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7 August 2026

Home / Author: Deborah Ralston

Deborah Ralston

Ralston responds on super balances of older Australians

Many retirees lack the knowledge and confidence to spend their savings, resulting in a lesser quality of retirement. There is also poor understanding about access to health, aged care, tax benefits and concessions.

Ralston on accessing equity in the family home

A member of the Retirement Income Review explains the focus on home equity. For homeowners at retirement, homes represent three to four times as much wealth as superannuation, but the average age at which mortgages are paid out has increased from 52 to 62.

Designing a world-class post-retirement system

Australia has an opportunity to build a world-class decumulation system that gives individuals security and flexibility in retirement, but it's different from the accumulation phase (republished from 2013).

Labor franking policy will change behaviour

Labor thinks disallowing excess franking will generate billions of dollars of additional revenues, but there is growing evidence that behaviour changes will severely limit the amount raised.

Three key retirement factors other than super

Retirement planning is more than superannuation. No use having lots of money if health is poor, and eventually, most of us will face the need for aged care. And don't ignore home equity release when cash is needed.

Superannuation and the budget (written pre-budget)

The quality of life for retirees and future tax-payers will rest on achieving a fiscal balance between supporting the aspiration of more self-reliant retirees and the continuation of a strong social safety net.

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Economy

Why have Australian living standards 'fallen' and how do we fix it?

For the last few years there has been much talk of a 'cost-of-living' crisis in Australia and of 'falling living standards'. Lately this has flared up again with the pickup in inflation resulting in a renewed fall in real wages.

Latest from Morningstar

Four options for an income investor’s next dollar

What if Australia’s golden age of dividends is ending? Rather than overhaul your portfolio, it may be worth considering where new capital can work harder. I discuss four income strategies and the trade-offs behind each.

Taxation

Completing the reform of CGT: tax real losses like real gains

Recent CGT reforms tax real gains by indexing capital gains to inflation. However, the reform fails to index losses, leading to higher tax on assets that do not keep pace with inflation, creating inefficiencies in the tax system.

Investment strategies

Blockbuster AI debt issuance coming to a bond market near you

With Australia likely to attract a growing share of AI-related issuance, investors should prepare for increasing influence from AI funding demands, evolving credit fundamentals and changing valuation dynamics.

Investment strategies

Active managers: Bringing a gun to the gunfight

When data arrived, basketball abandoned the mid-range shot, Formula 1 reinvented the pit stop and chess embraced humans working with machines. Active managers confronting today's markets may learn from the same path.

Retirement

What Australian super funds can learn from the UK

Most people want answers to three retirement questions: What have I got? Is it enough? What can I do with it? A leading UK pension innovator shares his lessons on helping members better understand and prepare for retirement.

Investment strategies

What the market may be missing in FY27

We asked ten fund managers the same question following FY26. While their investment styles differ dramatically, their answers revealed several surprising areas of agreement about where markets may be heading next.

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