Welcome to the Friends with Money podcast, brought to you by Money Magazine, creating financial freedom for Australians since nineteen ninety nine.

Welcome to the Friends with Money podcast, brought to you by Money Magazine, creating financial freedom for Australians since nineteen ninety nine.

Welcome to the Friends with Money podcast. My name is Vanessa Walker. I'm the managing editor and I'm here with Tom Watson, our regular monthly host.

Welcome to the Friends with Money podcast. My name is Vanessa Walker. I'm the managing editor and I'm here with Tom Watson, our regular monthly host.

Hi Tom, Hey, Vanessa, how are you doing. I'm well, how are you good? A little bit apprehensive about being on the side of the microphone for a change, but it's exciting.

Hi Tom, Hey, Vanessa, how are you doing. I'm well, how are you good? A little bit apprehensive about being on the side of the microphone for a change, but it's exciting.

I know, I love that I'm questioning you. But it's an awesome subject. It's about the innovations and inventions that will change our lives this year. It's a cover story for the March issue of Money and Tom co authored this with our journalist Ryan Johnson. Right, let's get into it. Let's start with the daily routine level. Tell us some of the whiz bang inventions that are going to change our lives this year.

I know, I love that I'm questioning you. But it's an awesome subject. It's about the innovations and inventions that will change our lives this year. It's a cover story for the March issue of Money and Tom co authored this with our journalist Ryan Johnson. Right, let's get into it. Let's start with the daily routine level. Tell us some of the whiz bang inventions that are going to change our lives this year.

Where to start? There are so many innovations inside my head still, so it's an exciting space. So you know, this household space, everyday items with a smart spin on them. I think that's kind of where we're moving to right now, and perhaps it's exciting to me because I'm stuck in this kind of early two thousands of mindset from my childhood, where the most exciting innovations were inflatable furniture. I don't know if you ever had any of those, Vanessa, but I thought they were pretty cool. We're in twenty twenty five, not twenty twenty those. So what amazes me are things like Samsung's smart mirror. This is a mirror that can analyze your skin type and then based on that, recommend you products specifically for your skin. So selling yeah, listen, that's not going to build everyone, but it's a pretty interesting kind of innovation from the standard mirror. And then there are things like the Mowin Smart shower, which can be activated by a voice, which is a pretty common feature nowadays, but it can also you can also pre set the exact temperature to the specific degree of the water coming out of that shower, so you know, no more fiddling around in the morning trying to kind of get the Goldilocks zone of water temperature. And then there's also this this eight sleep smart mattress which automatically makes temperature adjustments to the mattress during the night to keep you warm or cold or whatever your kind of body prefers. But it can also reduce snoring, and it does that by subtly adjusting the mattress elevation below your head to limit snoring during the night, which are.

Where to start? There are so many innovations inside my head still, so it's an exciting space. So you know, this household space, everyday items with a smart spin on them. I think that's kind of where we're moving to right now, and perhaps it's exciting to me because I'm stuck in this kind of early two thousands of mindset from my childhood, where the most exciting innovations were inflatable furniture. I don't know if you ever had any of those, Vanessa, but I thought they were pretty cool. We're in twenty twenty five, not twenty twenty those. So what amazes me are things like Samsung's smart mirror. This is a mirror that can analyze your skin type and then based on that, recommend you products specifically for your skin. So selling yeah, listen, that's not going to build everyone, but it's a pretty interesting kind of innovation from the standard mirror. And then there are things like the Mowin Smart shower, which can be activated by a voice, which is a pretty common feature nowadays, but it can also you can also pre set the exact temperature to the specific degree of the water coming out of that shower, so you know, no more fiddling around in the morning trying to kind of get the Goldilocks zone of water temperature. And then there's also this this eight sleep smart mattress which automatically makes temperature adjustments to the mattress during the night to keep you warm or cold or whatever your kind of body prefers. But it can also reduce snoring, and it does that by subtly adjusting the mattress elevation below your head to limit snoring during the night, which are.

Jah and I'm not a snorer. I want to go on real cold, but yeah, lots of people have problems with snoring partners.

Jah and I'm not a snorer. I want to go on real cold, but yeah, lots of people have problems with snoring partners.

I can definitely attest to that. So, yeah, there's plenty plenty in the space. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but you know, I think if you're after a smart home, there's there's so much potential out there at this point.

I can definitely attest to that. So, yeah, there's plenty plenty in the space. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but you know, I think if you're after a smart home, there's there's so much potential out there at this point.

Awesome, Okay, now let's delve a little deeper talking about homes. So we have readers who want to buy a home, but they're not typical, not in a typical couple, and they're not the kind of borrower that the banks easily understand. What's changing in that field.

