Where should have you invested in 2022?

In 1905, George Santayana wrote; “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” That’s why it is always worthwhile to reflect on the past year to identify any lessons that we can learn. Below I share the investment lessons that I believe last year taught us.   Review of markets in 2022 …

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Should you invest in gold?

I was interested to watch this YouTube video produced by ETF manager, BetaShares which compared the differing views of Warren Buffett and billionaire fund manager, Ray Dalio. Both men have been some of the most successful investors over the past 50+ years, yet they have opposing views regarding investing in gold, which I find very …

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Are there major changes to super on the horizon?

The Albanese government’s first Federal Budget last month was a bit of a fizzer in that there wasn’t much in the way of changes that affected investors and superannuants. However, subsequent murmurs by politicians’ hint at proposed changes that the government may be contemplating. In particular, I wanted to address these potential super changes and …

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Why property prices have bottomed

CoreLogic data indicates that property prices in the 5 largest capital cities have fallen by 7.1% since May, when the RBA started hiking interest rates. Sydney has seen the largest price fall – down by around 10%, and Melbourne has fallen by 6.7%. But it’s not all bad news. House prices in Brisbane, Adelaide, and …

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Governments vested interest in maintaining property price growth

There are many large and powerful institutions that have a vested interest in rising property prices. But all levels of government (i.e., federal, state and local) probably have the most to gain, as I’ll explain in this blog. This leads to two important observations. Firstly, the government is the main contributor to housing affordability pressures …

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Retirement might not be as enjoyable as you expect

I recently appeared as a guest on The Australian newspaper’s Money Café podcast, where we discussed the FIRE moment. The acronym stands for Financially Independent, Retire Early, which involves living as frugally as possible, investing as much as possible so that you can afford to retire as soon as possible. A listener that works in …

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2022 FEDERAL BUDGET # 2

This blog summarises the initiatives contained in the 2022 Federal Budget # 2, announced on 25 October 2022. The budget didn’t contain many initiatives for investors, small business owners or individuals. The government would have been mindful to limit the stimulatory effect that budget initiatives can have in a high inflationary environment. Child care subsidy …

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What’s going on with share markets!

Calendar year to date, the stock and bond markets have produced some of the worst returns on record, which is unusual because bonds and stocks are typically negatively correlated. In fact, this has only happened two times over the past 96 years, as illustrated in this chart. Even gold, commodities and property have lost value …

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