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Category: Articles

“As Baby Boomers retire en-masse, should they spend all their kids’ inheritance or leave some financial love?”

Excellent! Time for some Baby Boomer bashing! Billy Joel stated “we didn’t start the fire” in his 1989 hit that claimed his Boomer generation wasn’t to blame for the world’s woes. Bollocks! Yes, you did start it and, yes, you are to blame. It was Boomers that invented “hippies”, elevated pot smoking to a lifestyle […]

Super’s prime time

PORTFOLIO POINT: Super isn’t “old people stuff”. Today we explain why Gen Xers need to lay the foundations early for a super-sized super balance in retirement. The real problem with most people and their superannuation, in my humble opinion, is that too little thought is given to it until too late. Most people tend not […]

“Aussies have donated generously this year, but are we as giving as we should be?”

Donate more? Wha-a-at?! We’re already taxed to within a breath of extinction. And PM Gillard wants more next year! With what’s left, you want more … blood from stone! I’m kidding, of course. Regarding donations, Gen Xers have a tough set of scales to balance. Upwardly moving and time-demanding careers, big mortgages, trying to invest […]

Generation X: Your guide to super

PORTFOLIO POINT: Are you a 30- or 40-something? Want to know how to maximise your super during “your most powerful decade”? Today starts a two-part series on super for Generation Xers. I hope it’s not too much of a shock to some readers, but I’m only 40 years old. I managed to reach that milestone […]

Challenges ahead for super

PORTFOLIO POINT: Super funds and platforms are going to have to become inventive if they’re going to survive and thrive under “Cooper’s Super”. All of the parties involved in the provision of super services are going to face considerable challenges as a result of Cooper’s super. The whole point of Cooper was to light a […]

No tax: That’s the icing on the cake

PORTFOLIO POINT: You’ve turned 60 and you’re not ready to retire? Well, you don’t have to, but you MUST start taking advantage of a super pension. Superannuation, like life, keeps getting better with age – until that point where we must accept that we’re over the hill and the slope becomes a little slippery. If […]

Will boomers bust super

PORTFOLIO POINT: Is there a “peak super” theory? They talk about peak oil theory, where the production of oil hits its highest, before declining rapidly. Is it possible that there is also a “peak super” theory? Have super funds, including self-managed super funds, hit an inflexion point? Has the phenomenal growth in funds of the […]

“Credit cards versus store cards – what’s the best and worst for your wealth?”

Best and worst? Nuh-huh. Worst and worster! Just take my Grandma. She’s used her credit cards to obliterate her home equity and her Boomer kids’ inheritances. (“Bad Grandma! Very naughty!”) Via a nasty RSL club cocktail of pokies and cheap feeds, her good times Golden Girl party team and an ever flowing tap of Visa […]

“Knowledge is power. What is the best finance book you have ever read, and why?”

“Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” That’s a quote from PJ O’Rourke. In my opinion, the funniest man alive. I’ve read his two “finance” books, if you could call them that, Eat the Rich and CEO of the Sofa. They are both informative and […]

Your seven super resolutions

PORTFOLIO POINT: This is the 7-Eleven column – the seven things DIY super trustees must do in 2011 to keep your SMSF in top shape. It’s already a quarter-hour past sunrise on the 2011 calendar year and it’s time to wake yourselves from the Christmas slumber and get your butts into gear. No time to […]