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Category: Articles

When is it time to start thinking about making a will, and what are your tops tips for estate planning?

DEATH! Hey, can we lighten this up a bit? To Salt ’N’ Pepa’s classic: “Let’s talk about death, baby. Let’s talk about you and me …” About once a month, DebtBoy makes me squirm. “Dad, I hope you don’t die.” He means it as an “I love you” comment, but I wince every time. I’m […]

Want wealth — get willpower

I’m doing my best to teach little DebtBoy to read. (Almost) every night, for 20 minutes in my study … well, it sounds like I’m pulling his teeth out with pliers. He hates it. The frustration overflows, along with tears and shouting. He screams at me: “I don’t want to do this!” My response, without […]

New credit rules – might have to start paying on time

Bugger. Might have to start paying them bills before they turn red. It’s a shame – red is such a pretty colour. Really grabs your attention If that’s you, then take the new credit/privacy reforms as a wakeup call. If you ever need credit – not just mortgages, but credit cards, mobile phones and utility […]

Super… nest egg, not nest

SUMMARY: No. No! NO! Ignore this nonsense about accessing super early to buy homes. It’s dumb on many levels. Australians should not be able to access their super funds to purchase homes. Not under Australia’s current super system. Calls to do so are populist claptrap, sometimes pushed by self interest. To date, the calls have […]

Crunching superannuation gearing

SUMMARY: An appetite for gearing risk is back for investors. Here’s the menu for super investors who are hungry. More than six years after the barn doors were fully opened, gearing for superannuation funds remains divisive. Many have not embraced it and would still like to see it banned again. It’s good that it hasn’t […]

Crunching the gearing

SUMMARY: An appetite for gearing risk is back for investors. Here’s the menu for super investors who are hungry. More than six years after the barn doors were fully opened, gearing for super funds remains divisive. Many have not embraced it and would still like to see it banned again. It’s good that it hasn’t […]

The Federal Government is six months old – what’s changed?

Right now for Gen Xers? Not so much. There’s gas aplenty being produced in Canberra – enough to lift a flotilla of hot air balloons. But actual change to date? We don’t have the new expensive maternity leave system. We’re still paying a carbon tax. We still have a mining tax. We don’t know what’s […]

Some things are so obvious, Stevie Wonder could see

Nobody likes to stuff up. Making errors is, generally, a pretty annoying part of life. Of course, the bigger the cockup, the bigger the required clean up. I’m really no fan at all of the avoidable clean up. You know, making things right from a disaster that even Stevie Wonder could see coming a mile […]

Super concessional contributions caps to rise for under 50s … don’t miss it!

SUMMARY: Positive developments on two fronts in super, with lighter regulation of SMSFs a possibility. It seems like the tide has been running out forever for superannuation investors, including SMSF trustees. In reality, it has been about six years. But recent evidence suggests the tide has turned. And in the last week, SMSF trustees (and […]

What is one crucial thing for your generation of women to know about money?

DING! Ding! Ring the bell, boys! Round 43,817 of Battle of the Sexes is … ON! Well, no, not at all. This ain’t no man-versus-woman thing. It’s a fact that Gen X women – not all, but many – face serious financial disadvantages right now, because of gender. And the problems worsen with age. No […]