Bruce Brammall, The West Australian, 3 March 2025 Maxwell Smart not only got through assignments, but thrived, by being totally inept. Get Smart’s Agent 86 constantly managed to defeat the agents of Kaos with his cluelessness, because no-one could foresee how his inability to execute even simple tasks successfully would ultimately lead to the mayhem […]

Bruce Brammall, The West Australian, 17 February 2025 It feels like getting a bonus. Extra cash you feel you deserve for all your hard work, weathering tough times. But you can never be sure until it arrives. And it has been tough. Household stresses have been building up (though not for everyone). Yep, I’m not […]

Bruce Brammall, The West Australian, 2 December 2024 Here’s how you should be looking at superannuation: It’s an awesome, legal, tax-minimisation scheme to help you save for your retirement. Your retirement cash ostensibly invested in the Cayman Islands or Bermuda, keeping dibs on a poolside deck chair for your arrival. Any money you put into […]

Bruce Brammall, The West Australian, 4 November 2024 As frantically busy as life seems to be, not much really changes fundamentally, day to day. Not big picture stuff. It’s a gradual shift through life’s stages. Your 20s should largely be about having fun. Your 30s might be partnering up, having midgets and managing mortgages. Your […]

Bruce Brammall, The West Australian, 23 September 2024 The pressure is building. Pretty much everywhere. And markets are saying, with certainty, that rate cuts are a-coming. But Michele Bullock, chair of the Reserve Bank, ain’t listening. Or possibly listening, but not hearing. And there’s a reasonable chance she’s cursing under her breath, not wanting to […]

Bruce Brammall, The West Australian, 9 September 2024 “You’re not the boss of me!” was a common phrase my kids would trot out, usually to bossy friends, when they were young. They were taught it at creche. And it was about setting boundaries with other kids who were trying to tell them what to do. […]

Bruce Brammall, The West Australian, 3 June 2024 Ah, the racy joke that was a way too blue, the juicy rumour instantly shot down as fiction, the personal overshare that crossed so many lines it also crossed a state border … Sometimes, some things dance either side of the line between appropriate and inappropriate. And […]

Debt Man column – The West Australian (Money) Bruce Brammall, The West Australian, 20 May 2024 Every trip around the sun comes with two universal “year ends”. The calendar year end, which is fun. And the June financial year end, which is mostly stress. We all prefer calendar year end, December 31. All party, no […]

Bruce Brammall, The West Australian, 8 April 2024 As kids get deeper into their teens, they give off bigger vibes that they really don’t want your help no more. What gives it away? The grunting? The groaning? All that time spent in their bedrooms? The smiles that only come out when they want something? Of […]