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
For many Australians, purchasing a home is one of the biggest – and scariest – financial decisions they will make.
Previously I discussed considerations regarding how much to save and home loan approval criteria. In part 2 I look at how to select the best home loan that suits your personal circumstances.
For most Australians, choosing to purchase a home is one of the biggest financial decisions they will make. Home loans are an essential force in the real estate market, with few individuals able to afford a home without a mortgage.
Are you thinking about taking out a new home loan but have no idea where to start? Let’s go through some of the basics you should know before signing on the dotted line.
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
Oaktree’s Howard Marks recent newsletter (always worth a read) finished with a simplified example of a progressive tax system using the metaphor of beer.
While this example has been floating around for a while and used by many different people in different countries with progressive tax systems, I have altered the example to better reflect Australia’s tax system.
Like all illustrative examples, simplifying the issue means glossing over the complexities of the overall system, nevertheless it is interesting. I would like to emphasise here that the example below is a light hearted example of the tax system.Continue reading
