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31 December 2024
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Housing affordability is shaping up as a major topic as we head toward the next federal election. The Coalition's proposal to allow home buyers to dip into their superannuation has merit, though misses one key feature.
Australia needs to build new homes like never before but construction firms keep going belly up. Unless regulators act now, consumers will continue to carry the can.
There's nothing wrong with budget deficits if they are appropriately set for a desired economic outcome. But it does require a breakaway from dogmatic economic thought that seems rife among economists and politicians.
Peter Dutton has made housing a key issue for the next election, pledging to “restore the Australian dream” of home ownership. It got me thinking about what this dream represents, how it originated, and whether it’s still relevant today.
The Government has finally released the Aged Care Taskforce Report which contains 23 recommendations to reform home care and residential aged care. The report pinpoints who should pay for the increasing cost of aged care.
Realistically, the Government had to amend the stage 3 tax cuts. The current state of the economy is far different from when the Coalition tabled the tax cuts in 2019, which provided impetus for the changes.
The consumer price index is supposed to reflect the cost of living but no longer does. The ABS publishes other estimates that provide a more accurate picture of our living expenses, and how much they've recently risen.
Retirement is the new black and super funds are seemingly expected to do all things for all retirees. Do we need to better apportion the different responsibilities to create a world class retirement income system?
Super concessions are forecast to overtake the cost of the Age Pension in the 2040s. They're creating a skewed system of reward for higher super balances in retirement and will widen the gap between rich and poor.
Superannuation is both a revenue source from taxes and a cost from concessions. The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has released its first 'super explainer' and it shows how they think and perhaps future targets.
An edited compilation of responses from last week's survey on how the French and Australians react to government policy changes. From culture to the perceived (un)fairness of changes, we received many different views.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he will “create a new sustainable finance architecture, including a new taxonomy to label the climate impact of different investments." Here are some tongue-in-cheek suggestions to help him.
Last year, I wrote an article suggesting returns from ASX stocks would trample those from housing over the next decade. One year later, this is an update on how that forecast is going and what's changed since.
The Future Fund's original purpose was to meet the unfunded liabilities of Commonwealth defined benefit schemes. These liabilities have ballooned to an estimated $290 billion and taxpayers continue to be treated like fools.
ASFA provides a key guide for how much you will need to live on in retirement. Unfortunately it has many deficiencies, and the averages don't tell the full story of the growing gender superannuation gap.
The Big Four banks have had an extraordinary run and it’s left income investors with a conundrum: to stick with them even though they now offer relatively low dividend yields and limited growth prospects or to look elsewhere.
A triple headwind has seen Australia's biggest LIC swing to a 10% discount and scuppered its relative performance. Management was bullish in an interview with Firstlinks, but is the discount ever likely to close?
As we collectively mourn the loss of Graham Hand, many of his friends, colleagues, and readers of Firstlinks have expressed a desire to make a donation in his honour. His family has established The Graham Hand Gift.