The Financial Plan Before the Next Move | Pat Casey & Shane Kennealy

A financial plan that starts with what to buy is answering the second question first. The first is what you want the money to do, and it changes everything downstream: how much risk you carry, how much home you buy, and when work stops being compulsory. Most people arrive at a plan from the wrong end. They ask what to buy next, how much to borrow, whether to add to super, and only afterwards ask what any of it is for. Reverse the order and the decisions that looked like open questions start answering themselves. You know what to delay and what to protect. You know what you will not compromise on at any price. Two people with identical finances can arrive at entirely different plans, and both can be right, because the plan follows the person and not the balance sheet. In this episode of Inside Property Wealth, host Pat Casey, Rethink Wealth Director and Financial Planner, sits down with Rethink Wealth planner Shane Kennealy to work through the five questions that come before any investment decision. Shane came to financial planning through accounting and audit, and describes his work as helping people build a life that is not limited by money. Together they take a hypothetical household through two versions of the same decision and follow the consequences out over the years that follow. In this episode: Why the next investment is the wrong place to start, and what comes before it The five questions that define what you are actually building toward What a larger home costs in time, not just in dollars How debt recycling works, and where it fits inside a plan Why a high income does not automatically produce financial freedom Why most people who could stop working choose to keep going anyway Learn more: www.rethinkgroup.com.au Book a consultation: portal.rethinkgroup.com.au/portal/ 00:00 Trailer 01:16 Why Investors Think One Decision at a Time 04:09 Where You Actually Stand Today 06:57 Rent, Own or Upgrade 08:57 When Should Work Become Optional? 10:32 The Income Your Assets Need to Produce 14:21 What You Will Not Compromise On 16:31 Your Why in Practical Terms: Maths, Not Motivation 21:47 Case Study: Two Versions of the Same Decision 28:07 What the Larger Home Costs in Years 34:12 When the Home Becomes the Whole Plan 37:56 Full of Information, Short on Insight 41:06 Why Assumptions Break a Financial Model 44:19 Debt Recycling Explained 50:26 Superannuation Is a Structure, Not an Asset Class 54:27 High Income, Low Freedom 57:18 Reverse Engineering the End Game 01:03:54 Running Your Own Race ** Disclaimer: This is general education, not personal financial advice, and does not take your individual circumstances into account. Any references to tax settings or proposed policy changes reflect the hosts' views at the time of recording and should not be relied on as a statement of current law.**