What if the most important factor determining your financial future was decided before you were even born? Before you went to school, chose a career, purchased your first property or made your first investment, the circumstances of your birth had already influenced the opportunities available to you. It’s an uncomfortable thought, particularly for those of…
For previous generations, retirement followed a fairly predictable script. You worked for four or five decades, paid off your home, accumulated some superannuation and savings, and eventually reached the point where work became optional. But for millions of Australians, that picture of retirement is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine. New research from Finder suggests almost…
Back in May, the Grattan Institute released Wasted Space: Axe Car-Parking Rules to Ease the Housing Crisis. It received a reasonable burst of media and LinkedIn attention, but three months later I fear its central message has been filed under too hard, not quite right, or politically impossible. That would be a mistake. Because this…
There’s just too much to do and not enough time to get it all done! Sound familiar? If you ever feel this way at work, you’re not alone. Today’s demanding work environments and technology keep you hooked to work 24/7, and it has a large number of workers feeling overwhelmed. Most of the time, being…
Could the weakening jobs market bring Australia closer to the end of interest rate increases, even as buyers remain cautious about property? At the same time, another fall in building approvals raises concerns about how much new housing will be available when confidence eventually returns. These forces operate over different timeframes, which helps explain why…
Property investors who owned assets before Budget night will continue to benefit from negative gearing. Therefore, most will be reluctant to sell, because if they subsequently reinvest in an established property, they will lose immediate access to those tax benefits. However, given the Melbourne property market’s significant underperformance over the past decade, investors are naturally…
In today’s evolving property market, where investors can no longer rely solely on strong capital growth, many are exploring property development as a way to manufacture equity and accelerate their wealth-building journey. And the recent federal government tax changes have made this an even more popular path for serious property investors. One of the most-read…
For twenty years, Australia’s economy has been growing. Company profits have gone up, dividends have gone up, and property values have gone up. But what if I told you that most of that growth had almost nothing to do with us getting smarter, more efficient, or more productive? What if it was really just more…
Australia’s property markets are continuing to soften, and the spring selling season has done little to restore buyer confidence, with falling prices, weaker auction clearance rates and longer selling times pointing to a market where buyers are increasingly in control. To help keep you up-to-date with all that’s happening, below is my updated weekly analysis…
Here’s something that should concern every parent and grandparent in Australia. If you were born in the late 1940s, there was a 54% chance you owned a home by your late twenties. If you were born in the early 1990s, that figure has fallen to 36%. Now that’s a significant change in how wealth gets…
