Twenty-three-year-old, Ashleigh Petrie nominated her mother as the sole beneficiary of her super. However, Ashleigh’s 63-year-old fiancé was successful in claiming her full super balance after she died in a car accident. Ashleigh was in a relationship with her fiancé, Rodney Higgins for only 7 months (living together for four of them). This story highlights…
Tax isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you’re paying tax, it means that you are making money (income or capital gains). But of course, there’s no need to pay any more than you legally have to. I discuss our common-sense approach to saving tax below. Minimising risk is often more important than saving on tax…
Last week, a prospective client asked me a very good question. They asked whether I have data that shows what investment returns my clients have generated. Whilst this sounds like a logical question, my response was that not only did I not have this data, but it also wouldn’t necessarily be that useful. The reason…
What drives you to build wealth? If I deposited $10 million in your bank account today, what would you do differently tomorrow? Do you think money will solve any (or all) of your “problems” and/or fulfil all your dreams? The answers to these questions will reveal how you think about money. And how you think…
Good cash flow management is by far the most important practice that you must master to be successful at building wealth. I realise that it’s not a particularly popular topic, but bear with me because it’s an easy thing to master if you know how. It won’t take you much time, and you will feel…
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, and investing as much as possible so that you can afford to retire as soon as possible. A listener that works in the mental health…
It is alleged that Sydney-based financial advisor, Melissa Caddick stole $25 million from her clients. She has recently gone “missing”, leaving a trail of disaster for her clients and family members. Many con artists are very cunning and go to great lengths to conceal their wrongdoings. But there are a few simple steps you can take which…
It’s been well documented that property prices rose significantly over the course of 2020 and 2021. According to the Real Estate Institute of Australia, median house prices in eastern capital cities rose between 30% to 40% over those 2 years. However, unfortunately, apartments underperformed compared to houses in a big way. I wanted to discuss…
Commentators often refer to the price of a property in Australia relative to household incomes. They highlight that property prices have risen two to three times faster than household incomes. They conclude that property growth cannot exceed income growth perpetually. Obviously, this is unsustainable at a macro level. I’ve written about the factors that contributed…
An investment property’s total investment return will consist of rental income plus capital growth. I have written about the importance of maximising capital growth many times. However, often investors are tempted to focus attention on income (when selecting an investment property) too, as they seek to minimise the cash flow cost of holding the investment property. I…
