Trust can be tested in many ways. Consider this situation. You are sitting at a conference with 1000 or so industry colleagues – effectively professional strangers – and you are asked to unlock your mobile phone and hand it to the person sitting next to you. They have 30 seconds to do whatever they like […]
Automatic bill payments Direct debits can help you organise your finances. Make sure you understand how they work and what to do if you want to cancel them. What is a direct debit? A direct debit is an automatic transaction that transfers money from one person's account to another. Direct debits are processed electronically and […]
We probably all remember during those long difficult car trips as children repeatedly saying such irritating things to our parents as: "When do we get there?". Perhaps adding to reinforce the point, "I knew we would never get there". And then pleading whenever a fast-food joint appears on the horizon: "I NEED an ice cream". Fast forward […]
There's a lot of debate in the superannuation industry about what constitutes an 'adequate' contribution rate. Most experts say somewhere around 12-15 percent over a full working life should provide retirees with a decent nest egg. And indeed, the Australian super system is heading to a 12 per cent mandatory super guarantee (SG) rate […]
Are you planning to boost your retirement income by doing some part-time work once you eventually retire? Perhaps you have included the expectation of some paid work in your calculations about how much you need to finance your retirement. If so, this leads to another question: How realistic is that expectation? A Vanguard research paper, Retirement […]
No matter our age, most of us would probably look back on some aspects of our lives and say to ourselves: "If only I could do that again; if only I had a second chance". This, of course, tends to occur quite frequently in regards to our investing and saving. Often, we regret not […]
Mike Gallagher, CFA, CAIA, Head of Distribution, Intermede Investment Partners American corporations are enjoying a golden age of profitability. Intermede examines the sources of their current relative dominance and the potential risks faced by some of the technology businesses that currently sit at the top of the pile. A March 2016 article in The Economist argued […]
Tom Stevenson, Investment Director I was delighted that Richard Thaler was awarded the 2017 Nobel Economics Prize. Thanks to the work of Thaler and other giants in the field of behavioural economics like Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, it is increasingly accepted that ‘homo economicus’, the rational agent always seeking economic advantage, does not exist. […]
It's been a generation since inflation last ravaged Australia, with costs for ordinary consumer goods rising on a seemingly daily basis. Indeed, in the wake of the global financial crisis, inflation in many countries has been lower than policymakers would like. Low inflation, it turns out, can be a problem too. Over time, declining or […]
As Smart Investing recently discussed, the combination of historically-low yields, expected muted investment returns and growing life expectancies are making it particularly challenging for retirees to calculate how much to draw down from their retirement savings. A critical issue here is how much retirees can withdraw from their portfolios each year to finance their current spending and […]
