Episode 93: When to obtain finance
10th June, 2024
This episode is a great follow on to the previous two as Sarah and Trudi talk all about when is the best time to obtain finance (tip...before you need it!). A great conversation on what are the indicators to look out for so that you are working on finance well before you actually need. They also talk about understanding your books and business plans and the relevant indicators our of these. Finally, they take you through all the tings you will need in order to obtain finance and some of the issues they have seen arise. A great episode to help all business owners understand when is the right time to obtain finance.
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DISCLAIMER- The information and material in this podcast, and supplementary and associated information available, is for general information only. It should not be taken as constituting professional advice from the podcast owners, and we recommend you seek independent suitable advice that is specific to your unique circumstances.
Podcast Transcript Available Here
Trudi Cowan (00:10.074)
again and welcome back to another episode of the Financial Fofu podcast. Today Sarah and I have another great topic for you as always and this one's a little bit of a follow -on probably from the last couple of weeks when we've been talking about finance. So today with Sarah we're gonna have a chat about when's the best time to go and get your finance and also how to prepare.
Sarah (00:31.974)
Yes, we are. Top tip, don't wait. Do not wait.
Trudi Cowan (00:35.77)
No, don't worry, definitely don't worry. I think we have mentioned that previously as well, but you know, if you leave it too late, then obviously it's a lot more difficult to get it and to get it with the speed that you need to get it.
Sarah (00:39.59)
Mm -hmm.
Sarah (00:45.158)
Yeah, because you know, some of this stuff is how long is a piece of string and depending on the different lender will depend on how long it will take you. Some might take you three days, some might take you three months. So yeah.
Trudi Cowan (00:55.194)
Yeah, but in particular if you wait too long then your financials may not be looking in the way that you need them to, they may not be looking quite as good and obviously the banks want you to be looking in the strongest position possible if they're going to be lending you money.
Sarah (01:07.27)
Well then I'm going to give you money if you can't afford to repay it.
Trudi Cowan (01:10.746)
That's true. That's true. Well, why would anyone lend money if they're not going to get it back? Right?
Sarah (01:14.79)
I often say that if I was to give you $100 I'd want to know that you could give me $100 back and I go, yeah and I go and if you were to give me $1 ,000 you'd want to know that I had the capacity to give you $1 ,000 back and how long it's going to take me and they'd be like yeah. Yes.
Trudi Cowan (01:28.154)
So if I need to go and get finance and I need to get it before I think that I need to get it, how am I going to know that it's before that time? What's some of the indicators that we should perhaps be looking at that might flag that there's going to be a need coming up for some finance?
Sarah (01:39.11)
Yeah.
Sarah (01:44.582)
Well, if you've done your business planning and cashflow forecasting, it will be glaringly obvious for you that you're going to need it. But for those that don't do it, the signs for what they you should be looking for are things like a slowdown in turnover, anticipated or real, because that's one that's coming. No money in the bank is the glaringly obvious one. If you've got no cash in the bank or your bank account.
Trudi Cowan (01:49.37)
Mm -hmm.
Trudi Cowan (01:58.714)
Yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Trudi Cowan (02:07.802)
Yeah.
Sarah (02:10.342)
balance is running down very low, you're probably already too late. You needed money three months ago. Working off the adage that we use that you want to have three months of your operational expenses up your sleeve in case of a slight downturn in market or a slowing of the market, you want to be able to keep the business afloat for at least three months knowing that it's going to peak again. But if you've got no money in the bank account, you're in trouble.
Trudi Cowan (02:31.226)
Yep. Yep.
really, if you're at the point you got no money in the bank account, there should have been some indicators even prior already. So you should have noticed that maybe your customers are taking a longer period of time to pay you the normal, or there's a really large invoice that's outstanding.
Sarah (02:40.614)
Already, that's right. Yeah.
