General

How Not to Argue Over Money

If you live with someone you love, then this week we want to offer you some light-hearted but useful advice to avoid arguments about money. After all, successfully managing money together calls for as much tolerance and good humour as all the other parts of life that couples need to negotiate. If you can keep smiling, everything becomes a lot easier.

Good Thinking Makes for The Best Financial Decisions

Good financial management is all about good decision making. This week, we discuss a simple way to help yourself make better decisions. Given that most of the country will remain in some form of lockdown for the foreseeable future, it is a method that makes even more sense for those of whose lifestyles have been seriously disrupted.

How to Be Effective

Peter Drucker was a giant within the world of management consulting. In 2004, he wrote a seminal article targeted specifically towards executives. Given the nature of 2020 and its impact on the world of work, we re-read the article recently and realised that its contents remain very relevant. In fact, they remain vitally important for anyone who has to work somewhat autonomously

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.

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.

To Access or Not to Access (Your Super Early)? That is the Question.

Amid the raft of measures announced by the Commonwealth Government last month, one of the more contentious was the decision to allow limited access to superannuation benefits to people who are ‘under-age.’ This change took effect from Monday of this week. Whether withdrawing makes sense in your case depends very much on your unique situation.

Let’s All Do Some Home Schooling!

This week we thought we would change tack a little. As we all continue in a version of lock down and with Easter now behind us, most schools have reverted to home learning. So, we thought we would provide a little lesson in basic financial management ourselves. If you or someone you know is home-schooling someone, you might like to use this as a lesson. If not, you can always enjoy the lesson for yourself.

Where did they Get the Money for That?

Over the past month, the Commonwealth Government has announced and commenced implementing economic stimulus measures that involve the Commonwealth spending (or rebating) more than $200 billion. A fair question to ask is: where do they get the money for that? The answer is a happy one that should be reassuring.

Commonwealth Stimulus, Phase Two

Last week, we discussed the stimulus package that had been announced but not yet passed through Parliament. As we forecast, the Commonwealth Government then announced a second round of stimulus measures. Both packages were passed by Federal Parliament earlier this week.