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Category: Articles

Australia takes silver in super rankings

SUMMARY: Australia picks up “silver” in global pensions survey – but has probably already lost its chance to defend its position next year. Australia has jumped to second in the global retirement incomes rankings – but could already have tumbled off the podium due to government policy changes. Denmark was the only country to have […]

Super or the mortgage – what is the best place for your generation to place any spare money?

THPPPT! Spare money? For Generation X? Ho, ho, ho! Surely you jest, dear editor. Weddings, monster mortgages, hungry midgets’ mouths, education expenses … we’re just trying not to drown. However, the truth is we do get through. And for Xers striving to get ahead, here’s what you’ve got to weigh up. In the early years […]

Don’t fear buying first home

Can you think back to a time when we weren’t all scared? When you, or those around you, weren’t fearful of an impending catastrophe? We live in a constant state of global panic – war/terrorism, financial and disease, in roughly that order. Fear is good. It stops complacency. Keeps people on their toes. Inevitably, relatively […]

Telstra shareholders steal a few centimetres

SUMMARY: Telstra’s buy back winners are a limited few. But in the investing game, every few centimetres count. The billion-dollar Telstra buyback ended up being a bit of a fizzer, even for those who were amost assured of being winners. Everything went against investors – the discount maxed out, the share price was depressed and […]

Pet insurance has been growing in popularity but is it worth it for most households?

My mum was allergic to animals, following a nasty incident with a cat when she was pregnant. Consequently, animals weren’t part of my early childhood. My parents eventually relented and got us two cats, Steak and Kidney. Kidney Kitten got his name because his first feeding bowl was an old kidney specimen vase, a relic […]

How to choose between super and the mortgage

SUMMARY: Paying off your home, or contributing more to super? Lower rates can make this an even more super idea. Sustained low interest rates has certainly made paying off the mortgage easier in recent years. But it’s also given a boost to a combined super/mortgage strategy. A question often asked by those in their 50s […]

What are your top three tips for protecting your retirement nest egg from a financial disaster?

“Wax on, wax off.” If you don’t know what that means, you’re not Generation X. Try a column to the left or right. Daniel-san, aka The Karate Kid, was taught the wise ways of the martial art by Miyagi, a teacher with odd-ball methods, but who got his point across. And Danny-boy, by learning to […]

Saying goodbye to work … slowly

SUMMARY: Retiring too early? Don’t, there are plenty of reasons to stay working until you’re really ready to ride off into the sunset. The idea of turning in your badge, at the end of a long career, is becoming increasingly unpopular. For some, it’s actually dreaded. More and more, Australians want to continue working beyond […]

Money habits are developed from a young age? How do you go about changing any bad habits?

I call it “rewiring my brain”. And I’ve had to do it a bunch of times since 1999 – when I first decided an aspect of my life needed an exorcism. While none were bad money habits per se, all were destructive behaviour patterns with financial consequences. I tended to focus on the financial outcomes […]

A million reasons to watch SMSFs

SUMMARY: SMSFs continue to do what they know best – make sure that their own best interests are being looked after. UNDERDOG status is something with which DIY super funds have long been comfortable. Being underestimated has never worried them. Authorities and outsiders often misread them, misunderstand what drives them and mis-judge how they’re going […]