Reflection

Brother (or sister), can you Spare a Dime? Lending Money to Friends and Family.

This week, we thought we would look at an issue that some of us are likely to face, as the impact of Coronavirus affects people we know and love. That issue is what to do if someone asks us for a financial loan. It might be family, or it might be a friend. Either way, lending money to friends and family can be a touchy subject. We hope these general thoughts may help.

Restorations Don’t Always Work Out So Well!

Covid 19 means that many household budgets are under pressure. Many of our clients are looking closely at all of their spending. For some people, this review includes thinking about their life insurances. As we will discuss below, any decision to discontinue or reduce life insurance should only be made after very careful consideration. Restorations may not turn out the way you think they will.

The Wealth Equation. Maximise, minimise, optimise.

The ability to turn a complex idea into a simple set of habits is usually the secret to success. This week, we thought we would ‘boil’ financial management down to a simple mathematical formula which many successful people have applied in their own lives. We call it the ‘wealth equation.’

More about decision fatigue

Our recent article on decision fatigue was very well-received. So, this week we thought we would return to the theme and shed some more light on this very important element of good financial decision making. (OK: we admit it. It also lets us run another photo of an extremely cute baby, which should get lots of positive comments as well!)

Exhausted from all that’s happening? Here’s why.

If there is one thing most of us have in common at the moment, it is how tired we are all feeling. The Covid Shutdown has left many of us feeling quite worn out. A tired mind can make tired decisions, and so in our last article for the 2019/2020 year, we thought we would write about the best way to make good financial decisions.

Psst. I love you. Wanna Share our Super…

Most couples prefer not to think about ‘splitting.’ But, as the financial year ends, there is one form of splitting that happy couples can safely think about.

The next round of stimulus

Last week, the Commonwealth Government announced the latest of its economic stimulus packages – the HomeBuilder program. Grants of up to $25,000 are available to eligible recipients and is designed to ensure that residential construction work planned for between now and the end of the calendar year goes ahead in as many cases as possible.

Winter means the end of the financial year!

Next week marks the start of winter and also the last month of what has surely been the most bizarre financial year in history. June 30 is a deadline for a whole range of things, so in this article we want to remind you of some of them. As the weather has gotten colder, why not make yourself a nice warm drink and read on.

It’s Automatic…

If 2020 was a normal year, then this week we would be writing about the 2020 Commonwealth Budget. The 2020 Budget was due to have been delivered earlier this month. However, the Commonwealth Government made the sensible decision to delay the Budget until later in the year, due to the uncertainty about Commonwealth revenues and expenses that the COVID-19 crisis has created.

Account-Based Pensions – Save the Other Half for Later?

In recent weeks we have discussed various Commonwealth responses to the Coronavirus. One response that has received relatively little ‘airtime’ is the announcement that people drawing account-based pensions from their super fund can reduce the amount they must withdraw in this and the coming financial year.