Sarah (02:48.93)
Yeah, like I have two customers at the moment and they to their credit do cash flow forecasts with me and they do business plan. So they're well and truly aware their business acumen. Their mindset is switched on to this all of the time whenever they look at their figures and one of them, we did a cash flow yesterday and we were like, great, we're heading for a loss based on the next 12 months. So what can we do or what can't we do to sustain this business? And what facility does she have in place? She's already got an overdraft of 50.
Trudi Cowan (03:02.586)
Yeah.
Sarah (03:18.502)
Do we need to top that up to 150k? Does she need to kill one of her sites? You know, like there's a range of things that we can now make decisions on based on that and you know, the other one they switched one of their suppliers has dropped off and so business has been slow whilst they rebuild new referral sources and like always the best time to build new referral sources is when you're the busiest that you've ever been which none of us ever do because we're too busy, but when you're quiet you then have a lag.
Trudi Cowan (03:19.354)
Mm -hmm.
Trudi Cowan (03:25.178)
Yep.
Trudi Cowan (03:42.522)
Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah (03:48.166)
behind you and in their case, they had three months of their OPEX up their sleeves. So they've been riding out the storm, but the stress is now creeping in because that is steadily decreasing and they know they've got work coming. But one of the questions I said to them was one, do we need to do a new forecast, a cash flow forecast? And two, you're going to need to dip into your overdraft. Is it high enough as a limit to cover off what we're looking at for three to six months to keep you afloat? And then thirdly, like where do you draw the line in saying that
Trudi Cowan (03:57.274)
Yeah.
Sarah (04:18.022)
you know, if you're a hundred grand in the hole, do we start sucking some stuff? Yeah, do you keep going, hoping it'll turn around? That's not good business. So there are a couple of other ones you mentioned earlier, Trudy, as well. Do you remember what they were?
Trudi Cowan (04:21.242)
Yeah, how far do you go down that hole?
Trudi Cowan (04:28.762)
Yeah, yeah, but.
Yep. So probably just again back to your business planning. What is the plan for the next 12 months? Are you planning on going through a period of expansion in which case you might need some additional cash? Are you planning on purchasing some new equipment or cars that you're going to need some additional funds for? Are you a stock based business and potentially even a seasonal stock based business? So I know that I'm going to have to buy a
Sarah (04:58.214)
Yes.
Trudi Cowan (05:00.89)
have an outlay for stock in May so that I can meet Christmas needs. Yeah, yeah and quite often with those type of businesses you know you're paying at least a portion of it upfront when you don't even have the stock yet. So you need to have that cash funding available. Another great one is if you're expecting some large expenses to come up and maybe not quite have the cash flow to meet those. So a really great one is insurances.
Sarah (05:04.582)
Yep, we talked about that already in the last episode. Yeah.
Sarah (05:13.734)
Yes you are.
Trudi Cowan (05:30.618)
often they're a very large cost and getting larger and often that's a point in time when you go, I need a little bit of extra cash flow because I wasn't anticipating having such a large expense in that particular month and there are ways to fund those insurances as well.
Sarah (05:30.786)
Yeah. Mm -hmm. And it's getting larger now, getting cheaper.
Sarah (05:49.51)
I'll give you a pass if it was your first year in business, but after your first year in business, I don't see that as viable excuse for not having the cash. Why? Because you should be aware of it. Exactly. Exactly. So there's a lot of different reasons why it would happen. I think probably the one that would take that really takes you by surprise is when you're experiencing or you've experienced natural disaster. So flood, bushfire.
Trudi Cowan (05:56.268)
Well yes, because you've been putting money aside for them, but we all know that doesn't always happen.
Sarah (06:18.598)
hailstorm even depending on what your business is and what you do. I know a couple of businesses around here have had, we've had a lot of rain, it's finally, you know, sun's out but we had about three months of rain and some of that rain was really heavy and so roof leaks, you know, and so then there was a disruption of trade, they couldn't trade for a couple of days. Commercial lease, who was responsible for the repairs? So, you know, all of those things have an impact and, you know, technically outside of your control.
Trudi Cowan (06:21.53)
Yep.
