Calm the farm: US economic fears overblown
The Australian share market experienced losses of $100 billion over two days in early August because of fears of a US recession. But how likely is the economic threat really and, ultimately, will the markets care?
Compare the Pair: Super fund returns
Super fund returns for the year ended June 2024 have been released, with some surprising results. Market darlings, Australian Super and CBus have underperformed, while out-of-favour retail funds, AMP and Colonial First State topped the charts.
So, what’s behind the performance results and what can retiree investors learn from them?
Waste not want not
Minimum pension drawdowns limits doubled on 1 July; are you ready?
Account based pensions are flexible retirement income streams. When you stop and think about it, there are very few restrictions on what you can do with them. If you are retired, you can access your money whenever you like, you can switch providers, you can choose how you invest, you can choose the level of income you desire and there is no maximum drawdown imposed.
Independence: The key to trustworthy advice
Last month Dixon Advisory, a once respected retirement specialist firm, collapsed into voluntary administration. In the end, it was overwhelmed by compensation claims and legal actions from 5,000 former clients who had sustained heavy losses from Dixon’s in-house products.
So, what went so wrong for Dixons? And what can we learn from their business model and the experience of their clients?
Spending in retirement
There are lots of uncertainties when it comes to retirement. While most Australians are working longer, we’re also living longer, so our retirement is longer. In fact, for some of us, retirement can span a period of 30 or 40 years.
A lot can happen in 40 years and it can be difficult to know how much we can afford to spend. How do we balance spending today, and still be responsible for the future?
Independence Day
On Monday, 2 August we took a stand and started our own Australian Financial Services Licence.
We are calling it Catalpa Pty Ltd. By self-licensing we can free ourselves from real and perceived conflicts of interests. It enables us to officially provide unbiased advice.
Our reasons for seeking independence are simple. We believe that professional financial advisers should serve their clients and their clients only. There should be no other money flows or vested interests.