BLOGS

Money and your happiness

Firstly, I have to warn you that this newsletter diverges from the traditional financial topics that I usually write about. My advice is to read this newsletter with an open mind and be prepared for something different. I had the pleasure of recently seeing Shawn Achor, a Harvard-trained researcher and an expert in happiness and …

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The Year 2022…

It’s the year 2022 (September). Collingwood has won 3 premierships in a row and are looking good for a fourth. Geelong hasn’t made the eight in 7 years. I am considering using Grecian 2000. Stuart is hosting The Apprentice and the number one news item that night is that the stock market just made a …

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Missed it by that much!

Doing some reading recently, I came across US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasts made in 2002 for the US economy in 2012 (a ten year time horizon). Now you would think that an economy is equivalent to a very large “tanker”. It doesn’t move much. Growth rates don’t vary much over time, there are cycles, …

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Dammit! I thought I chose the right lender.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been helping a number of clients (that use an array of different lenders) as their interest only repayment periods were approaching expiry (an interest only term is typically only used with investment loans and allows the borrower to only repay interest, not principal). Most lenders structure their …

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An eye on the tide….

One of my favourite sayings following the GFC was ‘when the tide goes out you can see who is not wearing swim shorts’; another great metaphor we can thank Warren Buffet for. In fact I think he prefaced this with ‘the rising tide lifts all boats’; equally true. Back in 2005 everyone was making money, …

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Teaching Kids about Finances

This week the Federal Government will launch a new initiative and resources to help primary school teachers deliver financial education programmes in schools. Here’s a link to the website: http://teaching.moneysmart.gov.au/ Robert Kiyosaki’s book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ aptly posed the dilemma of his highly educated father who nonetheless had no financial education and consequently struggled …

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