Sarah (06:48.678)
But also realistically, this is why we talk about having some cash behind you. So I would always recommend if you are a smaller business, you turn over 250 plus, that maybe you need to have a small facility sitting in the background ready to go in case of emergencies, like a small line of credit. You usually pay a once off fee with those and then they sit there. And if you don't use them, they don't close unless they've got a term attached. Some of them have 36 month term.
Trudi Cowan (07:15.034)
And that really does meet the need of getting the finance before you think you need it. Yeah, yeah. And you don't have to use it. You don't have to touch it. It's just available as and when you need. And as you're talking about the natural disasters, the other one that's probably relevant at the moment as well is when when your customers go bust and all of a sudden you're left being owed a very large chunk of money and this out of your hands in terms of being able to collect that.
Sarah (07:18.726)
Correct, yes, right?
No.
Sarah (07:32.614)
Yes!
Sarah (07:37.67)
Mmm.
Yeah, it's a tough one. We've talked about this one again, PPSR, secured creditor, protect your interest, creditor watch. But again, you can't control it. The only way you can control this sort of stuff is depending on the size of the job is to choose to not do it. Right. And that's not always a viable choice, but it should be a toss up that you make in terms of should we be doing this work? What's the credibility of this?
Trudi Cowan (07:48.506)
Mm.
Trudi Cowan (07:59.834)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Sarah (08:09.478)
builder? What's their reputation? How do we reduce our risk? What protections can we put in place to ensure we get paid?
Trudi Cowan (08:09.626)
Yeah.
Trudi Cowan (08:16.986)
And again, it comes back to thinking about some of those indicators. So are there grub, are there mumbles on site about something's about to happen? Is there concerns around the work? Have you done credit or watch sort of checks to make sure that they are paying their bills?
Sarah (08:20.486)
Yes. Correct.
Sarah (08:27.974)
Yep. Do a check on everyone. Honestly, anything over 10 grand, you should be doing a credit or watch check. I can't remember how much it costs at the moment, but it's not a lot. Even if it's 30 bucks, build it into the price of your pricing and credit a check every single business, especially in the construction industry at the moment, just to make sure that there's no red flags there. The one thing I will again reference is that if you...
do get paid by someone that goes into liquidation. If you were not registered on PPSR as a secured creditor, the administrator can call back those funds as preferential payment. Even though you did the work and you should have been paid, you were not a priority listing. And therefore, because you were not listed as a secured creditor, therefore the money gets taken back off you at your cost and given to the secured creditors, because that's how the law works. You need to know these things.
Trudi Cowan (09:02.906)
Yes.
Trudi Cowan (09:19.898)
Yeah, definitely. And I guess a lot of this comes back to things that we talk about all the time. Your planning, your cash flow, keeping your books up to date. How do you know that people aren't paying you on time if you haven't actually been doing your books and looking at your files? And most of the softwares these days will show you how long the invoices have been outstanding for. So it should be quite obvious at a glance whether you've got quite large sums.
Sarah (09:25.574)
Yes!
Sarah (09:41.158)
Correct.
Sarah (09:45.862)
Yeah.
Trudi Cowan (09:46.042)
that are owing, you could do profit and loss reports. So it should be quite obvious if your turnover is down on previous months. But if you're not keeping your books up to date, then these things are a lot more difficult to notice. And if you're not looking at your books and understanding how to use the financial information that you have available about your own business, then again, it also becomes more difficult to sort of foresee some of these types of issues.
Sarah (09:51.942)
Monthly, do it monthly, compare them monthly. Yes.
Sarah (10:00.87)
huh. huh. huh. I'm preach.
Sarah (10:11.174)
And the thing is, is that, you know, I posted this morning about it and said, guys, if you haven't done your previous year's taxo, that would be your 2023 year, because this is the 2024 years about to expire in terms of financial years. If you haven't done your 2023 financial year and you're trying to make decisions about your 2024 financial year because you're now thinking, shit, tax year's up, do I need to spend some money? You can't answer that. Sorry, Trins. Yeah. Yeah.
