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Noel Whittaker

Adapting to new pension asset testing

The government has announced changes to the pension asset test and taper rate effective 1 January 2017. While good news for many less affluent recipients, it means wealthier pensioners will receive less, or none at all.

Ensure your children are insured

Serious illness is something we think will happen to somebody else and insurance, like making a will, is easy to put off. It’s only when the problems start that we realise it’s too late to do anything about it.

Do you plan to be a ‘have’ or a ‘have not’?

Regardless of age, there's always something that can improve your preparation for retirement, especially given doubts about the sustainability of Australia’s tax and welfare systems.

FoFA is not in anyone’s best interests now

Government plans to amend FoFA are in tatters, due mainly to ill-informed comments about the nature of financial advice. 'Best interests duty' goes way beyond 'duty of care' used in other professions.

Set yourself to benefit from compounding

If you get onto the compounding bandwagon from a young age, the balance of your superannuation, as well as other savings, come retirement will astound you. It's a shame more people aren't maximising the opportunity.

Does your will treat your super fairly?

When writing your will, take care to understand the tax consequences of the benefits paid to your beneficiaries, especially when a life policy is involved. Your estate could be left with a hefty tax bill.

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Retirement

Uncomfortable truths: The real cost of living in retirement

How useful are the retirement savings and spending targets put out by various groups such as ASFA? Not very, and it's reducing the ability of ordinary retirees to fully understand their retirement income options.

Shares

On the virtue of owning wonderful businesses like CBA

The US market has pummelled Australia's over the past 16 years and for good reason: it has some incredible businesses. Australia does too, but if you want to enjoy US-type returns, you need to know where to look.

Investment strategies

Why bank hybrids are being priced at a premium

As long as the banks have no desire to pay up for term deposit funding - which looks likely for a while yet - investors will continue to pay a premium for the higher yielding, but riskier hybrid instrument.

Investment strategies

The Magnificent Seven's dominance poses ever-growing risks

The rise of the Magnificent Seven and their large weighting in US indices has led to debate about concentration risk in markets. Whatever your view, the crowding into these stocks poses several challenges for global investors.

Strategy

Wealth is more than a number

Money can bolster our joy in real ways. However, if we relentlessly chase wealth at the expense of other facets of well-being, history and science both teach us that it will lead to a hollowing out of life.

The copper bull market may have years to run

The copper market is barrelling towards a significant deficit and price surge over the next few decades that investors should not discount when looking at the potential for artificial intelligence and renewable energy.

Property

Global REITs are on sale

Global REITs have been out of favour for some time. While office remains a concern, the rest of the sector is in good shape and offers compelling value, with many REITs trading below underlying asset replacement costs.

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