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Tuesday, 26 October 2021
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The notion of the '4% rule' for drawing retirement income was devised in a much different economic environment than today. 'Safe' withdrawal rates may not be safe enough if certainty is required.
The RBA follows a fairly standard formula when drafting its interest rate announcements each month and a keen observer might detect a change in view before an actual change in interest rates.
A final look at the 'January effect' to analyse whether the market's first month performance predicts the share market's likely year-end returns, and why Australia is different from the US.
Recent economic volatility in China could signal an important social shift - one which could actually drive China’s future growth and transform the country’s economic model.
Due to the complexity of superannuation law, it can be easy for SMSF trustees to miss out on some opportunities, including the use of reversionary pensions for tax and estate planning benefits.
Sri Lanka, Bali and Singapore do not receive the focus of their Asian neighbours in China, India and Japan, but they are undergoing fascinating changes which warrant a closer and more personal visit.
The RBA Governor says rising house prices are due to "the design of our taxation and social security systems". The OECD says "the prolonged boom in house prices has inflated the wealth of many pensioners without impacting their pension eligibility." What's your view?
We tend to forget that house prices often fall. Direct lending controls are more effective than rate rises because macroprudential limits affect the volume of money for housing leaving business rates untouched.
The survey drew a fantastic 2,000 responses with over 1,000 comments and polar opposite views on what is good policy. Do most people believe the home should be in the age pension asset test, and what do they say?
Any policy decision needs to recognise who is affected by a change. It pays to check the data on who pays taxes, who owns assets and who earns the income to ensure an equitable and efficient outcome.
With articles on the pensions assets test read about 40,000 times, 3,500 survey responses and thousands of comments, there was a lot of great reader participation. A few comments added extra insights.
It is hard to think of any area of widespread public concern where the same policies have been pursued for so long, in the face of such incontrovertible evidence that they have failed to achieve their objectives.