Trudi Cowan (10:33.05)
You're 12 months behind. You're 12 months behind if you haven't done that yet.
Sarah (10:39.398)
Like honestly, you've got three months and even that's really generous. I usually say a month. Have you tax returns done by the end of let's say August then? Give your accountant a little bit of breathing space because you know, I like to smash them in July. Yes.
Trudi Cowan (10:50.334)
I'm going to go ahead and close the video.
Thank you for that Sarah. Anywhere in that first quarter is really useful but the point is if you don't have your books up to date then you're not going to get it done in that first quarter anyway because you're going to have a whole bunch of work you have to do before you can get it to the account for them to do their work.
Sarah (11:02.406)
Yes.
Sarah (11:06.086)
No.
Sarah (11:11.11)
Exactly, so your book should be up to date all of the time and you should be looking at the monthly and reading your financial statements and reading your balance sheet and if you don't know how to do that we have an episode on that. If you still don't know how to do that there's modules in my course that will teach you how to do that so there's really no justifiable reason why you can't find a source to teach you these things that will help you get on top so that you either
Trudi Cowan (11:15.514)
Yeah.
Trudi Cowan (11:31.194)
Hmm.
Trudi Cowan (11:35.706)
And if you still can't figure it out, book in a meeting with one of us or with your accountant or your bookkeeper and get them to show you how to access this information. That's what they're there for. And I often hear a lot of people say that my account is not proactive enough, but by the flip side, when was the last time you rang then and said, I need help with this particular aspect? You know, they're there to take your phone call and help you out with these things as well.
Sarah (11:38.79)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sarah (11:52.518)
Yeah. Yeah.
It's a, and you know what, if you've called them, they haven't answered or you haven't understood them and then you've called them again and you haven't got hold of them or they've given you an answer that you still didn't understand, it's time to change. You don't wait another six months. You don't wait for the financial year to be finished. Yes, you may have to pay the new accountant a little bit more to go back and redo the work that you've already paid the other accountant for. Who cares? Get an accountant that works with you, that you understand, that you feel comfortable enough to ask questions of and understand the answer.
Trudi Cowan (12:24.762)
Yeah.
Sarah (12:27.142)
They've got to speak your speak, right? And if they don't, find a new one. I can recommend one. She's sitting right there. But I also have a couple of others that I can recommend to you as well. The same goes for any professional. Yes.
Trudi Cowan (12:27.514)
Yeah, definitely.
Hahaha!
And look, we have also done an episode on how to find the right accountant for you or the right advisor for you. So go and have a listen to that one as well before you pick one.
Sarah (12:42.374)
Yeah, yeah, that's what happens when you got like what 93 episodes of a podcast. There's a few things to choose from So, I mean look
Trudi Cowan (12:45.658)
I know. Alright, so now we know that we need to go and get some finance, Sarah. What are the things that you're going to ask me when I come to you and say, Sarah, I need a loan?
Sarah (12:54.726)
Well, I wanted to reiterate again, and I know I've been a broken record on this for the last few episodes, but if you wait to get your finance and our only option for finance is the utilization of bank statements and your bank statements show a downturn in revenue, then you're going to be in trouble. So I cannot, cannot stress this enough. The moment that you think you need finances, like you said, it's probably too late. But if you do nothing, but then pick up the phone, you'll be ahead of the game because if finance is still
Trudi Cowan (13:10.234)
Yep.
Sarah (13:23.686)
an option for you and your revenue is still high enough, we probably will be able to find you a suitable solution. It may not be a long -term solution, but it'll be a solution that gets you by, and that's the most important thing. And then in terms of what you need, it's going to depend on what funder we can approach. So if you're looking at a mainstream lender, you're going to need two years tax returns and financial statements at a minimum, an up -to -date profit and loss and balance sheet.
and you're in this instance three bad statements because this is a June episode we're dropping. Had it been a first of July episode, I'd be asking for four buzzers. And the answer I get is, but my buzz is not due until the end of the month. Yes, but the bank does not give up. Right. Because they don't.
