The drumbeat of central banks heading towards the exits from ultra-easy monetary policy is getting louder. It started with the Bank of Canada, then the Bank of England followed by the RBNZ and the Bank of Korea. Russia and Brazil have raised rates.

The past financial year saw a spectacular rebound in returns for investors as the focus shifted from the recession to recovery against a backdrop of policy stimulus and vaccines. This note reviews the last financial year and takes a look at the outlook.

Whacking cheap imported goods with GST was meant to give local businesses a fairer crack at online shoppers, and a review will check whether it’s working.

Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe says the Australian economy is now on a positive path, bouncing back earlier and stronger than expected, which has allowed some of its policy measures to be trimmed.

Underlying cash balance to be in deficit over the next 40 years and to be 2.3 per cent of GDP by 2060/61. It was forecast to be 5.0 per cent of GDP ($106.6 billion) in 2020/21 as per May budget.

Concessional contributions are contributions that are made into your super fund before tax. They are taxed at a rate of 15% in your super fund.

Unsure how your relationship status affects your taxes? We’ve made it simple with our couple’s guide to tax. If you’re newly married, engaged or living with your partner, you might not be aware that there are some implications for your taxes.

The tax office has raised $13 billion in liabilities since its tax avoidance task force was set up in 2016 to probe big businesses.

The central bank and coronavirus soap opera rolls on unfortunately but, I thought I would reverse the order this week. There is a great new biopic called The Glorias about American feminist writer and activist Gloria Steinem.

The gradual shift of central banks including the Fed and RBA towards an exit from monetary easing has caused some volatility in investment markets.

Global share markets mostly rallied over the last week. The big surprise perhaps was the US where shares rose 0.4% for the week to a new record high and bond yields fell despite another surge in inflation, because investors (rightly in my view) interpreted the make-up of higher than expected inflation for May as consistent with the Fed’s assessment that the spike in inflation would be transitory.

The shift from high inflation to low inflation has been a key tailwind for investment returns over the last 40 years – in particular it has allowed capital growth in excess of growth in earnings and rents.