Better budgeting
For many people the word “budget” conjures feelings of restriction. (Just like the word “diet”.) However a good budget should be the exact opposite. It should facilitate you having enough money for the things that really matter so you need not feel restricted. In this article I reveal a better budgeting technique using the model “Pay Yourself First (in practice)”
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Protect yourself from identity theft
Two months ago my sister, Julia was the victim of identity fraud. Two thousand dollars quickly disappeared from her bank accounts before she detected it. This week is National Identity Fraud Awareness Week (NIDFAW), so I encourage you to consider how you may be placing yourself at risk of identity fraud. Then act to prevent [...]
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Solving The Financial Decisions On Your Mind
On Thursday I conducted a webinar in which I addressed the top three types of financial decisions that are on your mind, as submitted in the recent survey. Almost all respondants said that they think about these things daily or a few times a week. That is a lot of time and energy consumed on [...]
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To Fix Interest Rates or Not?
With two interest rate rises already under our belts more people are asking me if they should be fixing their rates. Read on to discover the pros and cons and if fixing your interest rates may be right for you.
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The Three Fatal Financial Behaviours
Have you ever thought you are not getting as far ahead financially as you think you should, but are not sure why? Then maybe one or more of these three behaviours may be the cause.
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Take The Financial Pressure Down
Today is Stress Down Day, to raise funds for Lifeline. As part of their promotion of Stress Down Day Lifeline conducted a Newspoll to discover what was stressing Australians. The Newspoll found that two thirds of Australians are stressed about money, second only to being stressed about work. Does that include you? The Lifeline poll [...]
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Find Ten for Wealth
As I recently rode around a nearby lake with my daughter I noticed a Find Thirty logo painted on the pavement. The Find Thirty campaign encourages us to complete 30 minutes of physical activity each day as an investment in our physical health. Imagine the possibilities if we also found thirty minutes for wealth? Imagine [...]
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Sell your old mobile phone and gadgets
Make money when you upgrade your mobile phone and gadgets. In this article I reveal how I just made some money from a 5 year old phone and how you can too.
Cash in your frequent flyer award points
In September 2001 I lost over 100,000 frequent flyer points when Ansett Australia collapsed. I had been accumulating reward points with the intent of funding an overseas flight. To that end I’d even paid for a domestic flight rather than use some of my points. What a waste! Back then it was a common complaint [...]
What to do if massive world change is coming
“Perhaps the developed world is about to experience massive structural change”, mused my mate as we discussed the global financial situation recently.
In truth no-one knows what will happen.
The great news is that the actions which prepare you to survive a massive change also position you to thrive if instead a boom arrives. So irrespective of your personal forecast it is worth implementing these suggestions.
Why are only 5% of Aussies millionaires?
“One day I want to be a millionaire!” I recall that being an often expressed goal around the traps twenty years ago. Back then the median gross annual income was just $17,056* so the millionaire goal was quite a stretch. It was also before the explosion of free information on the internet. Since then there’s [...]
A great 21st birthday gift
My partner and I would like to buy shares for my son’s birthday. He will turn 21 on 9 November and we want to buy him something that he will have for a very long time. Eventually we came up with the idea of starting him off with his own share portfolio, but we have absolutely no idea how to go about this. We also don’t know if it is possible and whether it is a viable, long-term plan. We’d appreciate some advice…
With math this bad would you trust this adviser?
Yesterday I received an e-mail message from financial services firm [name removed*] pre-promoting a “big event” they’re holding in October. The following is part of their big sell: Too right that’s not pretty reading. Mr [name removed*] has used simple math of dividing $1 million by $6,464.10 to come up with “154.7 years to become [...]
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Retirement lifestyle costs quick estimator
By Matt Hern on November 15, 2011
The ASFA Retirement Standard for the September 2011 quarter has just been released and reveals that “in general, a couple looking to achieve a comfortable retirement needs to spend $55,316 a year, while those seeking a ‘modest’ retirement lifestyle need to spend $31,767 a year.” One of the most useful elements of this quarter’s update [...]
Posted in Planning | Tagged ASFA Retirement Standard, Commentary, retirement planning | Leave a response