Growing up in Home Hill, a small country town in North Queensland, being a part of ‘the community’ was something I was very much familiar with. The notion that everyone knew everyone, or knew of everyone, is a distinct experience that is difficult to replicate in larger cities.
In 2014 I moved to Brisbane, and to a whole different experience.
I have learned, however, that community still exists in the city, but often in different forms.Continue reading
For many of us, being within a crowd is a safe place to be. We’ve all surely uttered ‘I don’t know, go with the crowd’ at some point or another.
There is something comforting about safety in numbers. You usually are in familiar company when amongst a crowd. You are ‘all in the same boat’.Continue reading
On January 3, 2009, the first bitcoins were created.
Ten years on the terms ‘bitcoin’ and ‘cryptocurrency’ are widely known. ‘How to buy bitcoin’ was the third most searched for ‘How to…’ phrase in Google in 2018. Indeed, there have certainly been miraculous stories of cryptocurrency catapulting individuals into millionaire status, however my perspective on this is that these are few and far between.
Crypto investments rarely end well.Continue reading
The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey is Australia’s first national representative household-based longitudinal survey. Started in 2001 by the University of Melbourne, the HILDA Survey provides an ongoing picture of changing lives and social attitudes, as opposed to a cross-sectional snapshot or single point picture that most surveys give.
The survey tells the stories of the same group of Australians over the course of their lives. The survey now tracks more than 17,500 people in 9,500 households, asking about their household and family relationships, income and employment, and health and education.Continue reading
Like in other areas of life, we see many cycles in the financial markets and the economy. Cyclical periods of borrowing – both literally and metaphorically speaking – can be observed in the economic world.Continue reading
While New Year’s resolutions are being made and retailers are desperately trying to sell remaining Christmas stock, financial commentators are busy making predictions about what 2019 will hold for the market.Continue reading
Many investors believe the value of seeing an Investment Advisor or Financial Planner is in the investment advice, such as choosing which funds to use or shares to buy.
Whilst this advice can make a difference and is an important part of the process, the greatest value is in planning to achieve core lifestyle goals and objectives.
Continue reading
Working out a company’s value can mean pouring over its financial statements, analysing the quality of its business operations, assessing competitive position, returns on equity, earnings growth, and the list goes on.
However, one thing missing from this list is the importance of the quality of management in a business.
Management may make decisions that are, while in their best interests, not in the interests of the company. This is called agency risk.
Recently, some long-term clients of mine, who are well into their advancing years, faced the real possibility of having to leave their family home and move into Aged Care due to declining health and one of them having a serious fall.
The ‘Banking Royal Commission’ is certainly hitting the headlines. Round two of public hearings over recent weeks focused on financial advice and claimed a few scalps at AMP with the CEO and Chair leaving.
Not many are weathering the storm of the Royal Commission well, neither the Banks, Financial Planners, Dealer groups, Financial Planning Association nor even the corporate regulator, ASIC, are without damage.Continue reading