General discussion on the activities of a financial planner and their clients, as well as comment on broad industry trends and practices.
Welcome to 2013, the year of the snake! Already a few weeks old, 2013 has all the makings of a very good year. For a start, the political systems of the three major economic global power blocs (Europe, USA and China) have managed to wriggle their way through some fairly tricky turf and start the…
Maybe it’s just because of the general good cheer of Melbourne Cup day but my usual elephant-thick-skin is feeling a little tender at the moment. It could be just another example of the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. You know, when the accumulation of a long series of nothings suddenly begins to make each new piece of straw feel…
Global themes will impact all money plans for the future. Have you thought about your financial future in this context? Will you have to change any of your plans?
Your risk profile is your personal assessment of the areas in which you have leeway, and the areas in which you do not, in your attempt to achieve a result as close as possible to that unachievable perfect outcome.
When everyone is crowding around the feeding trough, it can be hard to see who is providing the food. So it is with cash rates right now, at least in my eyes. i think it is time to air a word of caution on interest rates for cash. Not necessarily the usual worry of losing…
Hard on the heels of my last post about Australia’s housing shortage/surplus comes some information^ on Australia’s top 25 Residential property rental increases as measured by council areas. The highest median rent in Australia belongs to… Port Hedland. Yes, the median rent in Port Hedland ($1,900 a week – that’s $98,800 a year people…) has…
There are few arguments more heated than those based around the future direction for house prices. i am about to make some statements that many people will find disturbing so please, if you have a weak stomach for discussion on house prices, change channels now… A hundred billion dollar error One of the great difficulties that…
Financial media have started using the terms “risk on” and “risk off” to describe the daily swings that are so vividly apparent in market pricings around the world. Just what do these terms refer to? Markets are priced at the margin Deep breath, and please bare with me on this one because it is extremely…
If there is a single phrase that the financial industry misuses more than any other, it is “long term”. It’s a bit like deciding to get fit by telling everyone you’ll do more exercise. You feel satisfied, because anything is more than you are currently doing – but you and i both know that “more”…
There are few areas of government expenditure in the world that are more contentious than those associated with the payment of pensions. This includes “age pensions” in countries that have such things, as well as “employer pensions” from time spent with an employer. There is a huge range of types of super funds available, with…
