Mailbag, incl: How do I preserve my purchasing power? August 2, 2026

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
A LISTNER production.

**Scott** (0:04)
Cheers.

**Andrew** (0:05)
Mark it. The S&P.

**Scott** (0:06)
The OSX. Stalks.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:07)
This is the Motley Fool Money Mailbag.

**Scott** (0:10)
Welcome to Motley Fool Money, and yes, even though I've been away for five weeks, other than Friday's episode, it is still Sunday, it is still special. We still have some mail to answer. And Andrew Ram Page is still gracing me, and therefore you, with his presence, which is remarkable.
Given there's been whispers that he might have been competing in the Commonwealth Games and the 25 Meta Freestyle Dash, but unfortunately that was canceled. So he's had to stay home. And the benefit for us, of course, is we get to chat to him. Mr. Page, good morning.

**Andrew** (0:37)
Thanks, mate. That's not the event that I would be competing in.

**Scott** (0:42)
Why was it not?

**Andrew** (0:43)
No, well, no, you got to play to your strengths.

**Scott** (0:46)
You do? What are you going for?

**Andrew** (0:47)
If there was an event for ranting, I think I'd put in a good showing. Shaking fist at the sky.

**Scott** (0:55)
Yep. Shaking for guy like you.

**Andrew** (0:56)
Gold medal contender right there.

**Scott** (0:58)
Tied holding back.

**Andrew** (1:01)
Yeah, just nothing, nothing too physical.

**Scott** (1:04)
A hell of a triathlon, that one. But I look forward to that one. Are there any way to get physical? I suspect that the degree of physical fitness required to keep up that level of sustained ranting.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:11)
Well, I'm glad you asked, mate. I do.

**Andrew** (1:13)
I do make it look easy. But behind the scenes, there's a lot of stretching, limbering up, you know, beforehand. And I put in the time. It's just you got to do the reps. You got to do the reps.

**Scott** (1:24)
Am I right in saying that training for ranting involves a lot of talkback radio listening?

**Andrew** (1:28)
It does.

**Scott** (1:29)
Yes. Is that kind of the that's going to be the core exercise, right? Just get through two or three hours of hardcore talkback. And that's that's yeah, that's a good starting point.

**Andrew** (1:39)
Scrolling on social media, that helps too.

**Scott** (1:41)
Yeah, no, yeah, yeah, go do that.

**Andrew** (1:42)
Yep. Reserve bank media briefing. Oh, that's, that's when you get to see it. That's like rocky training in the snow, you know.

**Scott** (1:51)
Hitting the sides of the leaf, exactly.
Oh, very good. Mates, we've got a lot of stuff in the my bag, which is great. But before we get into that, if you want your question answered, info at fool.com.au is the address. I've seen this before. I'll say it again. Every time I get someone messes with me on Twitter or Instagram, someone says, hey, how do I get a question answered? Like, you haven't been listening, have you? So there you go. info at fool.com.au is the email address if you want your question answered. You can follow us on the socials, do that anyway, but generally best to go through the email system only because, yeah, I'm not saying my record keeping is terrible. All I am saying is that the Motley Fool member support staff do that work for me when it comes to that email address, so that makes sure it gets in the queue and gets answered. So if you want your question answered, that is the best way to drop it into the queue and make sure it's in the right spot. Mate, we've got a bit of a humble brag email slash question to start with. But it's an interesting one. I thought we'd go because we've talked a little bit about kind of how to structure a portfolio, particularly later in life. This Scott and Ram says our anonymous question, who says at the top, well done, please keep me anonymous, so I will. I hummed an art about sending this in, and I won't be the least bit offended if you don't read it out, but thought there might be some lessons slash discussion points generated from my investing story and current conundrum. I had a disastrous start to my investing journey, says our anonymous listener. I spent two years learning as much as I could about the stock market by reading books, participating in online discussion forums, and avidly reading e-newsletters, including from the Motley Fool US business. I came up with what I considered a diversified and relatively safe portfolio of stocks, paying close attention to business fundamentals and position sizing. I calculated that leverage would give me the starting boost I needed, helped by negative gearing the interest payments. I maxed out the line of credit on my mortgage, opened a CommSic account, and put it all into the market very quickly, following the line that time in the market, but it's timing the market.