How to build an emergency fund
Super savers want social and green returns
Teach your kids about money
You want to teach your kids how to save – but as a busy parent, where can you start?
This is the second in a two-part series to offer you some helpful ideas for educating kids about money. If you missed last week’s suggestions, you can go here to catch up.
Housing loans for investors struck a record high in January, as new figures showed the growth in Australian house prices was at its slowest pace since October 2020.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said loans for housing rose 2.6 per cent in January to $33.7 billion.
Of these, owner-occupied mortgages rose one per cent to $22.7 billion, while investors home loans jumped 6.1 per cent to a record $11 billion.
Our base case remains that the first hike will come in August but there is a chance that it could happen earlier, in June. That’s recently been reinforced by the January jobs data where the unemployment rate came in at 4.2 per cent, notwithstanding Omicron restrictions during the month, although the most recent official wages data suggests a rate rise won’t happen until August.
With more than three million Australians owning cryptocurrency, better education and market regulation are needed to avoid an increase in cybercrime, a leading advisory body says.
Telstra’s chief executive Andy Penn, who also chairs the federal government’s cyber security industry advisory committee, says many countries and networks are under constant attack due to more and better resourced cyber criminals.
Some early thoughts on financial markets given the Ukrainian conflict
2022 has not been without incident. So far, we’ve experienced; rising rates, breakaway inflation in the United States, and now what has been described by Boris Johnson as the most serious ground war in Europe since 1945 when Russia Invaded Ukraine on Thursday the 24th of February.
Firstly, our thoughts and prayers go to those impacted by conflict.
In summary, we do not see this conflict changing our constructive perspective on equity markets, particularly those outside the US. Portfolio managers will however need to consider their positioning, as volatility looks set to continue, creating significant disparities in performance across stocks, funds and ETFs.
We outline key impacts investors will need to consider when re-evaluating their portfolios.
The escalation in Ukraine tensions – implications for investors
Ukraine tensions have escalated with Russia ordering troops into Ukraine regions already occupied by Russian separatists.
Share markets are at high risk of more downside on fear of further escalation and uncertainty about sanctions/gas supply to Europe.
The history of crisis events shows a short term hit to markets followed by a rebound over 3 to 12 months.
Given the difficulty in timing market reactions to geopolitical developments the best approach for most investors is to stick to an appropriate long term investment strategy.
Here’s why you need to consolidate your super
New super rules that have been introduced mean employees are now ‘stapled’ to their existing superannuation fund, unless they choose otherwise. That’s why it’s more important than ever to consolidate your super and take control of your retirement savings. Here’s what you need to know about the super stapling rules.
Fewer seek help with mobile phone bills
Tips for investing in property
New study into unpaid carers’ leave
The Morrison government has directed the Productivity Commission to undertake an inquiry into the potential impact of providing all employees unpaid carers’ leave when caring for senior Australians living at home.
The study will also examine employment models across the aged care sector.
The inquiry is in response to recommendations made by the royal commission into aged care quality and safety in its final report.
