6 Steps to a Sustainable Christmas
Just as the Grinch stole Christmas, excess spending can rob us all of yuletide happiness. Seasonal credit card splurges can create ballooning long term debt, while unnecessary consumption inevitably leads to a blow-out in rubbish bin waste. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia estimates $11 billion is spent on presents each year, including some 20 million […]
Don’t Lose Your Home! Alternative Ways to Pay for Aged Care
Anyone who has helped an elderly relative make the move into aged care knows that it can be a traumatic experience. It involves a move from the familiar – a home that a loved one may have lived in for decades – to the unfamiliar, a care facility with many residents and staff. On top […]
Protect Your Estate from These Mistakes
It’s a sad but unavoidable fact: one day we are all going to die. You will most likely have clear ideas as to how you would like your hard-earned wealth – your ‘estate’ – to be divided amongst your loved ones or other beneficiaries. However, estate planning is a complex area of law and basic […]
How Much Should I have in My Emergency Fund
It’s the most common story financial professionals hear. Unfortunately, too many people fail to set aside emergency savings to see them through life’s hiccups. So when the inevitable happens, and an unexpected bill arrives, they are put under pressure to find the funds to pay it. In turn, this leads to maxed out credit cards […]
Foundations of a Great Financial Life
A study conducted by the Australian Stock Exchange reported that nearly 25% of investors over the past two years were aged 18 to 24. These young Australians were found to be knowledge seekers, keen to take on life and begin their journey towards financial security. If this describes you, congratulations! You get it, you really […]
Superannuation: Making the Right Choice
One of the best things about living in Australia is the high level of choice we have in everything from milk to superannuation funds. For many of us, having a choice of where our super will be held is an important part of our investment management and a decision that should not be made without […]
Everything You Wanted to Know about Buying a Home
Ready to make the leap from renting to buying a home? Well, before you begin the search for your perfect home there are lots of questions to find answers to. Here are some of the big ones. Do you need to own your home? For most people home ownership remains part of the great Australian […]
5 Simple Techniques to Reduce Your Tax
His words might have been recorded over 200 years ago, but Benjamin Franklin’s famous uttering “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” remains as true today as it was in 1789. The one thing that has constantly changed is tax law, and although death is impossible to avoid, […]
Hitting an Insurance Home Run
Most people either cringe or yawn when the word insurance is mentioned but regardless of whether you find it scary or boring, managing risk is a necessity in the world in which we now live. Let’s cover all of the bases to help make your home run as easy as possible. First Base – Income […]
Investing in Overseas Shares
Like the idea of owning your own small part of some of the world’s largest and fastest growing companies? Maybe you want to tap into the growth potential of emerging economies, or get in early on the next big thing in technology. To achieve these investment goals you’ll need to look beyond Australia’s shores to […]
