Thoughts on money, from a Financial Planner in Perth
“Carnage on global sharemarkets”! Sounds like an awful scenario, doesn’t it? What sort of outcome do you think would lead to headlines such as this? A fall of 30%? 20%? Whatever it is, the result must be pretty bad for the word ‘carnage’ to appear. Or so you would think… Let’s put aside the sensationalist … Read more
How do we tackle economic problems and foster economic growth? Australia – austerity or growth? It’s a global question! There are usually a range of options to tackle any economic problem or condition, ranging from increasing government spending to reducing taxes to printing money or even starting a war to divert the attention of a … Read more
Financial planners continue to be in the news – gosh, we must be an interesting lot. The focus of late has been on insurance – it’s costs and the differences between good and bad advice in this area. This is a short post, with a link to commentary from three different planners operating in the … Read more
For a whole host of reasons, i’m thinking about insurance today. Thinking about insurance Insurance is one of those areas we all love to hate. Premiums always seem too high, we hear stories of insurance companies not paying out or the new stories about commissions being too high. After years of dealing with insurance companies and … Read more
It’s Philosophy Friday, so let’s spend a moment or two musing on the place of “Ethics” in the world of the financial planner. Financial Planning Ethics It may seem obvious that there is a place for ethics in financial planning. Financial planning scandals of one type or another have peppered the front pages of newspapers, … Read more
The Reserve Bank of Australia today announced that it has dropped interest rates yet again. Borrowers on variable rates linked to the RBA cash rate will rejoice when their particular financial institution eventually agrees to pass on the interest rate cut. Pensioners and people living off interest income will find their next interest payment is … Read more
Is there a financial bias in media and commentary towards do-it-yourself strategies? And if there is, is it disclosed or obvious or even apparent?
It’s been a tumultuous year in the world of money, and 2015 looks to be just as interesting. Thank you for reading my blog, and a big thank you to those who have commented or contacted me with suggestions, ideas or to share thoughts. Next year promises to be a big one, so i would … Read more
Financial planners and life insurance have been in the headlines recently. It’s a strange development, for a variety of reasons that i will cover later in this post. For the moment however, let’s just say that the current debate is highly superficial, and there’s a need for greater clarity – so read on! Financial planners … Read more
The Medibank float is likely to be the largest and most keenly sought-after Australian Stock Exchange (“ASX”) retail float for a very long time.The high level of interest is a reflection of many issues – some valid and some not so valid from an objective investor point of view. In this post, i muse on … Read more