Is it bad to want to be rich? Let me ask that question a different way. Is it bad to want to be successful at your job or in your business? If your knee-jerk reaction is to say, “Yes, it’s wrong to want to be rich,” what you’re really saying is it’s wrong to want…
Australia’s biggest bank, CBA, has revised its cash rate forecast, reducing the number of predicted RBA cuts in 2024 from three 0.25 percentage point cuts to just one, scheduled for November. This decision comes on the back of stronger-than-expected inflation data from the ABS last Wednesday. Last week, Westpac’s economic team also updated the bank’s…
If you visit southern Greece or Tunisia, you might notice lots of white rooftops and white buildings to reflect the intense heat and keep residents cooler. It’s very different in Australia. New housing estates in the hottest areas around Sydney and Melbourne are dominated by dark rooftops, black roads and minimal tree cover. Dark colours…
Amongst the myriad property statistics available these days is one that sometimes is given too much attention if you ask me. I’m talking about median prices, which on a good day, can show property investors which suburbs they can likely afford to buy into. However, on a bad day, some people think they’ve made big…
Buying a property can be a real thrill. Walking through open homes, signing yourself up to a significant loan, becoming a landlord – it’s enough to get even seasoned investors a little giddy with the excitement of it all. Then… then the property just sits. And waits. Every now and then you check in and…
Happiness is a human construct, an abstract idea with no biological basis. But this is something to be happy about. The huge happiness and positive thinking industry, estimated to be worth US$11 billion a year, has helped to create the fantasy that happiness is a realistic goal. Chasing the happiness dream is a very American…
Some of us really like the status quo. Even when we have a better alternative, many of us are content to keep on doing what we’re doing. I think about this every time my wife and I swap cars. Depending on who is running what errands that day, we’ll switch between our big car and…
Freshly baked cookies on the counter to create a warm family feel… A fruit bowl filled with lemons and limes to draw attention to the chic bar set-up… Even a staged bottle of champagne on the balcony to show you how you could be living in the lap of luxury. These are just some of…
With property values rising for 15 months in a row and talk of interest rate cuts on the horizon, is the Australian property market gearing up for a new boom in property prices this year? Well, there are clues in the news as to what’s ahead, which I’m going to discuss in this month’s Big…
Here’s something for the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia to ponder as it meets next month to set interest rates. It has pushed up rates on 13 occasions since it began its attempt to restrain inflation in May 2022. On each occasion, its rationale was that by making borrowing more expensive, it would…