Getting-even-itis!

Loss aversions are the tendency of investors to NOT cut losses short, and instead, hold on to losing investments until they can be sold at the break-even price paid for it. This happens because realizing a loss is painful, while it’s easy to feel good about selling something a gain. [6]

An observed continuation of loss aversions is the tendency to increase in an attempt to get even with the market.

There is a temptation for investors who were scorned by the recent crypto crash to chase their losses and take start making wild speculative investments in an attempt to recover their lost monies.

It is vital the investor avoid getting-even-it is making an immediate transition or return to more sustainable investing.

To find out more about Walker Capital’s Managed Investment please schedule a time with one of our staff.

[1] https://www.history.com/news/tulip-mania-financial-crash-holland

[2] https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/South-Sea-Bubble/

[3] https://www.focus-economics.com/blog/railway-mania-the-largest-speculative-bubble-you-never-heard-of

[4] https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/062315/five-largest-asset-bubbles-history.asp

[5] https://www.cnbc.com/id/26982338

[6] https://www.nngroup.com/articles/prospect-theory/