Is the share market over valued?
The Australian share market reached new highs last week, even though projected profits of most companies are subdued. So, is the Australian share market over valued? And, if it is, what can retirees do to guard themselves against investment losses?
Cbus: A relic from the past
When it rains, it pours. The construction industry super fund has recently been in the news about its poor performance. Now there are revelations of corruption with secret deals involving lucrative contracts and links to criminals and bikie organisations.
What the future holds
It’s a shame money doesn’t buy happiness, because from a financial perspective the future looks bright.
Treasury released its latest intergenerational report this month and it makes for fascinating reading. With the luxury of a 40-year outlook, the report lifts above the distraction of day-to-day noise. Instead, it analyses the macrotrends that will drive the economy and the retirement income system in the long-term.
SKI club: Why it’s losing its members
Spending the Kids’ Inheritance (SKI). Every retiree jokes about it. But in our recent experience, Australian retirees are turning their minds to helping family members financially. They are more concerned about the impact of the rising cost of living on their families than themselves.
Global banking turmoil and your super
It all started a couple of weeks ago with the collapse of mid-tier US institution Silicon Valley Bank. Soon another mid-tier bank in the US, Signature Bank, collapsed.
If you have been brave enough to look at your super balance in the past few days you will know that the share market has since fallen more than 5% and is now trading at four months lows. In that two weeks markets have fallen because the recent turmoil in banking has spooked investors who remember the pain of the Global Financial Crisis 13 years ago.
Bad Medicine
Bad medicine: Why the RBA is right to increase rates
In February the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) increased official interest rates again, this time another 25 basis points. The official interest rates are now 3.35% pa, up from 0.1% pa in May last year, an increase that is sure to be causing mortgage stress and rental increases amongst the most vulnerable.
But, as bad as high interest rates are, they are better than the alternative; high long-term inflation. That’s why the RBA is right to keep increasing interest rates.
The best and worst super funds in 2022
Most people don’t engage with their super until they’re about to retire. But APRA’s annual performance report on super funds shows why it’s important that you do. Not all super funds are equal and there is a big difference between the best and worst funds.
Who you gonna call?
The financial advice industry is in the process of transforming into a profession. It hasn’t been a painless process. Financial planners are leaving the advice industry in droves. Since December 2018, the number of advisers registered with ASIC has almost halved, falling from 28,000 to fewer than 16,000 in less than four years.
Not a time to set and forget
Markets have been volatile recently. In the last month alone the Australian share market has fallen around 6%. There’s so much uncertainty now; the Ukraine war, the ongoing Covid pandemic, and now systemic global inflation and rising interest rates.
Markets hate this uncertainty. So, what should retirees be doing to protect their retirement incomes?
Fork in the Road
Most Australians think that superannuation was introduced by Paul Keating in the early 1990s, but it wasn’t.
Some Australian super funds have existed for more than a hundred years. And if you’re fortunate enough to be a member of an old scheme, it pays to understand your options.
The Value of Good Advice
A research report from CPA Australia, CoreData and the University of NSW has put a value on the benefits of financial advice to Australian society. The comprehensive study found that the value of advice is $24,716 per person per year.