How to have a very merry – and affordable – Christmas Christmas should be full of laughter and good cheer, and if you plan wisely, you can also avoid a spartan New Year spent paying off your yuletide spending. With a survey finding that Australian shoppers spend about $10 billion on gifts alone, or $700 […]
If you're pinning your financial hopes on the ability to downsize your home in retirement, you may need to think twice. Many Australians don’t have enough in super to fund a quality retirement, but if you’re pinning your hopes on the value of the family home, it could pay to think again. Downsizing to a smaller place may […]
Despite national figures, there are still windows of opportunity within different Australian states. Aussie home owners are now forking out nearly a third of their annual income to meet average home loan repayments, according to research from the Real Estate Institute of Australia.1 The group said while home loan affordability showed a slight decline in the second […]
Find out where and what retirees are investing in and spending their superannuation money on. A significant number of Aussies are now entering retirement with substantial superannuation balances, after compulsory super contributions for most employees were introduced a quarter of a century ago1. But what are retirees doing with their super money? Are they putting […]
A common personal finance trap is to concentrate on saving and investing to finance our eventual retirement without thinking enough in advance about how to invest and spend that money in retirement. Given that we have so much going on in our lives long before retirement –such as our careers, dependent children, home mortgages and […]
Make sure you and your money are well looked after. Estate planning is not just about making a will. It’s about deciding how you want to be looked after (both medically and financially), if you can’t make your own decisions later in life. It’s also about documenting how you want your assets to be distributed […]
An Australian study could reveal some surprises when it comes to the investment preferences of both young and old. If you thought cash savings or investment property were the most popular retail investment choices among Aussies, a recent study by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) revealed that it was in fact shares, along with other on-exchange investments*1. The […]
We tend to take shortcuts when making numerous decisions in our lives, such as choosing a restaurant or when buying a new car. But don't take shortcuts with investment decisions. As a recent Vanguard research paper* observes, a common decision-making shortcut is to use a rating system based on the assumption that past performance will […]
When you're faced with unexpected expenses, having emergency cash set aside can make all the difference. Could a relatively minor event—such as an unexpected filling, visit to the vet, broken phone, faulty home appliance or busted car tyre—leave you financially stranded? If you answered yes, you’re not alone. One in five Australians don’t have enough […]
See how you can work around common money traps so you've got cash today, tomorrow and in the future. In your 20s, you might be saving for an overseas trip, eyeing a new car, looking for your own pad, or simply trying to keep your wardrobe up-to-date, and have cash left over for Saturday night. […]