At what age are you planning to retire? Maybe it will take longer than you thought to develop financial freedom. At least that’s the way it looks for many Australians according to Roy Morgan Research. They suggest that the average age of Australians intending to retire in the next 12 months is 61 years, up…
For years the great Australian dream has been to own one’s one home — but how are things going? Are we achieving this? Interestingly this is a very Australian aspiration – it’s not the same in other parts of the world where many expect to be tenants all their lives. Even in the USA the Great…
A lot has changed since the Baby Boomers left the parental nest and ventured out into the big, wide world. Young people today are not looking to get married quickly, they’re not saving for a house, and they’re having children later in life. Heck – many are not even looking to move out of home!…
It has been more than two years now since the Reserve Bank made a change to the cash rate and many experts are predicting it may be a long time yet before another change is made. There is even more uncertainty amongst the ranks whether that move will be a raise or lowering of the…
Westpac Bank seems to have given the market a scare by raising interest rates this week. Westpac will increase its variable mortgage rates to in its words “counter rising funding costs that are threatening the bank’s profit margins.” The bank said all variable mortgage rates will rise by 0.14% from September 19. The increase will…
Do you use your credit card to gain rewards points? I know I do. But I was shocked to recently red that over 1.7 million Aussies made over $1 billion on purchases they didn’t ‘need’ in the past year to gain rewards points . Research by finder.com.au found that one in ten (11%) Australian credit…
Researching a suburb before you buy is clearly important. However, keeping up the research after the fact is a task that’s a little harder to maintain. If you don’t know what’s happening in the neighbourhood, how will you know the best course of action for your property? While clearly investment is about long-term capital growth,…
Sydney is one of Australia’s 2 super cities. If you were an overseas visitor coming back after 20 or 30 years you would only just recognise our Harbour City – it has changed so much. One of the big changes is how many Sydneysiders live in apartments. The demographers at McCrindle recently analysed the changing…
We’ve all heard of F.O.M.O, which is a clever acronym and short form for ‘Fear Of Missing Out’. Property investors that suffer from FOMO are usually urgently scrambling to buy property – in some cases any property. And are trying to avoid missing out on the potential for huge gains, most often in a bull…
While you may be finding the cost of living expensive, globally we’re not in the top 20 most expensive places for employees working abroad. While four of the five most expensive cities in the world in which to live are in Asia, according to Mercer’s 24th annual Cost of Living Survey, Australian and New Zealand cities could become top…
