It seems the International Monetary Fund shares my uncertainty around the sharemarket. Earlier this month when the Australian sharemarket touched a record high I admitted I was nervous. Was it “peak greed”, with markets getting too hot on the back of irrational optimism? On Wednesday the International Monetary Fund shared my uncertainty. I’m old enough… Read more »
Basically there are very few places to rent. According to SQM Research the national vacancy rate hasn’t improved at all and remains steady at just 1 per cent. As you can see from the SQM table, in March last year the vacancy rate was 1.1 per cent so over the last 12 months nothing has… Read more »
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers is a self-confessed disciple of Paul Keating. My challenge to Chalmers is to step up from being a disciple of, arguably, Australia’s greatest-ever treasurer to being this generation’s economic reform messiah. In the 1990s Keating (with the support of PM Bob Hawke) reformed the Australian economy and 30 years later we… Read more »
Reserve Bank Board meeting week and, as expected, official interest rates were kept on hold. But there was an important change in the statement explaining the announcement. The words are now more important than the actual decision. From saying “a further increase in interest rates cannot be ruled out” in September, this week’s statement said… Read more »
Okay, I admit I get nervous when the sharemarket is on a record-breaking run and then it gets a few wobbles. I’m old enough to have been through enough sharemarket crashes to be spooked in these situations. I’m sure I’m not alone and a lot of investors would be wondering whether to trim or sell to varying… Read more »
State governments are reaping billions from stamp duty and making it harder for home buyers. When property prices rise some of the biggest winners are state governments though their stamp duty river of financial gold. It is a major impediment to buying a property. I reckon every home buyer has felt the financial trauma of… Read more »
Interest rates are a blunt instrument, but governments have more options to help fight inflation. They’re just not using them. The Reserve Bank boss, Michele Bullock, recently said interest rates were a “blunt instrument” when it came to fighting inflation. In other words, the impact of interest rate rises can be a bit of a… Read more »
A couple of weeks ago I called out the federal government for once again (and it’s all sides of politics) caving in when it comes to tax reform. The Stage 3 tax cuts were rightly skewed toward low-to-middle income earners, but the 37 per cent tax bracket should also have been abolished as planned… but… Read more »
A tumultuous week for finance nerds like me who for years have excitedly marked the first Tuesday of the month in our calendars as “Reserve Bank Board Meeting Day”. This week was the last RBA board meeting on the first Tuesday of the month… the next one will be Tuesday March 19 as the RBA… Read more »
Interest rates may be on hold after this week’s RBA board meeting but thousands of homeowners are still paying more for their home loan because they have fallen onto so-called “back-book” rates. Back-book rates are where existing loyal customers are being charged a higher interest rate than new “front-book” customers. That difference is as much… Read more »