Awesome, Okay, now let's delve a little deeper talking about homes. So we have readers who want to buy a home, but they're not typical, not in a typical couple, and they're not the kind of borrower that the banks easily understand. What's changing in that field.

This kind of space, it really interests me, and specifically, you know how the structure of home ownership is changing, or at least you know the ability for different structures of home ownership to become easier for people. So what do I mean here, Well, traditionally, most buyers in Australia have been you know, single people or romantic couples, and that's who lenders have typically learned to. Often these buyers, or at least, you know, the couples, they bought property via a legal structure called joint tendency, and that's basically where owners share in equal stake in the property and if one owner dies, their share passes to the surviving owner. But there are other people who want to purchase property as well, right you know, perhaps a group of siblings or parents and a child, or or you know, even a group of friends might want to kind of go in together, and they might also want to do so in unequal portions. So you know, you might have a friend who wants to, you know, put up seventy percent of a stake in a property and another thirty percent, and then you what are we left with nothing? I just have done a better example, and in this case, the structure called tenants in common maybe the way to go because it allows owners to have unequal shares in a property and they can sell or transfer those shares independently of one another. So back to the mortgage side of things. Lenders to drift, you know, traditionally been a little bit more reluctant to lend to these sorts of borrowers basically because they're more complicated from a risk perspective. But that is changing, and it's changing with the help in part of FinTechs like Cooperty, which are a Sydney based startup and they're kind of helping smooth the whole process for these kind of buyers by a facilitating the tenants in common process and be bringing lenders to the table so more people can actually do it.

This kind of space, it really interests me, and specifically, you know how the structure of home ownership is changing, or at least you know the ability for different structures of home ownership to become easier for people. So what do I mean here, Well, traditionally, most buyers in Australia have been you know, single people or romantic couples, and that's who lenders have typically learned to. Often these buyers, or at least, you know, the couples, they bought property via a legal structure called joint tendency, and that's basically where owners share in equal stake in the property and if one owner dies, their share passes to the surviving owner. But there are other people who want to purchase property as well, right you know, perhaps a group of siblings or parents and a child, or or you know, even a group of friends might want to kind of go in together, and they might also want to do so in unequal portions. So you know, you might have a friend who wants to, you know, put up seventy percent of a stake in a property and another thirty percent, and then you what are we left with nothing? I just have done a better example, and in this case, the structure called tenants in common maybe the way to go because it allows owners to have unequal shares in a property and they can sell or transfer those shares independently of one another. So back to the mortgage side of things. Lenders to drift, you know, traditionally been a little bit more reluctant to lend to these sorts of borrowers basically because they're more complicated from a risk perspective. But that is changing, and it's changing with the help in part of FinTechs like Cooperty, which are a Sydney based startup and they're kind of helping smooth the whole process for these kind of buyers by a facilitating the tenants in common process and be bringing lenders to the table so more people can actually do it.

Fantastic. Now let's get into property investment. So you want to invest in property, what innovations are now on the market that allow you to make the best decisions?

Fantastic. Now let's get into property investment. So you want to invest in property, what innovations are now on the market that allow you to make the best decisions?

This is really cool. There's so much in the space, but one innovation that I guess really caught my attention when I was researching for this article was the role of artificial intelligence in the property investment buying process. And I mean, it's kind of hard to escape AI at the moment, so not surprising that. So one example that came across was that of prop Hero and there are digital Buyers agency who are basically using AI to analyze these massive property data sets to help investors with their property search. So proper Hero's model brings in data related to vacancy rates and gentrification and infrastructure and council plans and population growth and yields and price growth, all that good stuff. Then with the help of AI, they able to pin point locations and specific properties within those locations that are best positioned for growth. As I said, Properer, they are a buas agency, so their service isn't free. But essentially this approach, you know, it saves people from having to do the legwork themselves. It does it quicker, and according to prop Track, at least it delivers properties that beat the market average at least when it comes to capital growth.

This is really cool. There's so much in the space, but one innovation that I guess really caught my attention when I was researching for this article was the role of artificial intelligence in the property investment buying process. And I mean, it's kind of hard to escape AI at the moment, so not surprising that. So one example that came across was that of prop Hero and there are digital Buyers agency who are basically using AI to analyze these massive property data sets to help investors with their property search. So proper Hero's model brings in data related to vacancy rates and gentrification and infrastructure and council plans and population growth and yields and price growth, all that good stuff. Then with the help of AI, they able to pin point locations and specific properties within those locations that are best positioned for growth. As I said, Properer, they are a buas agency, so their service isn't free. But essentially this approach, you know, it saves people from having to do the legwork themselves. It does it quicker, and according to prop Track, at least it delivers properties that beat the market average at least when it comes to capital growth.

