President-elect Trump… what a surprise… though it’s funny with the wisdom of hindsight many commentators are now saying it was entirely predictable and Hillary lost it! Either way, Donald Trump brings political uncertainty and throws the cat amongst the pigeons economically. So what does this mean for your investments? Well, despite the character of the man himself, the Trump (Republican) economic… [Read More]
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Non-aligned vs Much (m)aligned
It is estimated that as many as 85% of financial ‘planners’ are aligned with large institutions. This is a shame, as being non-aligned is the only way to be a genuine adviser. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (‘ASIC’) is the Government body in charge of regulating financial planning in Australia. ASIC has been in… [Read More]
Age Pension Cuts – 5 Strategies to Maximise Entitlements
This afternoon I was talking with a client who is going to be one of over 300,000 Australian retirees that are expected to lose their Age Pension from 1 January 2017. An eligible individual must satisfy both the income and assets test to receive a full, or part pension. The amount will be based on… [Read More]
Trump or Clinton… its time to move on!
Markets have been jittery in the lead up to the US Presidential election next Tuesday 8 November, which is coming off the back of a poor October where our ASX 200 fell 2.2%. Overall the US election process is drawn out over more than a year and becomes quite a circus. This time around it… [Read More]
Flip-flopping on super
If you have been trying to follow the Federal Government’s changes to superannuation over the last few months, we would forgive you for having a headache. There has been an awful lot of flip-flopping. One of the most contentious areas of change concerns non-concessional contributions into super. A non-concessional contribution is one that is not… [Read More]
What will you do now that interest rates are so low?
So, what are you doing with all that interest you’re saving? In case you haven’t noticed, interest rates are at an historic low right now. In August, the RBA voted to drop the official target cash rate to just 1.5%. This followed a reduction in May from 2.0% to 1.75%. Home loan rates are about… [Read More]