Trudi Cowan (14:04.41)
Yeah. Tell your accountant or your bookkeeper that you need it done urgently for finance.
Sarah (14:10.726)
Yeah, and if you've been in a good relationship with them anyway, it's probably already up today. Like if I needed something from you Trudy, because you do my books, they would be three quarters done for the end of the month. If I needed something on the first or second of July, that's my birthday. Then I would have given you a heads up that I was looking at finance as the first one. Secondly, I'd be like, do you think you could get my books up to date so that I could have like a draft?
Trudi Cowan (14:24.922)
Yep.
Sarah (14:38.758)
Profit and loss for the full financial year from you And then it a makes your job easier B It makes my life easy and see it makes the brokers life so much easier. So if you're looking for a major bank
Trudi Cowan (14:39.082)
Yep. Mm -hmm.
Trudi Cowan (14:49.018)
Well, I actually say to my clients, if you want it early, cause you're going for finance or some other reason like that, tell me, I'm already starting a list of clients that have told me that they want it done as soon as they can in the new financial year. So if that's you, bad, you did lose Sarah. If that's you, then make sure you.
Sarah (14:54.182)
Now. Mm -hmm.
Sarah (15:02.118)
Yeah. Mine should be permanently on the list. I don't need finance. The issue I like being on the list is because how do you plan out your next year if you haven't done your last year?
Trudi Cowan (15:13.37)
But if there is a reason that you need it done super early, then make sure you communicate that to your accountant because most of them do some sort of workflow planning and just make sure that you're on that early list.
Sarah (15:22.63)
Yup.
Sarah (15:26.15)
always about communication guys, the same thing when it comes to this, no matter which way you break it down the lowest common denominator is communication. So if you're looking, that's if you're looking for a major bank, right? So if you're trying to get a rate unsecured in the 11 to say 15%, and you're happy to wait six weeks to three months to get an assessment, and you are looking at likely a term loan more than an overdraft,
Trudi Cowan (15:28.09)
Mm -hmm.
Trudi Cowan (15:32.058)
Yes.
Sarah (15:53.286)
Not that they don't offer you overdrafts, but overdrafts are much harder to get with a bank than a term loan. So be aware of that. If you're looking at a second tier funder, I don't need any of that other stuff. All I need to do is connect your bank statements or your MyObsero QuickBooks file into their software and they will do an insights analysis. So they'll pull a data feed through, they'll scrape it and they'll work out what they think your affordability is based on what's in those statements.
Trudi Cowan (15:58.554)
Mm -hmm.
Trudi Cowan (16:08.986)
Yeah.
Sarah (16:21.094)
and whether or not there's any surplus and then it'll also tell them if you've missed any repayments to any institutions as well. And yeah, we just go off the 12 months bank statements and an average of sales. So again, like you might not need those financials for the loan assessment and I may not ask you for them, but I'm going to want to know that you're trading solvently before I give you finance. So therefore, if you cannot give me...
Trudi Cowan (16:47.074)
Yeah.
Sarah (16:50.662)
information that provides me comfort because I'm the one that gets to decide ethically whether I'm putting up your application or not, then I'm not going to give you an option to get finance. I'll say, I'm sorry, I'm unable to assist you perhaps try a different broker or go straight to the bank. Not because I don't want to help you, but you know what? I'm not going to jail for you guys. Sorry. I'm not giving you money, which is just going to no, but
Trudi Cowan (17:01.402)
Yeah.
Trudi Cowan (17:07.578)
think. Yeah.
Trudi Cowan (17:13.85)
And why should you? You'd have a duty to them as well to not be sending them off to a bank if you don't think they can actually make the repayments on the loan.
Sarah (17:18.918)
The thing is is that in reality, like all we're doing is kicking the can down the road and you need to be doing some really hard assessments on business solvency and planning around are you trading solvently, not waiting until you are insolvent and then going, no, I'm insolvent. What the fuck?