That is awesome. And just to reiterate, the AI spits out growth suburbs, but also individual properties within those suburbs that are the best proposition to invest in.

That is awesome. And just to reiterate, the AI spits out growth suburbs, but also individual properties within those suburbs that are the best proposition to invest in.

That's exactly right.

That's exactly right.

Wow, all right, now tell us about some of the advances and shares and please Tom, explain fractional investing to me.

Wow, all right, now tell us about some of the advances and shares and please Tom, explain fractional investing to me.

Fractional investor. It's a funny sounding term, isn't it. Okay, So fractional investing to start with, it isn't brand space thinking new, but it is you know that it seems to be becoming more prevalent in Australia for Australian investors. So in essence, traditionally you know, when you purchase shares, you would have to purchase full shares in a company, and of course you still can so for an example, if company A is trading at one hundred dollars a share and you have two thousand dollars in your back pocket to invest, you would be able to buy twenty full shares in that company. Not everyone has two thousand dollars to invest in a handful of shares in a single company though, and that's kind of where fractional investing comes in. So in essence, a number of investment platforms now allow people to buy fractions of a single share, so perhaps ten dollars for a tenth of that company A if they're trading at one hundred dollars, as I said, And there are a couple of benefits that come with this. For one, it allows investors to enter the market and build their portfolios with smaller amounts of money than they would have been able to in the past. And because of that lower threshold, they're also able to trade more regularly. And because of that diversify their portfolios to a much greater degree along the way, which you know is great for everyone really. And you know there are a bunch of investment platforms and brokers offering fractional investing in Australia now you know Comsec, Big Shares, Direct Raise, Chasis, Steak, Superhero, Tiger Brokers, and a bunch more. Usually it's international shares that they allow fractional investing on, but there are handfuls that also allow fractional share trading for Australian listed equities as well.

Fractional investor. It's a funny sounding term, isn't it. Okay, So fractional investing to start with, it isn't brand space thinking new, but it is you know that it seems to be becoming more prevalent in Australia for Australian investors. So in essence, traditionally you know, when you purchase shares, you would have to purchase full shares in a company, and of course you still can so for an example, if company A is trading at one hundred dollars a share and you have two thousand dollars in your back pocket to invest, you would be able to buy twenty full shares in that company. Not everyone has two thousand dollars to invest in a handful of shares in a single company though, and that's kind of where fractional investing comes in. So in essence, a number of investment platforms now allow people to buy fractions of a single share, so perhaps ten dollars for a tenth of that company A if they're trading at one hundred dollars, as I said, And there are a couple of benefits that come with this. For one, it allows investors to enter the market and build their portfolios with smaller amounts of money than they would have been able to in the past. And because of that lower threshold, they're also able to trade more regularly. And because of that diversify their portfolios to a much greater degree along the way, which you know is great for everyone really. And you know there are a bunch of investment platforms and brokers offering fractional investing in Australia now you know Comsec, Big Shares, Direct Raise, Chasis, Steak, Superhero, Tiger Brokers, and a bunch more. Usually it's international shares that they allow fractional investing on, but there are handfuls that also allow fractional share trading for Australian listed equities as well.

All right, thanks for explaining that. I actually get it awesome right now we're in the thick of it. Asset tokenization. What on earth is this?

All right, thanks for explaining that. I actually get it awesome right now we're in the thick of it. Asset tokenization. What on earth is this?

Okay?

Okay?

This this is a big learning curve for me as well, Vanessa. So tokenization is basically the process of converting real world assets into digital tokens. And it's a process which occurs on the blockchain. And I would highly recommend that our listeners go and have a read of the article to get a better understanding of that, because we could be here all day getting into the blockchain. So, like fractional shares, tokenization gives people the chance to own a share of an asset that they you know, otherwise might never have been able to do. For instance, you could tokenize a really valuable piece of art. You could split it into separate tokens so that a bunch of people could own a tiny size of it. So I don't know the mona Lisa, if whoever you know is holding that in the garia is willing to do that. But that could also apply to property or you know, a classic car, or gold, or even stocks and bonds. You know, there's tons of scope with tokenization. The other benefits are that by being on the block chain, the ownership of the asset or whichever asset is being tokenized is really transparent as well, and the tokens are also easily tradeable, so they can be bought and sold far more easily than you know, if it was just a real world asset.

