Comfort with Money

About 35 years ago, a friend who was also a client, asked my advice about how to structure his borrowing and investing following his recent purchase of a house. Working on the principle that although DEBT is a four-letter word, it is not one of those four-letter words, I recommended a substantial borrowing for life, coupled with a matching substantial investment, also for life. Those people who grab the Financial Review and read it from front to back page daily, will hate th

Last week I raised the age-old question of whether we have a basic right to manage our money in any way we wish it’s ours. The more this question is asked the more we are challenging the organization of our community and the society in which we live. Karl Marx, apart from being a sociologist, also had claims to being an economist and his concept of profits linked with state owned enterprises was significantly tested when the Berlin Wall was knocked down and Germany, East and

The COVID-19 crisis prompted the Federal Government to allow people of all ages, not just those over 65, to access their super early. I understand that at this time the sale of motorbikes took a significant jump. I’m fairly certain that very few people past retirement age were responsible for this hike. As Treasurer, Paul Keating was responsible for introducing our current system of superannuation, and I’ve never ceased to declare this the most significant financial event of

One of the characteristics of the human race, and also for some members of the animal kingdom, is the regular repetition of activities which can clearly be defined as habits. Some of these habits are bad or at least not especially beneficial. Some are charming – they “grease the wheels” and make our social life happy. Some are good – they are beneficial for our wellness and economic survival. For all of us, our life is guided by habits, conscious or otherwise, which have beco