In 2008, during the height of the GFC, people were worried whether their money was safe in the banks. As a result, the Australian Government
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Moving a large amount of money between countries can be a nerve-wracking process. Often people use their local bank for this type of transaction. The main benefits of doing so are that it is a relatively simple process, and they are dealing with a financial institution they feel they can trust.
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With the average wedding in Australia these days costing between $36,700 and $48,296, I recently came across an interesting study. Unfortunately, the findings might horrify some brides!
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Most people don’t realise that in a lot of cases the best investment they own is themselves.
The main reason is that a person has the ability to generate income every year as long as you remain either self employed or employed. Despite market fluctuations, for some people this income source is pretty reliable.
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Frequent Flyer points, particularly in Australia, is almost a second currency to the AUD. With so many credit cards in the market place all with the flashy programs, it is easy to quickly feel confused.
Over the years, we have found some people are really proficient with a credit card in their day-to-day handling. Each month they pay it off and pay little or no interest, yet reap the rewards which might be on offer. Others however, find it a tread mill almost impossible to get off! These people spend most of their life around the credit limit (rather than at a zero balance) and as such feel it is more a strangle hold on their cash flow rather than a positive experience.
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Like most people in the investing field, I have been glued to the media feeds over the past few weeks keeping abreast of the continuing Greece development to ensure there is no fall out from from this to the investments that I care for.
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If you have been holding term deposits, you may have noticed that the interest rates have been falling. Some may be a little confused why the interest rates were dropping well before the RBA made the change, and are questioning whether they will continue to fall?
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If you suffer from a love affair with property like many Australians, then you will often ponder the above two choices when deliberating how to build wealth long-term with this asset class.
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Interest rates can have an impact on investing. Below are 3 point key points to watch during times of very low interest rates.
1. Cheap Credit
With interest rates at historical lows, it is very easy for people to think this is the “new” long-term norm. Currently, home loan interest rates are sitting at levels around 4-5% and this can entice big eyed and envious home owners to bite off a little too much than they should really hold in debt levels.
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Most Australians feel comfortable with the knowledge that unlike other countries (such as the USA) there is no inheritance tax here… but is this really true?
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The official cash rate set by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on the first Tuesday of every month currently sits at 2.5%. This is a quite a distance from the 17.5% cash rate Australia endured in the winter of 1990 and creates an interesting economic and investment back drop for investors
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I recently drove past the house and street that I grew up in as a young boy. It has been quiet a while since I was last in the area and it was nice to go back down memory lane. It reminded me that when I was a young I used to catch a bus to primary school and the bus ticket back then was around 35 cents.
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I have found over the years there are certain topics which can be quite polarising in people’s beliefs. Over late night dinner conversations, people often heavily debate (with sometimes very strong opinions too) topics like politics, religion, the environment, and now private schools versus public schools. It seems everybody has an opinion on this topic!
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It’s almost July already, and while the calendar year is half over, the 2014/2015 financial year is only just about to start. So, now is a great time to review your situation and make some changes to make the most of the next 12 months of the financial calendar. Here are some tips that should help you to improve your financial situation.
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Diversification is a staple principle for most investors. The general idea is one of risk mitigation – or in other words, trying to avoid loosing your entire investment portfolio due to one bad investment decision.
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Albert Einstein famously described compound interest as the 8th wonder of the world. A profound statement given that it was coming from one of the greatest minds of all-time.
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Recently I have been getting up around 5:30am in the morning a couple of mornings each week to go to the gym. The winter time with the cold mornings are always the hardest to get motivated – particularly as I walk to my car in a brisk 4 degree morning.
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The above calculator assumes that if you invested $100k and this capital grew at 10% in value each year that the investment would be worth around $732k million in 20 years time.
The interesting thing with this mathematical calculation, is that it has taken 16 years to reach $500k. However between years 16 and 20 the capital value increases from $500k to $732k in just 4 years!
Read MoreAustralia’s superannuation savings have swelled post the GFC to $1.8 trillion with one third of these assets now held in Self-Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSF) – making it the largest and fastest growing segment of the super industry.
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I have 2 young boys aged 4 and 6 years old and some days they are the best of friends, and other times they can be the worlds worst enemies. Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder what happened on these bad days!
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