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27 June 2026
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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.
Retirees should discuss goals and plans with their adult children, including wills, finances, consequences of incapacitation and current plans. Includes a suggested 'Goals and Plans' document to kick off the conversation.
Most people in retirement will have three financial goals in the decumulation stage to take account of the uncertainty of health, longevity and markets, and here's a framework to help.
Don replies to Peter. People saving for retirement should separate shallow and deep risk. Shallow risk, where prices fall, can be good in accumulation phase. Deep risk is a serious long-term deterioration.
Take investment risk in the early years when there is little financial capital at stake and lots of future earning potential, and follow a sort of glide path to reduce exposure to risk later in life.
A new market regime is exposing the fragility of static hedges. With correlations shifting and safe havens flipping, investors must rethink diversification and adopt more adaptive tools to protect capital.
The Australian credit landscape is shifting. Yields are rising, issuance is strong and spreads continue to tighten. Income is re‑emerging as the dominant driver of returns, though pockets of risk may be building beneath the surface.
Australia's once‑dominant sharemarket is losing ground as others surge ahead, prompting investors to question home‑bias instincts. Meanwhile, the US market appears attractive. Is it time to revisit your global equity allocation?
Markets continue to push onwards despite valuations looking stretched by historical standards. Bubble talk is rampant, however investors may be focusing on the wrong thing. The real story sits deeper than the headlines.
Raising the GST when inflation jumps sounds clever on paper, until we examine how it may play out in practice. What is pitched as a simple inflation fix can lead to a sharp turn in the wrong direction for prices.
SpaceX’s blockbuster debut is grabbing headlines, but the real story for Australian investors is much quieter. Giant listings eventually filter into super funds and ETFs, subtly reshaping portfolios long before most realise.
The government’s assurances on small‑business concessions don’t withstand the scrutiny. Token carve‑outs and a lack of credible rationale for CGT changes may reshape how Australia rewards long‑term value creation.