The latest research on happiness is a real punch in the gut. According to David Buss, a psychology professor at the University of Texas, we are hardwired for unhappiness. And we have evolution to blame. It turns out emotions like unhappiness, jealousy, distress and disgust spurs individuals to improve their conditions in order to return…
About 14% of Australians experienced personal fraud last year. Of these, 2.1 million experienced credit card fraud, 675,300 were caught in a scam, 255,000 had their identities stolen and 433,000 were impersonated online. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest Personal Fraud Survey, between July 2023 and June 2024, Australians lost A$2.1 billion through…
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…
The thing about getting into debt is that anyone can do it! The hard part, of course, is getting out of debt. In fact, many people struggle with even admitting they’re in debt in the first place and bounce from one pay to the next struggling to keep their head above financial water. There are…
When we think of entrepreneurs we often think of trailblazers forging ahead on their own, someone who’s doing something different or creating something new. While it’s true that in order to achieve financial freedom you’ll have to rely on your own wits and talents, it’s also true that no one succeeds on their own. If…
Good networking can really make a career. If you want to be successful, then knowing the right people and getting them to help you when you need it is absolutely vital. But it’s not easy because good networking requires skills and subtlety. Most people know this, and so they go about trying to network…
In a world where our lives are increasingly intertwined with digital technology, the threats to our financial security have evolved just as rapidly. While the internet has made it easier than ever to manage our finances, it has also opened the door to a wave of sophisticated scams that can have devastating consequences. What’s particularly…
Housing affordability is the current topic of conversation in the media and at dinner tables across Australia. And for families with Gen Y children, in particular, it’s probably a discussion based around how they’ll struggle to ever buy their own home. There’s no denying it has become a lot harder to get a start on…
Is happiness genetic? Is it predetermined? In 2017, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, published a paper that, for the first time, linked genetics to happiness. In the study of nearly 300,000 people, the researchers, led by Meike Bartels, found that there was a direct link between genes and happiness. This is a groundbreaking study….
Those who struggle with poverty, while growing up, see the world as a very different place from those raised in the middle-class or in wealthy households. In my Rich Habits Study, 41% of the 177 self-made millionaires were raised in poor households. Yet, somehow they managed to break out of their poverty as adults. Ironically, according…