Have you ever stopped to think how far Australia has come in the past 60 years? In 1966, we were a nation of 11 million, fresh off switching from pounds, shillings, and pence to dollars and cents. That transition was more than monetary. It symbolised our shift from being a British outpost to finding our…
National rents rose 1.7% over the March quarter, up from 0.4% in the December quarter, according to CoreLogic’s latest Quarterly Rental Review. However, this uptick is largely seasonal, with the 1.7% rise in rents over the three months to March marking the slowest Q1 growth since 2019 (1.0%) and is a full percentage point below…
Yes, you read that right — even in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, there are still places around Australia where owning a home can be cheaper than renting. But (and it’s a big but), you need to know where to look, and you need to act strategically. The media’s been busy with doom and…
Investor behaviour matters a lot. In fact, it probably matters more than skill. To understand why this is true, first, you need to understand one fundamental concept: Investment returns and investor returns are almost always different. In 1999, I was working diligently doing my job as an investment advisor or financial planner (I was never sure what…
If you’ve wandered down the cereal aisle recently, you might have noticed something peculiar. Between the giant, value-packed boxes of Home Brand Cereals and the small, premium gourmet granolas, there’s a glaring gap where Weet-Bix, the staple breakfast of middle-class Australia, once took pride of place. Those mid-sized boxes, the ones we grew up with,…
We are not born with courage, but neither are we born with fear. Maybe some of our fears are brought on by our own experiences, by what someone has told us, by what we’ve read in the papers. Some fears are valid, like walking alone in a bad part of town at two o’clock in the…
There’s an old Chinese saying “I wish that you live in interesting times.” The irony of this is that “interesting times” are often times of trouble or turmoil, making the phrase more like a curse and boy are we living in interesting times at the moment with Trumps Tariffs creating fear around the world. It…
If you’ve been watching Melbourne’s property market closely, you’ll know it’s been a two-speed market in recent years. While established houses in gentrified inner- and middle-ring suburbs have pulled ahead, many apartments have been stuck in reverse gear. But something’s shifting. However, new PropTrack data reveals there are still 13 Melbourne suburbs where apartment prices remain…
For mine, the Australian housing market is about to boom. Why? I think we are heading towards a bout of stagflation. Job creation is about to tank and, whilst inflation will rise and remain above the RBA target range for some time to come, interest rates will fall. My modelling suggests that every time mortgage…
The words “chocolate” and “disappointment” don’t often go together. But you may have experienced some disappointment if you’ve ever unwrapped the bright foil of an Easter egg to discover white, chalky chocolate inside. What is this white substance? Is it mould? Bacteria? Is it bad for you? Can you still eat it?! The answer is…
