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Category: Articles

5 steps for Gen-X to retire well

The great thing about being a Generation Xer is that we’ve still got youth. At least in a relative sense. Sure, I’ve forgotten a few words to some Cold Chisel songs, but not because of dementia. I struggle to keep up with my kids sometimes, but I’m still arthritis-free. And I certainly cringe when I […]

Single scene all about planning

  Exhausting, depressing, scary and life-changing. The crashing end of a long-term relationship can be physically and mentally all-consuming. Contemplating life as a single, or setting off on the search for happiness again, can be daunting. For many, it will be a sliding door they didn’t want opened. Others will splash on some blue face […]

Claim time – don’t shoot yourself in the foot

Disasters strike, occasionally. They just do. And personal experience here says lightning can strike more than once. I’m, um, let’s say, 40-something. And in those years, I’ve had cause to make a few insurance claims. The odd car accident, a burglary, storm damage and a few holidays interrupted by brazen pickpockets, flight cancellations or natural […]

Insure and hope you don’t need it

Being diagnosed with a potentially deadly health condition in your 20s holds no positives. Not for the person whose lap it falls on. Not for their partner. Nor their children. Never. When the illness is a slow, progressive, and almost assured, death sentence, the younger the person, the more depressing the story. But sometimes, foresight […]

Want to save money? Act like a business and sell your kids

Big businesses constantly assess their balance sheets. They are always tinkering with what to keep on balance sheet. And what to bugger off it. Often, they will conclude to sell assets, such as property they own outright, and rent instead. Selling property frees up capital for business investment, and introduces a tax-deductible cost in rent. […]

Avoid a super contributions trap

SUMMARY: Getting around the traps to super contributions pre- and post-65. Getting money into super can be confusing, particularly for those at, or getting toward, the end of your working life. Turning 65 is when getting access to your super is easy. But putting money into super becomes more difficult. But not impossible, under the […]

Helmets on property investors! Worse lies ahead.

Keep your helmets on, investors – this is probably only a short break in hostilities. We’re still under attack. And the battles, on several fronts, aren’t likely to be over for some time yet. With the stock-market shenanigans, which at the end of August looked like they would right themselves, but then resumed stupidity. The […]

What are some of the most important things you should know about your super?

Generation X is often accused of being fatalistic about superannuation. Many believe it will be hoovered up by government taxes, crash before they receive it, or taken by frauds. But they’re not acceptable excuses for taking a bad attitude to super. Most importantly, Xers need to understand that super is our money, we just can’t […]

SMSFs are not paid to panic

SUMMARY: The message on asset class diversification has never been clearer. If you’re a self-managed super fund trustee and your guts haven’t been churning in recent weeks, then I know something about you. You’re fully invested in cash. And while that has served you well in the last fortnight, it’s been a number of years […]

Health insurance: why should you have it and what should you look for?

We’ve got it. We don’t use it much. And with respect, health insurers make their story a hard one to sell. The insurers’ premiums go up by multiples of inflation every year, approved by governments, who use penalties to try to force many to take it out. That is, we get shoehorned in by governments […]