Trudi Cowan (17:36.29)
The other tip that I have is if a BAS has just been lodged, make sure you pay it before you go and start doing all this financial process because the number of times that I have brokers ask me for a statement from the ATO but the last BAS hasn't been paid, sometimes not even due yet but the point is it's showing it as an amount owing to the ATO and then the client goes well hang on I've got to pay it and then get another statement it takes a few days for it to process and then again it's just kicking that process down the road a little bit longer whereas if you'd
Sarah (17:43.622)
Okay.
Sarah (17:49.19)
Yep.
Sarah (17:54.022)
Yep. Can you urgently download the portal? Yeah.
Mm -hmm. Yep.
Trudi Cowan (18:06.65)
paid it already and then said, Trudy, can you get me the statement? It should be nice and simple and clean showing zero owing to the ATO.
Sarah (18:09.702)
Yes.
Sarah (18:14.566)
Yeah, in most instances that is 100 % accurate. There are some where I would have said don't pay it because it's not due yet and I can argue with the bank that it's not due yet, but anything that was previously due needs to have been paid. But in most instances, it's the previously due stuff that people haven't paid. So, look, there's a range of things. In terms of preparation, I'm going to want to know that you can afford your repayments. So...
Trudi Cowan (18:27.226)
Yeah, definitely.
Trudi Cowan (18:41.21)
Hmm.
Sarah (18:42.31)
The bank always works on a sensitized buffer. What that means is that the rate of which they assess your finance or your loan capacity is based on your ability to meet their repayments. And different lenders have different requirements and they sort of roll around what's called interest times cover. So the loan amount is a set amount and then the interest charges X and then we're going to apply Y as our policy, not Y as in WHY, but Y as in the
the letter Y on an axis or in algebra, the Y as to what is our policy about where our comfort levels sit for this type of risk. So a true scenario of that will be I want to borrow $50 ,000 and the $50 ,000 if the interest rate is say 15%. So 15 % on $50 ,000 would be $7 ,500 per year. And then their buffer works on two and a half times interest cover.
So seven and a half thousand times 2 .5 means you'd need to show surplus of cash or profit after tax of $18 ,750 per year to be able to borrow that $50 ,000 with that lender. And major banks more work along those lines. Whereas some of your second tier funders work on, they just raise the interest rate. And if the interest rate is now 20%, as long as you've got enough,
Trudi Cowan (19:58.65)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Sarah (20:10.15)
surplus after tax to pay the net profit after tax to pay the 20 % so on say 50 ,000 times 20 % that's 10 ,000 if you've got $10 ,000 plus $1 you know they don't want to run you into the ground so if you've got $11 ,000 in profit or annualized profit expected then yes they will lend you that money so lots of round pegs and multi -sized holes that we fit an application into.
Trudi Cowan (20:37.058)
Yeah.
Sarah (20:38.982)
And then it also comes down to how quickly you need the money.
Trudi Cowan (20:41.722)
Yeah. And look, I have a couple of others that often come back to me with know what your business structure is. I have had many conversations with brokers because the client misunderstood what their structure was. And then I've had to find the broker so the broker knows whether they actually getting the finance for a sole trader or company or who the borrower is actually going to be. And then the other areas who, if you are a company, well, who is the directors of that company? Because if personal guarantees are going to be required,
Sarah (20:48.294)
Mm -hmm.
Sarah (21:01.958)
Trust.
Sarah (21:10.598)
and shareholders now over 20%.
Trudi Cowan (21:12.122)
and yeah, and Chair hold it okay, then you need to be aware of who those people are and are they actually the appropriate people to be signing personal guarantees or do we need to consider some changes into those sorts of things before you're actually going to finance?
Sarah (21:19.59)
Mm -hmm.
Entity structures, which guess what? They take a couple of days, if not a couple of weeks. So I had one recently, overdraft company, two directors, mates, both with partners, both trading the shareholders of their company where their family trusts. One only had himself listed as the director of the family trustee company. The other for asset protection, which makes complete sense set up by the accountant.
Trudi Cowan (21:47.098)
Mm -hmm.
