START WELL® Podcast
Welcome to the START WELL® podcast – I’m Dawn Thomas, your host. As a mother, financial adviser, and researcher, I’m here to guide you on empowering the next generation’s financial journey. Whether you’re a parent, grandparent, or the coolest aunt or uncle, join me in exploring how impactful conversations about money can shape a young person’s future. During each episode, we will be unpacking a resource or money concept, so you can take the conversation home with you. Let’s harness their superpower of time and your superpower of influence to ensure they START WELL® and thrive for a lifetime.
Welcome to the START WELL® podcast – I’m Dawn Thomas, your host. As a mother, financial adviser, and researcher, I’m here to guide you on empowering the next generation’s financial journey. Whether you’re a parent, grandparent, or the coolest aunt or uncle, join me in exploring how impactful conversations about money can shape a young person’s future. During each episode, we will be unpacking a resource or money concept, so you can take the conversation home with you. Let’s harness their superpower of time and your superpower of influence to ensure they Start Well and thrive for a lifetime.
START WELL® Podcast
Investing Simpler,Smarter and Sooner with Glen James
How do you start investing without feeling overwhelmed, intimidated, or convinced you need to be an expert first?
In this episode of START WELL®, we sit down with financial educator and award-winning author Glen James to unpack the ideas behind his book The Quick-Start Guide to Investing: Learn How to Invest Simpler, Smarter and Sooner, winner of ABBA Book of the Year and Personal Finance & Investing Book of the Year.
This conversation is designed for young people beginning their financial journey and for parents wanting to bring meaningful money conversations back home. Rather than chasing trends or quick wins, Glen shares why successful investing starts with understanding your values, building strong foundations, and developing habits that last decades, not days.
Together, we explore how investing can become simpler, calmer, and more intentional.
Episode Overview
Investing often feels complicated because we start in the wrong place. Instead of focusing on products or predictions, Glen explains why understanding your why, your behaviour, and your long-term goals matters most.
We discuss the realities of learning through experience, navigating online financial information, avoiding common behavioural traps, and helping young people build confidence in a world full of investing noise.
This episode highlights how investing is less about perfection and more about patience, discipline, and clarity.
In This Episode We Discuss
Money as a tool and the difference between being rich vs being wealthy
• Building strong financial foundations before investing
• Why your career may be your first and most important investment
• Helping young people navigate investing advice online
• Behavioural traps like hype, and FOMO,
• The importance of risk, time horizons, and goal setting
• Learning through early investing experiences, even mistakes
• Why long-term strategy matters more than short-term market movements
Book Featured: The Quick-Start Guide to Investing: Learn How to Invest Simpler, Smarter and Sooner
by Glen James & Nick Bradley Winner of ABBA Book of the Year and Personal Finance & Investing Book ofthe Year.
About Our Guest
Glen James is an award-winning financial influencer, authorand podcast host known for making money conversations practical, relatable, and accessible. He is the creator of the Money Money Money podcast and author of Sort Your Money Out. Through financial content, Glen helps Australians build confidence with money and develop sustainable long-term financial habits.
Listen & Connect
🎧 Listen to more episodes of START WELL®wherever you get your podcasts.
START WELL® is a podcast designed to help parents and young people start important conversations about money, values, and future choices, empowering the next generation to build financial confidence early.
General Advice
Warning – This Podcast contains general advice. The information, including tax information and any advice provided in this Podcast, does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of that, you should before acting on the advice, consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to those things. If the advice relates to a particular financial product, you should obtain the relevant Product Disclosure Statement for any product mentioned and consider its contents before making any decision. You should consider talking to a financial adviser before making a financial decision. Dawn Thomas is a Senior Financial Adviser and is an authorised representative of TWD Licensee Services Pty Ltd ABN 88 605 064 480 Australian Financial Services Licence No.475964 (TWD Licensee Services).
START WELL® Resources
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The 100-Year Life
In our latest podcast, Dawn and Michelle review The 100-Year Life book and explore what living longer means for retirement, reinvention and future planning.
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Can financial education reduce stress at work?
Financial wellness programs reduce stress and boost performance. Our START WELL® equips the next generation with lifelong money skills and confidence.
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How to ensure your children START WELL® financially
Cara Graham discusses with Quorum the rationale behind the START WELL® financial literacy program, and tells us why, what and how you should discuss money with your children.