Most people say wealth means a big salary with a lifestyle to match. Most people equate wealth to money, but that’s not how wealth works. You need a lot more than money to be truly wealthy. You need your health, your friends and family to share it with, you need personal growth, spirituality (this means…
The race that stops that nation is just a few days away and according to new research, consumer spending on the Spring Racing Carnival will reach $1.6 billion this year! Obviously, people would invest in a new fashion, and accessories and attend events trackside and in hospitality venues. The research from the Australian Retailers Association…
Are you planning to sell your home this year? I bet you want the best price you can get, bit it’s no easy task to set the price for your home, which is probably your most valuable asset. It is likely you will think your home is worth a mint and the estate agent will…
How did Australia wind up with the tightest ever rental market? Well, it has been the culmination of a number of decisions over a number of years that have created the tightest rental market on record – and there’s no quick or easy way out of it. If we go back to 2014, investor borrowing…
What’s ahead for Australia for the balance of this decade? That’s what I discuss today with leading demographer Simon Kuestenmacher. Forecasting is important because it can help us to make better investment and financial decisions. If we have a sense of where the world and our economy are going, we can prepare better. In theory,…
Australia’s rental market is booming, with rental rates surging across the country as tight supply and record-low vacancy rates push competition for rental properties to a crisis point. At the same time, record levels of internal migration to locations such as Brisbane and Greater Queensland have further exacerbated the supply-demand imbalance in many areas. New…
Michael and Karen moved from Melbourne to Castlemaine, about 130km northwest of Victoria’s capital, in mid-2020 – using, like tens of thousands of Australians, the shift to remote work to make a larger lifestyle change. They sold the small two-room inner-urban apartment they had bought in 2018 and bought a large three-bedroom home on a…
Playing monopoly was a tradition in our family for a long time. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t come out as often these days – I guess I don’t play board games much anymore. In the good old days, I played Monopoly with my parents when I was young, with my children when they were young, and…
A property transaction is like a big machine, with many moving parts that do different things but should each spin in harmony to get the job done. There’s the real estate agent, responsible for handling the sale of the property. Sometimes there’s a buyer’s agent, who represents the person buying the property. There are lawyers…
Are you thinking of selling a property? Now you may think your home is wonderful — and I am sure it is — but if you wish to stand out in a crowd and present a polished façade you need to tick some boxes along the way. By this I mean spending a bit of money (where…