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17 June 2025
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Life expectancy numbers are often interpreted as the likely maximum age of a person but that is incorrect. Here are three reasons why the odds are in favor of people outliving life expectancy estimates.
Don Ezra's article on retirement spending was highly popular, and here he responds to some of the many comments. As he says, no plan will ever work out perfectly, but the work in the plan will help you to adapt.
What happens when a superannuation expert sets up his own retirement portfolio using decades of knowledge? He finds he can afford much more investment risk in his portfolio than conventional thinking suggests.
In retirement, we still want to reduce stock volatility while generating cash flows. The two needs have not changed, but the reward expected in the old days from interest payments has gone. What should we do?
Many of us worry about retirement – can we afford it? will we enjoy it? will we feel like we’re on the sidelines of life? – but little is written about what that phase of life is actually like.
It is useful to think of your financial life and psychological adjustment in five stages: a family and career phase, pre-retirement, close to retirement, just past retirement, and then lifestyle downsizing.
The $3m super tax could be put down to the Government needing money and the wealthy being easy targets. It’s deeper than that though and this looks at the factors behind the policy and why more taxes on the wealthy are coming.
There is an alternative, simpler approach which could be used to mitigate some of the difficulties that the proposed super tax has for holders of large assets such as properties, businesses and farms in SMSFs.
Here's a detailed look at how current valuations and profit forecasts for the S&P 500 stack up versus history. The answer? Both seem excessive, making the market vulnerable to a correction or worse.
A recent ruling could change the tax payable by beneficiaries of family trusts. If the ATO has previously demanded extra payments on unpaid present entitlements in your family group, you should watch this space.
Subdividing can offer a lucrative first step into property development. Yet it comes with legal, planning and unexpected tax considerations that should be understood from an early stage to avoid surprises.
Though it may feel like this time is different, markets have shown resilience throughout history when confronted by wars, pandemics and other crises. In many cases, the best course of action has been none at all.
China has always managed its affairs in a very different way to Western countries and empires. For those concerned about China's rise as a global power, the big question is whether this approach could change.