This this is a big learning curve for me as well, Vanessa. So tokenization is basically the process of converting real world assets into digital tokens. And it's a process which occurs on the blockchain. And I would highly recommend that our listeners go and have a read of the article to get a better understanding of that, because we could be here all day getting into the blockchain. So, like fractional shares, tokenization gives people the chance to own a share of an asset that they you know, otherwise might never have been able to do. For instance, you could tokenize a really valuable piece of art. You could split it into separate tokens so that a bunch of people could own a tiny size of it. So I don't know the mona Lisa, if whoever you know is holding that in the garia is willing to do that. But that could also apply to property or you know, a classic car, or gold, or even stocks and bonds. You know, there's tons of scope with tokenization. The other benefits are that by being on the block chain, the ownership of the asset or whichever asset is being tokenized is really transparent as well, and the tokens are also easily tradeable, so they can be bought and sold far more easily than you know, if it was just a real world asset.

It's an entirely different world out there, isn't it. Anything can be made an investment really really yeah, alrighty crypto. I know, one huge issue with crypto was and is its environmental impact, the electricity takes to process all these things and data mining. But we're seeing the emergence of green crypto. Can you discive us a taste of what that means.

It's an entirely different world out there, isn't it. Anything can be made an investment really really yeah, alrighty crypto. I know, one huge issue with crypto was and is its environmental impact, the electricity takes to process all these things and data mining. But we're seeing the emergence of green crypto. Can you discive us a taste of what that means.

Yeah, definitely, And I think you're right with the energy intensive side of mining crypto mining here, and I think it's just important to really kind of emphasize how much energy you know, this takes. There are no shortage of stats out there, but the one I came across this morning is from the Cambridge University Bitcoin Electricity Cannsumption Index, which is our mouseful but it's actually it's that there's quite beautifully presented side recommend checking it out if you interest it. Basically, the index shows that if bitcoin mining in particular was a country, it would rank twenty fourth in the world in terms of energy consumption, so between South Africa and Egypt, and only five places behind Australia in terms of the entire country's energy consumption, which I mean to me, it's shocking, it's incredible, is that right? And obviously that raises a huge question about the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining. So that brings us to green crypto also called green crypto. Very briefly, some cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, rely on a mechanism called proof of work. It's how bitcoin miners prove that they've put in the work to create a block of transactions to add to the blockchain, and this involves, as we said, really intensive mining. Other cryptocurrencies use what's called proof of steak as an alternative mechanism, and that includes the Theory, which is the second largest largest cryptocurrency by market cap at the moment, and they actually move to to proof of steak in twenty twenty two. This, at least from an energy consumption perspective, is far more sustainable than the alternative, and hence the kind of term green crypto.

Yeah, definitely, And I think you're right with the energy intensive side of mining crypto mining here, and I think it's just important to really kind of emphasize how much energy you know, this takes. There are no shortage of stats out there, but the one I came across this morning is from the Cambridge University Bitcoin Electricity Cannsumption Index, which is our mouseful but it's actually it's that there's quite beautifully presented side recommend checking it out if you interest it. Basically, the index shows that if bitcoin mining in particular was a country, it would rank twenty fourth in the world in terms of energy consumption, so between South Africa and Egypt, and only five places behind Australia in terms of the entire country's energy consumption, which I mean to me, it's shocking, it's incredible, is that right? And obviously that raises a huge question about the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining. So that brings us to green crypto also called green crypto. Very briefly, some cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, rely on a mechanism called proof of work. It's how bitcoin miners prove that they've put in the work to create a block of transactions to add to the blockchain, and this involves, as we said, really intensive mining. Other cryptocurrencies use what's called proof of steak as an alternative mechanism, and that includes the Theory, which is the second largest largest cryptocurrency by market cap at the moment, and they actually move to to proof of steak in twenty twenty two. This, at least from an energy consumption perspective, is far more sustainable than the alternative, and hence the kind of term green crypto.

It's a nice one. Look. Thanks so much, Tom. I feel like I know so much more than I did a quarter of an hour ago. If you're interested in innovations and ventions, it will change your life make your investing easier. Please keep an eye up for the March issue of Money and it's cover story Welcome to the Future of Innovation, that's on sale on February the twenty seven.

It's a nice one. Look. Thanks so much, Tom. I feel like I know so much more than I did a quarter of an hour ago. If you're interested in innovations and ventions, it will change your life make your investing easier. Please keep an eye up for the March issue of Money and it's cover story Welcome to the Future of Innovation, that's on sale on February the twenty seven.

Thanks Tom, Thank you.

Thanks Tom, Thank you.

Thanks for listening to the Friends with Money podcast. For credible, independent and easy to understand financial commentary, visit Money mag Please remember that the views and opinions expressed in this podcast are general in nature and further independent advice and research based on your personal circumstances should be sought before making an investment decision.

Thanks for listening to the Friends with Money podcast. For credible, independent and easy to understand financial commentary, visit Money mag Please remember that the views and opinions expressed in this podcast are general in nature and further independent advice and research based on your personal circumstances should be sought before making an investment decision.