Australia’s cash interest rates are currently at record low levels. If your cash account earns that interest rate of 2.5% then you are probably just keeping ahead of official inflation rates – currently noted as 2.4%. If you are paying tax then that means your purchasing power is slowly being eroded. In other words, the…
Many super funds have had a reasonably good year these last 12 months. This will likely trigger a barrage of adverts and promotions that boast of this or that return beating this or that benchmark. Higher Super Fund Returns The point of this post though, is to look at super fund returns from a different…
Welcome to 2013, the year of the snake! Already a few weeks old, 2013 has all the makings of a very good year. For a start, the political systems of the three major economic global power blocs (Europe, USA and China) have managed to wriggle their way through some fairly tricky turf and start the…
Global themes will impact all money plans for the future. Have you thought about your financial future in this context? Will you have to change any of your plans?
Your risk profile is your personal assessment of the areas in which you have leeway, and the areas in which you do not, in your attempt to achieve a result as close as possible to that unachievable perfect outcome.
Investors and their financial planners have now endured over 5 years of turmoil since the onset of the Global Financial Crisis. The extended nature of this slump in markets of all types has sapped the energy, patience and temper of everyone connected to the world of money. As i have a number of times before,…
Self Managed Superannuation Funds (“SMSF’s”) have long lived under a very harsh penalty regime. If a trustee failed to meet their obligations then the Australian Tax Office (ATO) was able or even required to declare the fund “non-complying”. That was a nuclear bomb option as it resulted in the fund assets being taxed at the…
There are few areas of government expenditure in the world that are more contentious than those associated with the payment of pensions. This includes “age pensions” in countries that have such things, as well as “employer pensions” from time spent with an employer. There is a huge range of types of super funds available, with…
Who is behind the name that is behind the advisor that gives you advice? Financial Planning Bias – All is not as it seems We have covered the bias that is inherent in the Australian financial industry a few times now. The key reason for this bias is the government regulatory requirement that all Financial…
At least, that is the impression you can get when tuning in to some sections of the media. As covered in previous posts, the post-GFC world is a tumultuous one, with many long cherished “laws” of investment being turned on their head, and many investors feeling helpless in the face of small, zero or negative…