Sarah (21:52.134)
had him, his wife, as the director of the family trust. So nothing to do with the trading entity, but because they were the 50 % shareholder of the trading entity, they required a personal guarantee from her. And we were like, no, no, no. We don't, he didn't want, they didn't want, either partner didn't want her involved in their transaction. It also impacted their asset protection on their house, which was outside of their trust. So we had to scramble and...
Trudi Cowan (21:59.386)
Yeah.
Sarah (22:21.734)
get change of directorships done and I just held up their finance. Luckily those had come to me three months before they needed it. So we had plenty of time to sort them out. But these are the things which you probably wouldn't have front of mind when you think I need to get a loan and how they impact everything. So yeah.
Trudi Cowan (22:29.562)
Yeah, get in time.
Trudi Cowan (22:38.298)
Yeah, which comes back to that all important comment that we started with that you need to go for that finance before you think you need it, because then you have time built in to deal with some of these problems that may come up when you're going through the process.
Sarah (22:50.534)
The joy is also like, I'm completely transparent about this. I charge you a fee. If you can't pay my fee, how are you going to pay a loan repayment? Like these things have costs associated, they're costs of doing business. This type of finance is not cheap if you compare it to a home loan rate, for example. And the way we view this type of finance is not based on its rate, but its cost of funds. How much will it cost you to utilize these funds to do the business that you wouldn't be able to do without the funds?
Trudi Cowan (23:07.642)
Mm -hmm.
Sarah (23:18.758)
So there's a bit of a mindset switch required around, my God, that's so expensive. Well, yes, on paper, on face value, it looks expensive at a 25 % interest rate, but if you have it as a line of credit, not a term loan, you only use the money for seven days of the month rather than a full drawdown, you're actually going to be miles in front of a term loan with another lender at half the rate.
Trudi Cowan (23:41.946)
Yeah. So I think in conclusion, get the loan before you need it, do some cashflow planning so that you can forecast when you're going to need it and give Cerebral.
Sarah (23:47.494)
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Or another broker. Like honestly, you know, like it's not the I mean, it is the Sarah and Trudy show. But nonetheless, like, you know, there are other great reputable brokers out there. And if you don't, if you don't want to work with me, that's okay as well. I can recommend you someone that I know and trust.
Trudi Cowan (23:56.762)
Hahaha!
Trudi Cowan (24:02.686)
Yes. Have a chat with a broker that can assist you.
Trudi Cowan (24:15.162)
Hmm.
Sarah (24:15.238)
that has the skills to actually facilitate your needs as a client of theirs. I think it's really important to get the right loan and that it's fit for purpose for long term use. The other thing is that yes, these things cost money. So you don't want to be going back and forth every three to six months and changing facilities because you get credit hits on your credit file as a result. And we know that impacts your score. Yes. So, yeah, I think that's probably it. Nice quick episode today, guys.
Trudi Cowan (24:35.93)
Yeah, the right one up top.
Sarah (24:43.622)
We've got some cool ones coming up. And if you could leave us a review. Yes, and leave us a review. That would be fantastic. It just helps boost us up the podcast rankings. And yeah, like we are not far off 10 ,000 listens, which probably isn't a lot compared to some other podcasts. But for our little podcast, I think that's amazing that we've had the chance to impact the lives of 10 ,000.
Trudi Cowan (24:46.01)
You too, a few special guests coming in, so listen out for those.
Sarah (25:11.206)
Well, not people because someone might have listened to us all of our episodes, but that's still a lot of people listening to us talking. Yes. A lot of ears listening. Well, yeah, if you double the ears, you know, the statistics look really good, right? Anyway, guys, until next week, thank you so much. You've been listening to the Financial Fokker podcast.
Trudi Cowan (25:14.586)
Still a lot of ears listening.
Trudi Cowan (25:21.274)
Yeah.
Trudi Cowan (25:29.466)
Bye.
Sarah (25:41.254)
I also forgot to mention that you could catch us on YouTube now, so check out our channel, Financial Fofu.