EPISODE 10

Written By Ty Temel

GROW YOUR WEALTH: NAVIGATING THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

FINANCIAL PLANNER & MD, ANTHONY VILLIS

We’re woefully underserved for financial education, and yet current volatility is impacting all of us.

Through the chaos, we need a voice of reason to guide our way - enter Anthony Villis: Managing Director of financial planning firm First Wealth and a shining beacon of fiscal knowledge amid recent uncertainty.

In this timely episode of Off Script, Anthony cuts the BS from mortgages, investments, first time house buying, and offers practical advice to keep your financial security in the long run.

This episode covers:

  • Building a resilient financial planning firm through the 2008 global crisis

  • The lack of personal finance taught in schools

  • Whether now’s the time to take up the security of a fixed rate mortgage

  • The pitfalls of cryptocurrency

  • Why the markets reacted to the ‘Mini Budget’, and whether it’s justified

  • The top thing you can do to protect your finances in the future

 

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

 

“Everyone's in pain, right? People are struggling, you’ve got the energy crisis, you've got interest rates going up, mortgage rates going up, people are suffering in this country. So what they did in terms of cutting 45% tax is just unbelievable, it’s unforgivable really.”

47:30 - Anthony Villis

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“It's bonkers that there is no basic financial stuff in schools. The fundamentals of financial services, how bank accounts work, what a mortgage is, and what an interest rate is would be sensible to have on the curriculum.” - 6:00 - Anthony Villis

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“A lot of it is mental attitude. When COVID came, I decided at Christmas to give up drinking for a period of time. From Christmas, I'd done two or three months, and then COVID came, and I felt so positive. What it showed me is if you live cleanly and healthily, you can deal with the worst situations and feel like you can cope with anything.” - 13:05 - Anthony Villis

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“For years I've been a financial advisor; clients come to you and you've got the solution. You’re a problem solver as an advisor. But what is interesting now in our world, the really good advisors are almost coaching first before advising.” - 16:40 - Anthony Villis

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“A house is your home, right? So if you've got not enough space and you are thinking about moving for those reasons, then still think about moving for those reasons. Where I struggle is people who are trying to second guess the property market and interest rates to say, ‘I'm going to do this purely for financial reasons’. Invariably, you get things like that wrong.” - 30:00 - Anthony Villis

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“If it was my daughter coming to me today, if she was a bit older, and said, ‘I'm gonna buy my flat for the first time’, as long as we were still getting on I'd say to her, ‘You can stay with us for a little bit longer. Let's just have a look at what happens over the next 18 months’. That would be my gut feeling.” - 33:15 - Anthony Villis

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“For the last 20-30 years, there's been a lot of wealth creation in this country, and I think the redistribution of that wealth has been poor. People have become very, very wealthy, and the difference between the people who have made the money and the people who are struggling is going the way of America - it’s vast now.” - 56:00 - Anthony Villis

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“If you own shares you haven't lost any money, what you've seen is you've just seen the value drop in the short term. Long term, it'll go back up, and so they are safe. Don't confuse volatility with loss. It's not a loss, it's just a temporary reduction, it will come back up - you only lose money if you crystallise it.” - 1:05:30 - Anthony Villis

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“If Tesco did an online deal now for 20% off everything today, we would all go down there now, fill up our groceries and have a party. The stock market goes down 20%, and everyone's panicking. What you could do is just buy some, and you get a massive discount.” - 1:13:55 - Anthony Villis

Ty Temel
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EPISODE 9