News and updates about building wealth, retiring and achieving goals.

When you are young, healthy and just starting your working life the last thing on your mind is life insurance. In your 20s and 30s your financial focus is more likely to be on saving for a car, holidays, a home or the birth of a child. But failing to protect the lifestyle you are creating could have a devastating financial effect.

September is upon us and spring is in the air. Our farmers and firefighters will be hoping for some soaking rain to ease the drought and ward off bushfires. Meanwhile, AFL and NRL fans will be hoping the sun shines on their team this finals season.

One of the major themes for local investors in 2018 is the fall in the Australian dollar, and it’s not just Aussie travellers heading overseas who are affected. Currency movements can have a big impact on your investment returns, but where there’s risk there’s also opportunity.

Australian motorists are not the only ones hoping that global oil prices have peaked after reaching four-year highs in 2018. Not only do high oil prices flow through to the price of petrol at your local service station, but they also increase the cost of doing business for everyone from farmers to airlines and push up the cost of living for households.

Australia’s national economic agenda in May was dominated by the Federal Budget and the promise of tax cuts. Consumers rode a wave of optimism until the final week of May when the ANZ/Roy Morgan consumer confidence index fell for the first time in 7 weeks, down 3.2 per cent to 117.7.

The Federal Government has turned the spending tap back on, signalling the end of the revenue drought since the GFC and the end of the mining investment boom.

Australia’s household debt is among the highest in the world and rising, thanks largely to worsening housing affordability and plentiful consumer credit. So how do we measure up and should we be worried?

Although we are only at the tip of the iceberg of blockchain’s immense potential, industry leaders like Bob Greifeld, CEO of Nasdaq, have already pegged the emerging technology as “the biggest opportunity set we can think of over the next decade”.

It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that there is a significant underinsurance gap between what we would need to maintain our standard of living should the unthinkable happen, and what we are actually covered for in the way of insurance.

Autumn is here, and not a moment too soon after a prolonged heatwave over summer. The Winter Olympics provided some welcome relief from the heat at home, and even though we failed to score gold at Pyeongchang we came away with two silver medals, one bronze and some promising young athletes to celebrate.

It’s February and while the hot weather continues it’s back to business for most of us, with summer holidays, tennis and cricket over for another year. This is a perfect time to revisit your New Year’s resolutions and put all your good intentions to work for the remainder of 2018.