I have a question for you, and be honest. Over the past five years, how many times have you made a New Year’s resolution and actually seen it through? It’s hard, I know. We always start the new year with the best of intentions. We make resolutions while we’ve got our feet up over the Christmas break, but then struggle to stick to our goals...
Life gets busy, right? So much so, good diet and healthy eating habits often quickly go out the window. Throw two kids, a busy family life and business into the equation and it gets even harder. Consistently eating well’s a precarious balancing act. I’ll be the first to put my hand up to say that I overdid it over Christmas. Too many rich foods, the...
Life’s full of risks. That’s a given. Some you can mitigate against, some you can’t. When it comes to investing, one of the critical ways of minimising risk is diversification. It can save you a lot of stress, particularly if you’re prone to money worries keeping you awake at night. In fact, I’d argue that a diversified portfolio should play a vital role within any long-term...
You rarely get a free ride in life. Same goes for investments – every one you make will have some kind of fee attached. Left to run amok, fees can seriously suck the life out of your investment portfolio. I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve met with active portfolios who’re losing significant amounts of cash at the hands of rampant fees. They really...
This week, I want to talk you through compounding interest, often referred to as ‘compound earnings’. Albert Einstein called it one of the ‘greatest mathematical discoveries of all time’. Many in the financial world refer to it as ‘a force of nature’ – a secret sauce, if you will. Whichever way you look at it, compounding returns have played a critical role in helping the rich...
For a novice, the sharemarket can be like landing in Shanghai and not being able to speak Mandarin. As with any language, though, start learning the foundations, and all of a sudden things start to fall into place. Ultimately, the sharemarket can be as complex as you want to make it. It really depends on what your financial goals are and whether you want to learn...
Wow, this year’s really flown for me. Maybe it’s the perpetual balancing act that is having a young family and running a business, but 2018 really feels like it’s had its foot firmly planted on the accelerator. It’s the same thing every year. We emerge out of winter into spring, desperate for some warmer weather to kick in, but, once we hit October, those last...
For me, fleeing Melbourne’s bitter winters and getting some much-needed respite from sub-15°C daily temperatures is an absolute necessity. Maybe I’m just getting old, but I’m really feeling it this year. In my defence, the daily temperature literally just topped 9.8°C as I’m writing this. If you can avoid travelling during peak periods like school holidays, there are some great flight deals floating around at...
Auction clearance rates in Melbourne have been on the wane for the best part of the year now. So much so, they hit a five-year low last weekend, dipping under 60 percent. If you own property, you’d be forgiven for thinking the market’s year-on-year growth would continue shooting up for the foreseeable future. It’s had an incredible run, that’s for sure. Right now, it’s certainly a buyer’s market...
Banks lose tens of millions of dollars to online fraud every year. They may be loathed to publicise it, but it’s true. To say this is a massive issue is an understatement. For me, it really hit home recently. A relative of mine was hacked a little while back and lost $50,000. Let me repeat that. Fifty. Thousand. Dollars. Not $1,000. Not $5,000. But $50,000. Just let that sink...
