2019-05-01 Money Australia

DARREN SNYDER

Darren is managing editor

of Money magazine.

Darren says: “Saving

during university. I started

to save with a part-time

job at uni but didn’t

maintain my discipline.

Ultimately, it was the

difference in buying a

home much earlier.”

BEN KINGSLEY

Ben is managing director

of Empower Wealth. Ben

says: “Way back when,

I bought a property that

was always destined to be

an investment property.

No one told me about the

benefit of using an offset

mortgage account instead

of paying it down. Won’t

make that mistake again.”

JOANNA MCCREERY

Joanna is a director of Majel-

la Wealth Advisers. Joanna

says: “With the benefit of

hindsight, I’d have been less

conservative with my

finances in the early 2000s.

I should have kept and

rented out our Rozelle

(Sydney) terrace instead

of selling it to upgrade the

family home. It went on

to double in price.”

STEVE GREATREX

Steve is founder of

financial planning firm

Wealth on Track. Steve

says: “I will never forget

how clever I felt when I

locked in our home loan

interest rate for five years.

Nor how silly I felt when

Big Bank took a penalty

of $25k from us when we

needed to move and pay

out the loan after three

years. Always be careful

with fixed-rate loans.”

NICOLA MORAS

Nicola is a social media

specialist. Nicola says:

“When I started making

serious money each

month, I was the opposite

of vigilant with putting

money aside for tax. I wish

I did then what I do now

• put a percentage of it
  aside with every sale.”

VITA PALESTRANT

Vita was editor of the Mon-

ey section of The Sydney

Morning Herald and The

Age. Vita says: “Complain!

Collectively we’ve let finan-

cial institutions off the hook

for rip-offs and appalling

service. Why should it take

a royal commission and a

productivity commission

report to stop the pilfering

of billions of dollars? Help

them to lift their game.

See afca.org.au.”

OUR EXPERTS

What would be

your one money

‘do over’?

The Money

team

EDITORIAL

Chairman & chief

commentator

Paul Clitheroe

Editor-in-chief

Michelle Baltazar

(02) 8234 7500

michelle.baltazar@

moneymag.com.au

Managing Editor

Darren Snyder

(02) 8234 7528

darren.snyder@

moneymag.com.au

Art Director

Ann Loveday

Designer

Andrew McLagan

Senior Sub-editors

Bob Christensen,

Debbie Duncan

Senior Writers

Susan Hely, Pam Walkley

Online Content

Producer

Sharyn McCowen

CONTRIBUTING

WRITERS

David Bassanese, Maria

Bekiaris, David Bonnici,

Alan Deans, Nicola Field,

Steve Greatrex, Greg

Hoffman, Nicole Jacobs,

Melinda Jennison, Ben

Kingsley, Jo McCreery,

Roger Montgomery,

Nicola Moras, Anthony

O’Brien, Marcus Padley,

Scott Phillips, Vita

Palestrant, Annette

Sampson, Phil Slade,

Gaurav Sodhi,

Mark Story

CONTRIBUTING

ARTISTS

Hayden Brotchie, Phillip

Castleton, Reg Lynch,

Jim Tsinganos,

John Tiedemann,

Richard Whitfield

PHOTOGRAPHS

Getty Images

ADVERTISING

Head of Media Sales

Stephanie Antonis

(02) 8234 7547

stephanie.antonis@

rainmaker.com.au

Brand manager

Simon Park

(02) 8234 7531

simon.park@

moneymag.com.au

MARKETING

Marketing manager

Julian Clarkstone

Production manager

Samantha Sherry

CLIENT SERVICES

Associate

Kayleigh Sotto-Corona

DATA

Research associate

Ben Russell

MANAGEMENT

Managing director

Christopher Page

Executive Director

Alex Dunnin

Syndication inquiries:

money@

moneymag.com.au

ISSN 1444- 6219