How much does it cost to raise a child? Obviously, the answer is highly dependent on individual circumstances. However, as a guide, a 2013 national study* found that a typical middleincome family would spend about $812,000 on raising two children from birth to age 24. At that time childraising costs were increasing at around 9% […]
Archive for the ‘Budgeting’ Category
Building your ‘Family Future Fund’
By admin • March 11th, 2019What’s your magic number?
By admin • March 11th, 2019According to a recent survey *, Australians tend to underestimate the amount of money needed in our retirement years by as much as 20%. Survey respondents, including active Australian investors, revealed a disconnect between income amounts believed to be needed in retirement, versus their real cost of living. Pre-retiree Australians foresee their base line living expenses […]
When is a good time to retire?
By admin • February 25th, 2019There has been much social and political debate since the federal government proposed pushing out the age at which Australians can access the age pension. Although most occupations don’t have a legislated retirement date, there is little doubt that our tax and social security systems do have a significant impact on when many of us […]
5 common financial mistakes people make in their 40s
By admin • February 25th, 2019The 40s are, for many people, a critical decade for building wealth. Income is usually on the rise, but so are expenses such as mortgages and school fees. Juggling priorities can be a real challenge, and mistakes made in this stage of life can have a large bearing on the size of your future fortune. […]
What will you do with your tax refund?
By admin • December 4th, 2018Thousands of Australians receive tax refunds every year. Some refunds won’t even cover the cost of a pizza to celebrate, however many are quite substantial. If you’re one of the lucky ones, what will you do with your tax windfall? If you go out and spend it, all you’re doing is giving part of it […]
What is the pension loan scheme?
By admin • December 4th, 2018Currently 1.8 million Australian homeowners receive some level of age pension, with around 700,000 on a part pension. What many of these part-age pensioners may not know is that, along with recipients of the disability support pension, carer payment and some other Centrelink payments, they are able to access some of the equity in their […]
Buy now; pay later; manage carefully
By admin • November 28th, 2018Before heading off on an overseas holiday, Sam decided to buy an expensive new camera to document his travels. The camera store offered a ‘buy now, pay later’ option, and attracted by the ‘no interest’ promise of the credit provider, Sam signed up. All was well to begin with. Sam had a great time on […]
Rentvesting: the not-so-new phenomenon
By admin • November 28th, 2018At first glance it seems like a strange thing to do: rent out a property that you own while paying rent to live in somebody else’s place. Yet this phenomenon of ‘rentvesting’ is proving popular, driven by a mix of lifestyle and financial factors. Why do it? A prime reason to rentvest is to get […]
Millennials and finance – your unique needs
By admin • May 30th, 2017If you entered the world between 1980 and 1996, you’re part of the “millennial generation”. You’ve grown up in an age of unprecedented abundance and incredible technical innovation, and as a group, enjoy a greater wealth of opportunity – professionally, socially and recreationally – than any previous generation. Many goods and services have never been […]
Tap and go – is it too easy to use our credit cards?
By admin • May 30th, 2017
Talk about hammering the plastic. In November 2016 Australia’s 16.7 million credit card accounts were used to make 226 million transactions with a total value of $27.8 billion. We are currently paying interest on $32.2 billion worth of credit card debt, running up an annual interest bill of over $5.6 billion (that’s $5,600,000,000!). It’s not […]